Leakey, TX......The Twisted Sisters

              

Hwy 337 heading into Leakey, TX

      1554 miles after departure from our summer home in the beautiful forests of NW Michigan, we arrive at our new winter place in Leakey, TX.  By the way it is pronounced LAA-key.  Located approximately 90 miles west of San Antonio, this embodies the best of the hill country.  Mountains, canyons, crystal clear water, and plenty of wildlife. In fact plenty of axis deer and javelinas frequent our property and the surrounding ranches.  This is a famous ride for bikers in the SW; called the Twisted Sisters for it's lack of straight roads, but plenty of scenery and elevation change.  https://ridermagazine.com/2013/07/08/twisted-sisters-the-texas-hill-countrys-most-famous-trio/  The town has a population of 450 with a total Real County population right at 3,000.  Small town living at it's best with everything else you need less than an hour away.  

First year camp setup

Bedroom Cabin and Cookshack with Deck (fully furnished including shower)

      There are 2 small cabins;  One is a fully furnished bedroom with all the amenities including shower, hot water tank, sink, dressers, and nightstands, and (for now) compostable toilet. The other cabin is a fully furnished cookshack with toaster oven, coffee maker, microwave, hot plate, small refrigerator/freezer, and kitchen rack full of utensils.  Additionally, there is a full RV hookup next to the cabins with water, electricity and septic.  

Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchen 1

Kitchen 2

      We plan our first winter for adding a fence with a locked gate, a new wood pit cooker, many other small tasks and chores to make it our own.  There will be plenty of R & R and hoping to put some meat in the freezer as well.  This is also serious rattlesnake country, but during this time of year we don't plan on many 'visitors'.  We will explore ways to minimize the appearance of 'Joe-No-Shoulders'.  

King Portable Satellite System

     Once we set up our interim homestead with satellite, WiFi, and checked our phone service we began to settle in.  There is no TV reception here so satellite is a must, the only cell service you can receive here is AT&T so we had all our stuff converted before departure from Michigan.  

      Of course no trip goes without mishap as I soon found out when navigating the narrow driveway. I did very well missing all the live oaks close to the drive EXCEPT ONE.  By the time I saw it the awning lead edge and mount had caught on the tree and twisted the entire setup front to rear.  Also when we powered up the buildings everything worked fine except the well and pump.  Plumber arrived the next day and upon troubleshooting found the well pump was frozen (inactive) after not being used for several years.  The solution would be to re-pipe, replace the pump, and perhaps an entirely new well.  We did check out the city water 'stumping' to the property and found the water to be ALREADY HOOKED UP.  I had them check out the rest of the water system and they found the old 'cabin size' water heater to be kaput.  So we had them schedule us an appointment to completely update the hot water system as well as another spigot closer to the RV pad.  So much for the 'rose colored glasses' we all sometimes wear when property shopping.  All in all it will still be cheaper than a new well.     

      During our first visit to Uvalde, about 40 miles south we also ordered our new custom made wood pit smoker from Texas Longhorn BBQ Pits www.texaslonghornbbqpits.com/index.html   The design is very similar to our current model in NW Michigan, but a bit smaller with no vertical smoker shelves; just an output flu/smokestack.  It does also come with a standard floor mount as well as a bumper hitch mount for the truck if desired, but ours will stay put in camp.  We should get it in about 5 weeks. Uvalde is also the closest town with all the big box stores as well as Walmart, HEB and other desired retailers.   We stopped at Morales Feed on the way back and picked up 300 pounds of apple deer corn.  Have some alfalfa on order for next week. We have about 2 dozen axis deer and half a dozen whitetail frequenting our place;  want to keep them around.      

      There is also garbage service or transfer station to look into, firewood, optometrist to fulfill the  prescriptions I got before departure, and the whole question of homestead exemption in two states, (and how to get around that) etc.  HOORAY,  there is a laundromat close.  Of course I will be contacting my neighbors to introduce ourselves as well as investigate the local ranch hunting situation for us locals. 

      This entire winter is a work in progress.  We have not only 2 homes, but now 2 sets of chores as well.  The secret is to whittle away at it a bit at a time.  Not too many projects or things begin to stack up.  There is plenty to do and lots of time to do it.  Relaxation and exploration are still pretty high up there on our scale of priorities.  I think we will have several friends come to visit us this winter either by car, truck, or Harley.  Room we got, food I'll make.  There is also the Rio Frio River Fest, BBQ Competition at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, and Luckenbach is never very far away.  Country music concerts and camping nearly every weekend.  True, at some point we'll probably build, but for now this is as good as it gets.  For us...….perfect. 

"I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that.  It is a mystique closely approximating a religion.  

John Steinbeck

WiFi courtesy of AT&T Wireless