We arrived at Buescher State Park around 3pm with our shiny new tires, feeling pretty lucky. We chose this location for a few reasons: 1) proximity to Austin TX, our next destination, where we had a visit scheduled with our old Chico friend, Alexander Blease, 2) location just outside of Smithville TX, a town highly recommended by our friend Connor Limont, 3) decent hiking/mtb trails and 4) a pretty unique feature of a 12 mile paved scenic back route between this small park and Bastrop State Park, a bigger park just outside of Bastrop, a bigger city. The smaller Buescher was perfect for us even though access to the park’s small lake/large pond (featured in the description) was closed due to some kind of pretty major lake-side construction project.

When we got to our campsite, it was as nice as anywhere we’ve camped, with spacious sites (about half occupied on a Thursday), lots of trees and just the right amount of hills. We were starting to really notice that the days were getting longer (yay!) even though the temperatures were still brisk. The sun was out, and it was above 65 degrees, so we quickly set up and headed out for some exploring on mountain bikes before 4pm.

We did the usual scouting around to find and check out essentials like the restrooms (clean and warm) and dump station (conveniently located), then set out to find the trails and check out the cool road toward Bastrop. We found the road easily, spotting a few other cyclists on our way (a good sign!), and started UP (like at Lost Maples, there were plenty of rollers!). On the way to the official trailhead, we found some of the trails crossing the main road, and decided to jump on them. We got to the top of the hill (a few miles) where we got a great view of the surrounding fields (with horses, cows and deer) and the forested expanse of the much bigger Bastrop State Park on the horizon. We also couldn’t help noticing the all-too-familiar signs of fire devastation, which we learned were caused by the
Bastrop Fire of 2011. Happily, there was much new growth and the area was well on the path to recovering, but we couldn’t help wondering what this section must have looked like a decade ago, covered with trees.

Deciding we had done enough exploration, and noticing that dusk was approaching and it was getting chilly, we turned around and headed back to camp for dinner. Mike was almost giddy when he turned on the TV and scanned to find over 50 channels! We settled right into our camp. The only small downside of our return to civilization was that we could hear the freeway traffic as the day began to fade to night. We made it an early night as we had a busy weekend planned!

We woke early on Friday to another cold morning, and quickly got through our morning routine so we could hit the road. We were heading to the 2022 Houston RV Show to check out new travel trailers. We planned for a big day, bringing our hiking boots, snacks, water and lots of excitement. During the frequent cold and wet days of the past few weeks, we had been refining our list of needs and wants for a new trailer, and whenever we could get to the internet, searching out among the MANY brands, makes and models for trailers that could work for us. We had a list of about 10 possibilities, with 4 or 5 up at the top of the list, and we were excited to actually see and touch as many as we could!

It was a 2 hour drive to the show, with the last half-hour in fairly heavy Houston traffic (always exciting), so we were glad to arrive just a few minutes before the show opened at noon. Like at any trade show, it can be really easy to get distracted by so many sights and salespeople. We made a pact to stay focused on seeking out as many of the trailers that would work for us (or similar models from the same manufacturer) and getting our questions answered so we could narrow down the field as much as possible, and then AFTER THAT, go look slack-jawed at the huge half-million dollar Class A motorhomes.

We knew we wanted a well-made trailer, built to stand up to full-timing, boondocking and 4-season living, with a couch and dinette, a ‘true-queen’ bed (RVs makers often use weird mattress dimensions a few inches smaller or larger than standard sizes, to fit into space available), a decent amount of floor space (for yoga!), between 25 and 27 feet long for easy towing and access to more remote destinations. You wouldn’t think that would be a hard combination, but in that size range, most models give you a couch OR a dinette, and/or a murphy bed vs an actual bed.

We did pretty well over the course of the day and got our list down to a Winnebago and a Rockwood MiniLite, both with a ‘true-queen’ murphy bed, a Cougar which somehow managed to squeeze in a king size bed, a Grand Design Imagine XLS and a Lance 2285 both with a true-queen bed. We were able to see all exact models but the Lance at the show. The Lance dealer had only their smaller models and said the factory was expecting to have 2285s available in mid-summer. We spent a fair amount of time testing couches, dinette seats and mattresses, opening, peering into and closing drawers, cabinets, closets and storage bins, as well as talking to the ever-present sales guys (not a single woman!). We stopped for some lunch at around 2 or 3pm and then went back around to each of these 5 for ‘one more look’, taking photos and checking our list.

Finally, we had no more questions and were ready to look around at the ‘big stuff’. We checked the time and somehow, through that warping of time that can happen with intense focus, it was 7:40 pm! The show closed at 8, so we started moving toward the exit, stopping to check out various ENORMOUS Class A’s and 5th Wheels (a kind of trailer that mounts in the truck bed, allowing greater stability, easier towing and thus bigger size). Incredible. Some of the common features: ‘residential’ furniture (one had 3 couches AND 2 theater seats!) and kitchen appliances, set up for washer and dryer, 2.5 baths, multiple bedrooms, 72″ TV that retracted behind an electric “Fireplace”… “garages” for motorcycles, atvs etc and screened porches! Made our requirement list look pretty modest!

