Category: travel

I didn’t do much research before our latest trip to Texas. But I did do some, thanks to my handy RoadsideAmerica.com phone app. It’s an “online guide to offbeat tourist attractions.” If you haven’t visited the site yet, you should. Download the app, too. It makes road trips far more interesting.

My friend, Fuzzy (aka Rachael) told me about the site several years ago. She likes roadside oddities even more than I do. In fact, she has an entire blog catalog of Roadside Weirdness.

The research I did do involved mapping out some odd attractions to see. The first destination was Boerne, Texas, where this guy lives…

A real Muffler Man Cowboy! Apparently, he was given a makeover in 2010, which is why he looks so shiny-new. In fact, he’s the nicest Muffler Man I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a few.

I’ve always enjoyed seeing stuff like that, but didn’t realize so many other folks did, too. It was one of the reasons I was so tickled to discover Rachael’s blog. She’s a kindred spirit who enjoys motorcycles AND roadside weirdness.

In fact, it was from Fuzzy that I learned about The Farnham Colossi, a relatively local (within an hour’s drive) collection of Muffler Men and other large oddities. You can read about my visit on an old blog post of mine. If you want to read more about th e folks, and the why, behind that awesome collection, you can read the RoadsideAmerica post.

Hubby doesn’t share my affinity for roadside weirdness, but he’s learned to just ride along and humor me.

That’s love, right? I mean, it’s not like I spend hours ogling the stuff. Often, I just capture a picture or two — selfies are the BEST — and then we go on our way.

The fine folks at Roadsideamerica.com have created a Muffler Man info page.

Not every large, man statue is a Muffler Man. And not all Muffler Men are male. Confused? This guide should help.

Still numbering in the hundreds, the big fiberglass figures known as Muffler Men were mostly created from 1962-1974, spreading far and wide, and still on the move. Some are lost, out for repairs, sold, or seasonally moved. And some are misidentified. Avoid the social embarrassment of incorrectly categorizing a muffler man sighting by studying his simple features and variations.

The cowboy in Boerne is a REAL Muffler Man Cowboy. And a very fine specimen.

 

 

It takes a special person to love a Muffler Man enough to give him such a complete, high-quality makeover.

One of the reasons I enjoy these offbeat tourist attractions is that spotting them often takes us off the beaten path. You can’t usually see them from an interstate highway.

The whole reason we went to that part of Texas and not directly to San Antonio from Austin was to see the few sights I’d mapped out in advance. After planning an attractions route, I looked in the area to see what else might be interesting to visit.

It just so happened that a yummy restaurant was situated between the Muffler Man Cowboy and our next attraction.

So we bid the cowboy adieu…

 

…and continued on to grab some dinner.

I’ll tell you all about that in my next post.

Are these cliff-hangers making you crazy? I find that shorter posts are easier, so just bear with me, ‘kay?

Interstate highways are boring. They may get you from one point to another faster, but I like to see stuff. Actually, I find highways in general to be rather bland. From a landscape point of view.

Since we had time after leaving Fredericksburg, Texas, instead of following the most-direct route, we opted to check out Grape Creep Road.

 

Much better than that drab highway, right?

I was just a tad excited when I saw this sign…

 

Hubby said it would be really unlikely to actually see loose livestock. You know, along the road, outside of a fence and all.

I, on the other hand, had hope.

 

The first critter we saw was this mini burro. I think it’s a burro, anyway. I’m not really sure. They seem to be popular in those parts. There were even little burro figurines in the gift shops.

He wasn’t loose, though. He was clearly behind a fence.

But, it wasn’t long at all until we turned a corner and encountered actual LOOSE LIVESTOCK.

 

Hubby said we must have pissed it off.

 

Hubby may have been right. The sheep doesn’t exactly look happy to see us.

Next, we saw a deer.

 

I know, I know, a wild deer isn’t “livestock.” But it’s cute. Oh, and check out the prickly pear cactus.

