Wednesday May 15th 2019

Day 33

Our awesome mechanic had the right belts delivered in the morning, installed and had us back on the road well before noon with not much damage to the bank account. Only $135 for parts and labor!! If you are ever in a bind near College Station, Texas I highly recommend Dream Machine Auto Hobbie . I don’t know if I could have given Tony enough thank yous.

Now back to getting to the Cowboy Capital of the World, Bandera Texas. We had 3.5 hours to break in these new belts.

We stopped at a San Antonio Walmart knowing it would be awhile before we saw another one. Everything is bigger in Texas and that includes the miles between towns with Walmarts.

Bandera Texas is a small town of maybe 900, twice that in traffic and tourists but we loved it! We cozied on in at Pioneer River Resort and readied ourselves for a night Texas style well as much as we can do with a toddler that is.

11th Street Bar is probably number 1 on all tourist list and it just so happened to be the famous Wednesday Steak Night. Now this place is exactly what comes to mind when one thinks honky tonk. Greeting us behind the saloon doors was Texas sized grills, a vivacious live band, family gathering feel followed by a few moments of awkwardness. Turns out Texas does things hell a lot different than back home. Steak night means bringing your own steak to throw on the bars BBQ while they supply the utensils and provide sides to buy. Hint Bandera Meat Market is right next door. Another good tip for a newbie is to know that you are allowed to bring in your own alcohol. Yes double read that cause I needed a few seconds to comprehend that. You can bring your liquor of choice and purchase a “set up”, ice and mixer. 11th Street Bar did have beer and wine for sale but this whole set up thing blew our mind. Most if not all other states ban such thing and want to nickel and dime ya all they can.

Cherry on top was watching gentleman take their woman’s hand for a dance. No special occasion just a Wednesday night and here everyone was just plain letting go. It was here Phoenix and I shared our first mom and son dance!! Wish there could have been better pics when we were amongst the crowd but the moment if forever grained in my memories. The music was just a little to loud for his gentle ears so we moved to the unoccupied area of the bar. I just love that little ham of mine.

Walking back to camp we meandered through checking out what we could get into tomorrow before heading out and had a long wonderful conversation with the campground caretakers. Turns out they allow people from Wisconsin to hunt on their land here is Texas. The bees eventually helped us to move on to our campsite where we finished the night with a movie outside, Phoenix cuddle up on our laps.

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