Apricity West 4

April  5. 2024 - Friday

If you remember from last week’s blog, we were invited to an Eclipse Party at Bill and Linda Strickler’s ranch. As you enter their driveway, you see a Texas and an American flag billowing in the wind. 

To the left, two metal longhorns, named after Alamo defenders Travis and Bowie, peer out at you.

Walking toward the front entrance, you see this pristine ranch house made of sandstone and topped with a copper roof.

Above the entrance is a piece of stained glass that Linda had been holding on to for many years. It is a family heirloom and she found the perfect spot for it.

To the right is a great patio with a corner wood burning fireplace to keep it cozy. This would become the morning coffee gathering spot. 

It was good to chat with Bill and Linda, proprietors of this beautiful 5-acre chunk of land with 75 trees adorning it.

Rich has always talked about Bill being a master wood carver of birds. He has a shop on one side of the barn which houses the 5th wheel - they lived in it while building this house.

He is deciding what to do with this root ball…

Linda’s craft room is on the other side - she is a talented embroiderer.

She recently acquired an old dentist desk which provides her with a multitude of drawers to organize her thread.

Their home is like a museum of his bird carvings... 

…and artifacts they have collected over the years

We were sitting in a circle chatting when Sheriff Joe stopped in. He was full of one-liners that had us in stitches. The first thing he said was to sit tight while the dogs sniffed out our RV’s for contraband. His deputy wife is responsible for training the canines - they are nearby neighbors. They had just engaged in a pursuit case. An RV was pulled over for a traffic violation and decided to try to get away. He took a shot at the deputy, elevating the situation to the point that they shot out his tires to stop and arrest him.

After returning to our homes on wheels for a supper break from 5:30-6:30, we gathered on the party pad (bring your own drink and chair) with the newcomers (2 more RV’s arrived today) and 2 sets of neighbors. The headcount was 18 tonight with 2 more RV's coming in from North Ranch tomorrow. All are dry camping, some have solar, others are plugged in. 

April 6, 2024 - Saturday

The view out of our windshield at 7 in the morning. There have been as many as 12 small white tails at a time feeding here. 

On my walk, this unique fence caught my attention. It belonged to the sheriff who was changing it out, so Bill put dibs on it and relocated it to their front yard. 

 

Robert brought a kite which he picked up at a garage sale and provided over an hour of entertainment. The winds have been strong yesterday and today and this kite got up so high that it was of interest to some turkey vultures soaring in the wind currents. It was quite a feat reeling it back in with a very strong resistance. 

One of the deputies stopped by today. They report very high congestion of eclipse chasers in this little town of Mason (pop. 2000) in the county of Mason (pop. 4000), and wish us well and safe travels when we leave. 

April 7, 2024 - Sunday 

Today is preparation day and this crew is used to feeding and entertaining the masses - 30ish. Dot and I helped Linda with the roll ups she prepared. Geri was slicing and dicing veggies and ham in her motorhome for the omelets-in-a-bag tomorrow. Never had them, but can’t wait. I am in charge of cracking eggs - YIKES! Dot is grilling English Muffins and making her signature margaritas. 

 

The Texas Mud band arrived - Ricky Boen (fiddler and pastor) and Darryl (his dad, guitar, singer and pastor) stepped out of their 37-foot Sport Coach Motorhome with the same markings as ours. Ricky’s wife, Lorna, and his mother, Jane, (greeter for the band) joined us as well. They are from Burnet (pronounced burn it, durn it, learn it!), TX and there are 50,000 eclipse chasers piling into the ranch next to theirs with RVs, vans, and tents. Tickets average $300 per person depending on how many days they stay. They have seen women topless and in thongs, and craziness beyond belief. For this reason, we changed plans and will wait until Wednesday to leave in hopes that all the crazies leave on Tuesday since we are heading in that direction!

Harvey and I played for a fun singalong for a couple of hours with 20 folks under the pitch black skies studded with star bling. Robert added to the vocals while Rich and Dot hamonica-ized when the spirit moved them.

  

April 8, 2024 - Monday 

9am - Omelette-in-a-bag-breakfast. It was delicious and is a very cool process. I lost my job of cracking eggs (2 in each bag) to Rich, an experienced egg cracker. So I stood by the table with zip lock bags and Sharpie pens for people to write their name to identify their bag. Then they move to the next table which has assorted omelet ingredients - ham, peppers, red onions, black olives slices, bacon bits, sausage crumbles. Then the bag is squished and sealed by Geri the expert on bag sealing, and passed to her husband, John, to put in the boiling water for about 10 minutes. When the bag is done, John calls out the name and that person pours the contents onto a paper plate and goes to the table with cheese, sour cream, fresh cut fruit, chili, banana bread, blueberry muffin tops, Hatch chiles and jellies.