We headed out into darkness and began the trek back to our campground, our minds filled with the possibilities and options. We knew there were RV shows in Austin and Dallas in the coming weeks, but wondered if we might have all the info we needed to make a decision. All the talk at the show was about shortages, inflation and delays, and that if we had to order (most likely due to wanting a lot of the options), we were going to be looking at a pretty big wait time, so we wanted to be able to decide and get the process going. But at that point, we were pretty much done with any deep thinking! The BBQ joint we had eyeballed on our drive to the show was of course long-closed when we passed by, so we arrived back at the trailer around 10:30pm both exhausted and wound up. Since we needed to warm up the mattress heater for an hour or so, we had some time to wind down and get relaxed before collapsing into bed!

Saturday morning was cold, and since it was the day before the gravel bike ‘event’ (NOT a race!) we got a slow start, with a relatively easy ride on the park trails, then headed into Bastrop (small city, about 10 miles away) for some library internet time, an incredibly hectic trip to the HEB market (we didn’t totally realize but it was the eve of Superbowl, and two days before Valentine’s, for crying out loud!). Heading home, Janine didn’t really feel like cooking so we googled barbeque joints and found this great place, Billies BBQ Pit, right on our route. Still living under COVID rules, we got take-out. We spent the rest of the afternoon prepping bikes and getting organized, then settled in for a great pre-ride BBQ meal and made it an early night.

Sunday dawned COLD!!! We were up and in the truck, headed for the Lexington Holey Roller Gravel Challenge, about an hour’s drive away, by 7am. We saw 25 degrees on the truck thermometer at one point but it was up to a balmy 36 when we arrived. We checked in quickly, and enjoyed being in a crowd of cyclists while just trying to stay warm till the start. We had particularly wanted to do this ride because if fell on Superbowl Sunday, so it felt a lot like our traditional Paskenta Superbowl Sunday in northern CA.
Mike was planning on doing the 33 mile, and Janine the 52 mile, but life had other plans for us. We got separated in the normal mass start chaos, and Janine had a pretty uneventful ride untill about 21 miles in. That’s when she got hit by another rider and knocked down, receiving a pretty good gash in her left leg just below the knee as well as lots of assorted bruises that didn’t show up until later. It wasn’t life-threatening, and she could still ride, but it was a pretty good cut.

She had just decided to turn around and go back, to shorten the ride, when Mike, who had been in front of her, somehow showed up from behind! It turned out he had gotten lost a couple times, and somehow ended up on the longer course. So we both reversed direction and, Janine especially, limped back to the finish via the short course, for cold beer and hot pizza. We both ended up with around 43 miles for the day. We weren’t totally impressed with the event as it didn’t provide any nutrition or even water stop, no course markings, and their downloadable route was full of errors so we both missed turns here and there! But the roads were some awesome gravel, for sure.

After a quick pharmacy stop for wound management, we headed back to the trailer and got cleaned up in time for the start of the Superbowl. We enjoyed some Superbowl treats as well as post-ride beverages, and Janine took hers with a side of “Vitamin I” (Ibuprofen…). We kind of hoped for Cincinnatti but the Rams definitely got the job done, and the game was better than most superbowls!

Monday, Feb 14, Valentine’s Day, we woke to a low of about 32. Janine quickly discovered that the butterfly bandage hadn’t held on the gash, so we found an Urgent Care center in Bastrop (10 miles away) and went to get some stiches (8, surprisingly!). Then, since we were already in town, and it hadn’t warmed up at all, we headed to the library for some internet for the afternoon. Janine did some blogging and Mike did more research on our new trailer choices. For Valentine’s, we had agreed to skip the candy, cards and presents, and instead focus on being extra-caring to each other. We enjoyed a quiet dinner and a peaceful evening in camp. In spite of injury and bruising (Janine) and post-event soreness (Mike), it was definitely one of our best Valentines Days ever! We feel so fortunate in all that we have.

Tuesday was another “resting day”, gloomy but a little warmer. The day started with some bad news. Our planned next stop was a weekend visit/reunion with our old Chico friend Alexander Blease, who had moved to Austin a few years earlier. In the time since we had last seen him, he had changed professions (now a project manager with a local construction company), changed sports (from bicycling to weight lifting!), bought a house and met, dated and gotten engaged to a local woman named Holly. We were excited to catch up with him, meet Holly and have them show us ‘their’ Austin. But that morning Alex texted us with the terrible news that there had been a death in Holly’s family in South Carolina, and Alex would be there with Holly until Sunday. So we would get to see him, but only just briefly, and we would be on our own for the weekend. This was the second time we ran into the campground space shortage that had been getting quite a bit of attention in the news. Generally we had been booking 2 to 3 weeks ahead at the state parks but now we needed to find something for the same weekend. We spent some time looking for alternate accommodations at other state parks and local RV Parks, but after 7 calls we had gotten nowhere. “Good luck” was the typical response from all the places we called. So we reached out to Alex and got his OK to park in his yard as planned, even though he wouldn’t be there. That was a relief!

