Friday January 25 On Friday we traveled I-20 across Mississippi and Louisiana, crossing into Texas in mid afternoon. We camped at a very nice state park in Tyler Texas. When we checked in the ranger asked how long our campers were. Casey and I both said 18 feet, and Wishbone said he thought his was 32 feet—I told the ranger that Wishbone was from Texas, you see. The Tyler state park is very nice. Bibi and I took a 30 minute hike. Nice of us to so while everyone else got set up, right? Lisa treated us to some wonderful potato soup with sausage. After dinner the picking around the campfire commenced. We were visited several times by a family of raccoons, who looked liked they were used to being fed—we left them disappointed. Billie had her first workout on the baby bass (1/4 size) and it worked out nicely. There was quite a bit of dancing too—Claude and I played till we wore them out! The Jordans want to say thanks to Kim, who is holding down the fort in Green Creek and spoiling Buddy dog! Next stop—Austin!!!!! Saturday January 26 We woke up to rain Saturday morning, got packed and headed for Austin –we chose to stay off the interstate and avoid Dallas. We saw some beautiful Texas hill country, especially along Highway 21. Lunch was in Hearne, at a hole in the wall called Toodie’s BBQ. Bibi says she knew we were at the right place when pick-ups with Texas tags pulled in. Toodie’s is run by a black family, and the restaurant is named for a daughter who was killed in an automobile accident—Toodie had encouraged her dad to open a restaurant and quit cooking for free! The food was great. Everyone had briskets, and some of the gang also had ribs and sausage. Highly recommended if you ever find yourself in Hearne Texas. We got to McKinney Springs State Park outside of Austin in mid/late afternoon, set up camp, cleaned up, and headed to town We walked around, heard some live electric music, window shopped, and went in a great hat shop. It was great to walk around town after driving for 3 days. Lots of young folks were hanging out, very friendly. Leaving downtown with tired eyes and lots of traffic was an adventure! Sunday January 27 We hiked for a couple of hours this morning in McKinney Falls State Park, following Onion Creek . We checked out the McKinney Homestead ruins, saw a huge cypress, and in general had a great hike. Next up was a trip back into Austin. We parked on Congress Street, where you back into diagonal spaces. We had lunch in an area with lots of food stands where Thai, Mexican, Cajun, etc, was available. Lots of cool stuff is in the shops and a huge selection in Allen Boots—with big prices to boot (no pun intended!). We had a nice visit at Fiddlers Green Music shop. I played several mandolins—the Ellis (made in Austin) was especially nice. We finished our afternoon in Austin at Lady Bird Lake where we saw the statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn. It was a beautiful afternoon in the Lake park with lots of families hanging out. Howdy to Betty Jo—sorry I haven’t been posting more often. We’re having a great time traveling and hanging out with Lisa and Casey! Monday morning we head to Fredericksburg and Lady Bird Gardens. Apologies for any typos or bad sentences!!!! PBR