Then on to the English muffin station where Dot has grilled the buttered muffin halves.

12:30pm - Buffet of assorted hors d’ oeuvres. 

The eclipse has started its cycle so a lot of action between sitings with protective eyewear and getting food and Dot’s pour-your-own Margaritas, complete with salt, ice and fresh lime. 

Thankfully, the weather was perfect for the eclipse, against all predictions we had been seeing for days now. There was no rain and the clouds didn’t block the view for us. It was weird when the moon eclipsed the sun and the atmosphere was dark and eerie - just spectacular! The temperature dropped 12 degrees...

Linda served special Eclipse cookies, brownies, and chocolate cookies..

At 2pm, the band had set up at the party pad and we moseyed over to be entertained by this group. They play Western swing and included "I Come To The Garden Alone”, my favorite hymn since I was a kid. They were amazing - see the video clips in the body of this email.  

Time to take a break to recharge our batteries. We took a nap and didn’t eat any supper!

 

7pm - gathered on the party pad to review the happenings of the day. Bill finally had the opportunity (no wind) to light his portable fire pit in the middle of the circle.  

 

April 9, 2024 - Tuesday

Slept late today after a very busy yesterday! Rain in the forecast, but after a few drops early in the morning, the clouds moved out and it was another delightful day. We determined that Dot’s Margaritas were strong, but the number of times we filled our plastic cup was more deadly. 

 

We gathered on the patio to eat the leftovers from yesterday. Linda wanted to clean out her refrigerator and, of course, we did a good job of it. Severe thunderstorm warnings were in the forecast so we moved under the roof just in time to hear the hail pinging off of it. Thunder was in the background, but no lightning to be seen and no rainbow either. We broke up early tonight as everyone is leaving tomorrow.

Sheltering under 10 foot deep porch…

I have learned so much about this crew - high school graduating class size varied from 29 to over 500. Past careers were fire fighter, shoe salesman, bird supply salesman, bicycle repairman, pharmacy tech, American Airline pilot, CPR/EMT trainer, hairdresser, nurse, and more…

 

April 10, 2024 - Wednesday

Woke up to a herd of 10+ deer grazing in front of us. They are probably so happy to see all of us pull out today so Bill can start feeding them corn again. There were sad goodbyes as RVs started pulling out. Winds are high, so I’m glad we only go 1 hour to get to Llano for a stopover to dump, shower, empty trash, etc. Safe travels to all...

 

Passing through Mason, we went by the courthouse which is made of unique sandstone - it was set on fire gutting the interior by a local felon 3 years ago and is still being refurbished. The local Historic Society issued a grant to rebuild it in its true authenticy. The grand opening will be in the coming months. It was estimated to cost $5 million but has grown to $22 million with remarkable fund raising. Bill donated one of his exquisite carved birds, an owl, which reaped $4,500 at auction. He is very detailed and makes the precise number of feathers as there are on the bird!

Beautiful church…

We got into Llano at 10:50am and had already decided we needed to have BBQ before we left Texas. Coopers Old Tyme Pit BBQ was on our right coming into town and we were able to park on a side street. Since it opens at 11am we thought we would have to wait, but about 10 trucks were already parked there, so we walked over.

I have NEVER seen anything like this before. The entrance is an outdoor pavilion with several large pits - the first one filled with ribs, sausage, turkey breast, prime rib, pork loin, short ribs, chicken, goat, and brisket. So we tell him the portion and cut of meat that we want, they put it on a tray and we walk inside to choose the sides to go with the complimentary slaw, potato salad, and pickles. We got small Mac ’n Cheese with jalapeno and bacon. 

Meat is served on butcher paper and you eat it off of white butcher paper. We were out of there by 11:30am with our bellies full - we did not have room for any cobbler. At least a dozen other people were eating BBQ at this hour right along with us. 

Set up at Riverway RV Park in Llano for the night. First thing we did is shower! The body wipes are great for dry camping, but nothing like a nice hot shower to wash your hair...😳

 

April 11, 2024 - Thursday

Headed to Tyler, TX. Can’t believe how many RV parks and dealers there are. Gas prices as low as $2.45, diesel at $3.29! Windmills are on the horizon and on  side of the road!

Love the wildflowers along the side of the roads. 

This was a long one - things will be calming down now after a super week of partying!