<– Day 20 – Fri. May 1st: Luckenbach, Texas  | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 22 – Sun. May 3rd: Buc’s, Boats, Bats & a Batmobile –>

Kerrville, a pretty neat town.

Today was a ‘day’ off. It was supposed to be an easy, fun day. Yet, we still found ourselves at a few cool places in the otherwise semi-sleepy town of Kerrville.

We didn’t drive very far today, staying mostly in Kerrville.

We arrived at Kerrville on Friday out of sheer fate.  Well, fate and careful motel hunting. Our plan was to land in Austin Friday night, but the weekend rates were pretty unfriendly for an otherwise friendly state. Fredericksburg rates were much better. So, using Priceline I found myself veering over to Kerrville; someplace called the YO Ranch was serving up some rooms at $62 for Friday and Saturday. That was a bargain for a weekend rate, so I went for it. I figured since we’d never been to Kerrville that maybe there’d be something interesting there.

It turned out that this YO Hotel place was really cool! Check out the interior and exterior shots.

Outside of the Y O Hotel

Lobby of the Y O Hotel. Dangling off the chandeliers are all the brands of ranches that sent cattle from southern Texas to the panhandle (or so they say).

We even have balcony attached to our room.

On Saturday morning we awoke and went hunting for a laundromat. I normally travel with a week of clothes. I can always tell when the week is up, because the rear of the jeep smells like a gym locker. I don’t know how my wife stands it. I guess it is true love after all?

We followed up laundry with a trip out to the edge of Kerrville. James reminded me on Friday that the Wagonmaster operates out of Kerrville, something I’d completely forgot. Wagonmaster rebuilds and sells re-freshened Jeep Grand Wagoneers. According to the mission statement, the Wagonmaster’s goal is to “provide our customers with the best Jeep Wagoneers available, bar none… and we’re putting our money where our mouth is, by making a significant investment in quality inventory & restoration.”

Unfortunately, the Wagonmaster was closed on weekends, so all we could do is poke out cameras over the fence and take some photos. All of the vehicles up front looked fantastic.

After documenting the Wagonmaster, we drove over to view Stonehenge II in Ingram, just a few miles from Kerrville. There we found both Easter Island statue replicas along with a Stonehenge replica. Why are they there? Why not?

Our last stop of the day was at the Grape Juice Wine Bar. I’ve been promising Ann some wine, but we missed out on the Fredericksburg wines. We picked the perfect night to be at the wine bar, because they were having a youth robot support night, where 5% of food proceeds when to support a youth robotics group. Even better, there were legos all over the bar, so Ann and I got to play.

Some of the clever kids built a working donationbot. Patrons could put money into the robot’s shovel and the robot would dumped the money into the robot’s cargo area. The kids, 12-14 yo, were very articulate and passionate about their robots. They were also cleaning up on the donation front.

Legos, robots and wine. My wife is happy!

With a name like 4x4s how could I resist not sampling four beers. The owner has a newer jeep and has become a jeep addict (not quite a Willys addict just yet).

This kid is 14 and was a natural born story teller. He seemed smart and gifted. The robotics kids were making some serious change for their fundraiser!

In a funny coincidence, the bar owner was born and raised on Whidbey Island in Seattle. So, he and I knew familiar haunts. Moreover, he just bought a strain of grape he’s really proud of from Kennewick, which is just across the river from our home in Pasco. Once again, it can be a small world.

Sunday we head for Austin for a couple nights. Here is the travel plan for the remainder of Texas.

A map showing the remainder of our trip.

<– Day 20 – Fri. May 1st: Luckenbach, Texas  | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 22 – Sun. May 3rd: Buc’s, Boats, Bats & a Batmobile –>