Day 10 – Snake in San Angelo, Venison Vendor, Historic Fredricksburg, TX

I got up early this morning and took a run through the various nature trails around the campground. I didn’t see any wildlife until I returned to our campsite and saw a 5’ long snake next to our trailer. After alerting Karen (she was duly impressed!), I snapped a couple of photos and sent them off to our retained herpetologist, George Blakely, to see if he could identify it for us. Within a few minutes, he replied with his opinion that it was a non-venomous Great Basin Gopher snake or a Bull Snake. That made us feel a little better, but we decided to hit the highway right after breakfast anyway. In the meantime, the snake wandered off in search of his own breakfast.

On the way out of camp, we caught sight of some bison that live in the state park.

We are trying to stay away from the major interstate highways, so our route is taking us in a southeasterly direction through central Texas. We continued down Highway 87 and saw more deer carcasses strewn along the road – that really gets the appetite going. When we reached the town of Eden, at the intersection with Highway 83, we stopped for gas. Right next door was a venison store, so Karen went in and bought some venison dry salami – this should make for some good snacking later.

Fredricksburg is in the ‘Hill Country’ near Austin. We did not realize until we got there that this is a rather historic area. Over time it has changed a little, and now it sort of reminds me of a Texas-style Solvang. German settlers have been in the area since the 1850’s and the town has lots of authentic German restaurants (most of them closed on Wednesday!) to go along with the fancy clothing and furniture boutiques. It also has a cool ‘five-and-dime’ store called Dooley’s that has many odds and ends you don’t normally see in today’s stores.

 

Fredricksburg is also the birthplace of Admiral Chester Nimitz, USN, who was a notable figure in the Pacific Theater of WWII. There is an extensive museum complex dedicated to the soldiers who were involved in the Pacific during the war. The museum even has the conning tower from a WWII submarine (the U.S.S Pintado) mounted on the lawn at the museum entrance.

Because the restaurant where we wanted to dine was closed today, we opted for the Fredricksburg microbrewery, where we had some locally-made bratwurst and sauerkraut to go along with some local beer and wine.

Tomorrow:  Stephen F. Austin State Park, San Felipe, TX