Chilling in the Texas Hill Country

March 5, 2011 Cottonwood Creek RV Park.
We've been enjoying our stay and the pleasant weather here in the Texas Hill Country.
The first couple of days we spent cleaning the rig and setting up for our extended stay. I sanded and spray painted with Rustoleum the BigFoot Levelers and exposed metal on the frame of the rig and kingpin that had shown some surface rust from our month long stay in Corpus Christi. I also took some steel wool to the surface rust on some of the metal components of our mountain bikes then oiled the components. Everything looks brand new again. It had been 9 mos. since I last changed the anode rod in our Suburban water heater so, I took the opportunity to replace it as well.
Cottonwood Creek RV Park has a nice 1 mile path through the woods in the back of the property that Maggie and Rico enjoy. I've also been riding my bike throughout the park, something I haven't done enough of lately! The park owners, Les and Sheri had a pot luck for the guests on Friday. Les smoked two large briskets for 12 hours. It was spectacular and we enjoyed the opportunity to meet some of the guests.
Yesterday was the first day of the season for Wimberley Market Days. The town of Wimberley is about 21 miles from the campground. Although we had gone last year, it's always fun to browse a market.

Wimberley Market Days

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Wimberley hosts the oldest outdoor market in the Texas Hill Country and the second-largest in the state. We feature over 475 booths of everything you can't live without. Come stroll our tree-shaded paths, listen to live music and shop to your heart's content.

• 1st Saturday of the month March-December
• Open 1st Saturdays 7:00-4:00 p.m.
• Clean, Handicap Accessible Restrooms
• Free Admission
• 3 Large Parking Lots - $5.00
• Motor Coach Tours Welcome

It was a little cool on the opening day as we had a cold front push through overnight. But, we had a good time walking through the myriad of booths. Afterwards we drove into downtown Wimberley and got a bite to eat and a small slice of pie at this beautiful shop which is typical of the stone faced buildings in the area.

After lunch and pie (Joyce didn't eat pie) we took a walk around the town square noting all the typical tourist type shops selling antiques and art. We weren't looking for any of that so I pulled up a seat and read the local town rag while Joyce shopped. In the local rag, I discovered a local attraction, Mount Baldy currently known as Prayer Mountain as it was purchased by a local church.

Apparently the mountain was originally named Mount Alberta and it has a twin. However, the local nickname was Mount Baldy as originally the cedar was sparse at the summit. 

It's basically 218 stone steps up the side of the mountain rising straight up 1,182 feet. 

The steps and the "dance floor" at the summit were built in the 1950's.

Joyce and I climbed to summit taking in the beautiful views of the hill country. At the summit is an eroded irregular stone foundation that must have been the "dance floor" It's certainly not smooth enough for dancing now! In the photo below you can see the twin mountain in the distance.

The mountain was purchased in the 90's by a local church and the name changed to Prayer Mountain but, it remains open to the public. We enjoyed the exhilarating climb.

Back home, we've been having second thoughts about accepting the volunteer position in Palo Duro Canyon. We've learned that there is no WiFi in the park and no Verizon service for our phones or MiFi in the Canyon.  That would mean two months without service! Now apparently there is some WiFi service at the visitor center on the rim. However, we learned that it is 15 miles round trip from our proposed assignment in the Mesquite Campground Loop.  We are not on vacation. This is our home and lifestyle. We need the internet to pay our bills, maintain our blog, keep in touch with folks and entertain ourselves. So the lack of reasonable access for two months may be a deal breaker for us. If the lack of internet were the only concern we could work around it. However, the cost of traveling to Palo Duro Canyon from Cottonwood Creek RV Park at the current fuel rates (which continue to climb) is nearly equal to staying here at Cottonwood Creek RV Park for an additional two months as opposed to volunteering for the two months. Normally that wouldn't be such a big factor however, we have to backtrack and return to Corpus Christi in June. We really like it here in the Texas Hill Country at this time of year and we like Cottonwood Creek RV Park. So right now we are leaning towards declining to volunteer in Palo Duro Canyon as it's not a good fit for us at this time. We need to make a final decision soon so we can give the park time to find replacement volunteers.