Dealing with that kept us busy for the morning. By noon we were ready to get outside, so we got our spare propane tank refilled at Tractor Supply, and decided to try the Smithville Library, which turned out to be a much smaller, cozier place! Throughout the day we were getting some calls from RV salesmen and had plenty of time to continue discussions about a new trailer. We came to the conclusion that we really did want the Lance 2285 trailer, even if we had to order it and wait.

Lance is a bit more of a ’boutique’ brand, specializing in durable four season campers designed and set up for off-grid/boondocking adventure. For what we really want to do, we felt that any of the others would end up a disappointment in comparison, and just would not hold up over time (have we mentioned various pieces of our current trailer getting torn off in the wind??). We wanted the trailer that would last us a lifetime. Janine had already decided to consider the purchase as a gift from her dad, and he would really have endorsed both the adventure aspect and the Lance’s engineering (if not the price!!!) that makes living on 4 wheels both practical and enjoyable, even out in the boondocks. We placed our order. Thank you Dad!!

Wednesday we had great weather, with a low of 55 degrees in the morning and an actual high of 70! Since it was overcast in the morning, we went back to the Smithville Library for a few hours, and then walked the Smithville downtown (pretty adorable). Although it is considered part of the Greater Austin Metropolitan area, Smithville, population around 4500, is about as close as you can get to the image of ‘small town USA’, and in fact it has made somewhat of a name for itself as a ‘movie town’. That started when the Sandra Bullock movie “Hope Floats” was filmed there in 1998, and since then there’ve been a string of others, as well as music videos and TV shows.

In fact when we arrived, they had just finished up filming a new HBO Max series called Love and Death, so we didn’t get the chance to be ‘extras’. Darn! The series is based on the true story of Candy Montgomery, a church-going woman, who apparently started an affair with her best friend’s Betty’s husband. Betty purportedly found out, and tried to kill Candy with an axe but failed, at which point Candy got the axe and killed her friend with it. She was found not guilty by way of self-defense. This all happened in the small town of Wylie TX (actually located in the central part of the state, nearer to Dallas), and we saw lots of signage and props still up as we walked the downtown.

When we got back to the trailer, Mike went for a ride, tackling the hills on the park road to Bastrop and Janine tried a bit of walking but decided she needed a bit more healing and enjoyed some more time on the zero-gravity chair. After that, we officially ordered our new Lance 2285 Trailer, with a July ‘expected’ delivery date. Wahoo!

It got cold overnight! The thermometer said 32 degrees on Thursday morning, but it quickly warmed up into a perfect, gorgeous day. Have we mentioned this trend, everywhere we go, where it seems to get nice on the day before we leave? Hmm…

Anyway, Mike went out for another road ride, exploring a little further off the park road to Bastrop, which he also loved. Janine was still hesitant to try biking with the stitches, so she opted to hike and (gently) jog on the nearby trails. Somehow she ended up doing over 5 miles, which, after being sidelined for 4 days, boosted her spirits considerably. We spent most of the afternoon on some trailer maintenance and cleaning, prepping to head into Austin on Friday. But we found a little time for relaxing in the lounge chairs (in SHORTS!) and watching the wildlife. We knew we would remember this really special place as a highlight of our trip! Dinner, a movie and a good night’s sleep, and we were prepared to move on (though we could have stayed on if there had been a vacancy!!!).

It was another chilly morning on Friday as we ‘broke camp’ and packed up. We had a short 90 minute drive to our friend Alexander Blease’s house in North Austin, so we decided to visit the legendary Comfort Cafe in Smithville for breakfast. This go-to breakfast/brunch place is actually a nonprofit that provides employment for recovering addicts and operates on a ‘donations only’ basis. Their various versions of Eggs Benedict are legend! But we ended up getting a HUGE egg/meat/veggie scramble (Janine) and Cream cheese-stuffed French Toast (who knew that was a thing??!) for Mike. Both were incredibly, mouth-wateringly delicious. Oh, and did we mention the side of Cheesy Hashbrowns? Heaven, but what were we thinking? Somehow we managed to eat it all, then spent some time admiring the mosiacs and other ‘folk-art’ decor. All the wait-staff were friendly and attentive. The energy was just wonderful. What a fabulous place, and truly a breakfast we will NEVER forget! Then we hit the road for Austin. That story coming up next!

Watch for our next chapter, where we explore Austin, coming soon!