16 May Tuesday - The Ranch, Leander TX

The wind got up a tad during the night but this morning there is just a bid of high cloud and 70C.  Jenny (G's sister) brought up fresh eggs and a coffee cake last night and S&G invited us up for brekkie to help them enjoy the bounty - very enjoyable!  Stan showed some pics on the TV of the 2015 tornado and the damage it caused to their property, unbelievable!  They have only had one tornado here in their memory and it was a doozy, doing a lot of structural damage to their very solidly built log cabin home, the out buildings, the RV and it’s shed and even sent huge propane bottles flying!

Stan took Kim and I exploring around the ranch.  We set off in the Polaris four wheeler off road vehicle complete with rifle strapped to the ceiling (Stan also had his pistol) so we felt very safe!  The ranch is vast, the cattle fodder is scrubby grass but the few ‘beeves’ don't seem to mind.  Next door at Jenny’s ranch they farm goat too.  

Looking over the Ranch!

Stan and Kim in the Polaris

We came to the semi cave, a smooth wave shape has been worn out of the rock.  Some of the rock forms a honeycomb texture so little critters must have lived in them at some point in time.  It was hard to believe the cave could be caused by wave action over many hundreds of years but the idea of water covering these parts in the middle of the USA appeared to be supported by the oyster shells we found some miles away.

Wave action must have made this shape in the rock!

A big perfectly round "worm" hole in the rock, what really made it?

Oyster shells hundreds of miles away from any sea

This is how high the oysters shell were found!

We were gone for about four hours.  Didn’t need to use any firepower, didn’t see any snakes or wild critters, only turkey buzzards, a hawk and a couple scissor tail birds. We did scare a wild turkey who took to flight to escape us.  I know also know what racoon poop looks like.

The little fuzzy shapes are enormous Daddy-Long-Legs swarming over the edge of this hole in the ground!

  

Tonight we take S&G out to dinner at Dol Salsas in nearby Cedar Park.  The food was great, commencing with a huge frozen Margareta with a floater of Grand Marnier, we were just following the lead of the locals! Glad we did!  The food was really good but it was way too much for just one dinner, so a box of leftovers came back with each of us.  However, each couple managed to share a serving of fried icecream just to fill in the gaps – yum! 

Lovely dinner with lovely friends!!

Then a brief stop off at Costco as some of the group were close to running out of wine (not us this time, we stocked up).  They had Trinity Hill Pinot Noir which had to come home with us along with some more Red and Chardonnay.  We saw Marlborough Sauv Blanc but branded with the US importer.  Costco is a huge grocery/department/electronic chain store, you must have a Costco card to shop there, I think it is about $50 per year.

It was a brilliant day all in all and we have one more day here tomorrow.  Rain is forecast (30% chance) overnight and tomorrow.