Garner State Park… a little disappointing

Being in Texas makes me want to sing. Just think about all the songs there are about Texas. Leaving Austin, we had Willie Nelson playing and we sang right along with him… “On the road again”… then I checked the map and noticed we could pass through Luckenbach, just a little out of our way… we could be there with Willie, Waylon and the boys and be feelin’ no pain. 

I’m getting off track here. After three nights at McKinney Falls State Park, it was time to leave, i.e. we couldn’t extend our reservation any longer. In fact, the reason we were heading to Garner State Park was because we couldn’t get reservations anywhere else… that planning ahead thing to which we are so averse was biting us in our proverbial arses. Garner is about 170 miles from McKinney and unfortunately not quite in the direction we’d planned to travel, but we go where the wind blows us (and where we can get reservations).  We took our last walk in McKinney before we left and felt rushed the rest of the day.  

We needed to stop at Walmart for provisions. I needed to mail some cards, but was out of stamps… post office, please. I hadn’t planned sufficiently for the hot weather when I packed, so finding a thrift shop for a couple more t-shirts and another pair of capris seemed prudent. Blanche needed a gas fill-up and a bath. We hadn’t had Wi-Fi for a few days and needed to stop at Mickey D’s to check emails and post a blog. It seemed that the drive combined with all the stops was taking forever. 

We were surprised by the wineries we passed on our route through the Hill Country. It never occurred to us that Texas had a grape-growing region, so we were somewhat taken aback by the sheer number of vineyards, bodegas, cideries, meaderies and upscale wine-tasting facilities we saw. Who knew?

Beyond the wineries, there were so many places we’d have liked to have stopped. There were lots of antique shops in Johnson City. I would have liked to see the official Texas longhorn herd at LBJ State Park or maybe stop in Stonewall, birthplace of LBJ. We also missed the dance hall in Albert and most importantly, Luckenbach. Why? Because it was getting late and we had a darned reservation! 

We arrived at Garner State Park close to 6:45 pm, about an hour before sunset in this part of the world. It was a huge campground with ~500 campsites. The sites were crowded together with little to no privacy and we were boxed in on both sides by other campers… with lots of children and barking dogs (grumble, grumble, grumble). We hurried to set up, make dinner, eat, and clean up before the darkness and cold set in. Did I mention we felt rushed all day?

A game of cards, some reading, and a good night’s sleep got us out of our grumpy funk and by morning, we were ready for a walk in the park. It was quite cold during the night (40s), but the sun warmed the day quickly. There’s a drought here, too, but the river was flowing. 

We walked the 3-mile Rio Frio Long trail. A quick toe dip confirmed that, true to its name, the Rio Frio was definitely ‘frio’. The trail was flat, easy and boring… no flowers, no animals and very few birds. Back at Blanche, we packed up and headed out. So far, Garner would qualify as our least favorite Texas State Park. 

The next park on our itinerary is Kickapoo Caverns State Park and we’re hoping to see the bats we missed in Austin. But we got another surprise while we were there. Join us next time and see.