We did eventually start seeing cows, but they were well off the edge of the road. Then we saw this.

 

The cow isn’t literally ON the road, but it’s close enough.

 

Hubby tried talking to the cow, but it was ignoring him.

“Because you’re speaking English,” I told him. And then I mooed.

 

She didn’t actually say “moo” back to me, but I did get her attention.

It would have been absolutely hysterical if she’d walked over and stuck her head in the car.

Grape Creek Road ended a short distance later. From there, we turned right onto Old San Antonio Road. Seconds later, literally, we came across Old Tunnel State Park.

We drove right past it. Then that awesome husband of mine said, “We have time. Wanna turn around?”

I love that guy.

 

It was a pretty little spot. We were there around 3:00 PM. The bats weren’t expected to emerge until about six hours later. So we didn’t linger.

I did take a few quick pics, though.

 

 

There weren’t nearly as many wildflowers in bloom as there had been during my Spring trip, but it was still a pretty landscape.

 

We both agreed that it would’ve been a fun motorcycle road.

Only 35 miles to go to my first mapped sight, so on we went…

Care to guess what it’ll be?

As you learned in my last post, Hubby got to accompany me on a recent business trip to Texas. Thursday was committed entirely to travel and work stuff. On Friday, I left Hubby at the hotel while I went into the office to get some work done. Then, around noon, our mini-adventure began.

Until late Thursday evening, we had no plans for Friday. There were some sights I’d flagged to see, and we knew we’d be in San Antonio on Saturday night, but Friday was a blank slate.

Austin is on the outer edge of Texas Hill Country. To be honest, until I went to Austin the first time, I didn’t know Texas even had hills. I just thought it was flat, dry, and full of cacti and cowboys.

The area around Austin is really quite hilly, and rather pretty. So I figured an excursion a bit deeper into Hill Country would be interesting.

I had hoped to eat lunch at Rudy’s BBQ, but neither of us were hungry enough. Some co-workers had mentioned the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg, saying it was a cute town with lots of German restaurants.

Cute town? German food? Sounded like a win-win. So that’s where we headed.

 

I love exploring new areas and discovering new things. Like these, which we saw a lot of…

 

Who knew ice was such a big business? But then, Texas is rather warm. So I guess people need quick and easy access to ice.

Back to Fredericksburg…  my co-workers were right, it is a very cute town.

 

 

 

 

 

After checking my YELP app, we settled on Der Lindenbaum, which had 3.5 stars and favorable reviews.

It was a good choice. German food can be heavy. This meal wasn’t. I forget what it was called, but it was essentially pot-roasted beef with herbed noodles and a delicately flavored gravy. With red cabbage. DEElicious. Really.

We spent the next couple of hours exploring the widely varied establishments and sights along Main Street.

 

Hubby did a quick Google search to figure out why land-locked Fredericksburg was chosen as a location for this highly regarded place, which is also home to the Admiral Nimitz Museum. Nimitz was a native son.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems like a nice museum, but we didn’t go inside. We had no agenda, but had already decided not to overnight in Fredericksburg, which is indeed cute, but also quite busy and loud. I’m sure we could have found a quiet spot on the outskirts of town, but we decided to mosey on toward San Antonio. After finishing our discovery stroll down Main Street and back.

 

 

 

 

 

Hubby and the guy sitting on the bench were laughing at me posing with Red. How could I not? Any giant M&M would have been fun to pose with, but Red is my favorite. (Do you LOVE this commercial as much as I do?)

Back at the car, I used my phone to plot a route to our next stop and off we went.

 

We hadn’t gone far when I said to Hubby, “This country is pretty and all, but I don’t want to be on a highway. Highways are boring. Let’s find some back roads.”

 

So Hubby did a “U”ey and we headed for Grape Creek Road. With a name like that, it HAD to be scenic, right?

Find out tomorrow…