SCORE!

The water tower at Gruene: the old gristmill at Gruene: a red cardinal above my kitchen: my new nome: Mckinney Falls.

I scored on the goat cheese! Took a couple of days, but we finally got hold of Chrissy and I have farm fresh Chevre being delivered to Blanco on Tuesday morning. She makes her cheeses to order, so we know it's going to be fresh! Her brother is delivering it on his way to school. Now I call the Texas hospitality! I'm dreaming of all the yummy things I can do with Chevre. Chevre & crackers, Chevre & roasted vegetable sandwiches, spring greens w/ Chevre in a salad..........anyone have ideas for me?

So, the tribe all gathered at Mckinney Falls State Park Saturday afternoon, signed in, attended the map meeting hosted by our fearless leader, Kevin, then dined on a German themed meal. Dinner consisted of spinach & apple waldorf salad, mustard potato salad, Opa's German sausages, BBQ chicken, white balsamic glazed cabbage, apples & onions, & Nana's rum cakes for dessert. Those rum cakes are hot! 3 weeks in the truck and they are as good as the day Nana made them. It's the rum! Kind of like preserving a fruit cake!

We have quite a few return riders on this tour as well as a few that this is their first time with us. We also have a remarkable number that have admitted to not training for this ride. This is going to make things tough on them today: as we headed out of Mckinney Falls we turned face first into 30-35 mile an hour head winds. All the way to Gruene. And, word has it that one railroad crossing is blocked by a train and has been for over 1/2 an hour. The riders are backed up and sitting in the 90* heat and 42% humidity. I will have the beer cold and the pretzels out when they get here!

Gruene is a Historic District that is home to the oldest dance hall in Texas. Gruene was established in 1945 by Ernst Gruene, and his second son began cotton farming. The town prospered until the cotton gin burned down and the Depression took hold. Gruene Hall, though, never closed. In 1975 new businesses were established and Gruene is now on the National Register of Historical Places. It is one of the great places to visit when you're in the Hill Country!

Tonight's dinner will be chicken fajitas with all the trimmings, spanish rice, refried beans, Texas Wedge salad & pound cake for dessert. We are set up at the Mountain Breeze Campground on the Guadalupe River. Tubing is huge here! All up the river is campground after campground featuring tubing and kayaking trips down the river. Sounds good to me!

Hopefully my tribe makes it all in in one piece and is not too wind blown! I'll let you know how they fare.