On The Road – Day 5

Five days on the road with my boyfriend and we were still getting along.
I was happy.

We drove back up to Austin and didn’t stop.

I remember thinking, “The Texas landscape is pretty” as we kept connecting from one highway to another, heading towards Lubbock.

We drove through numerous little Texas towns, all with a similar layout: a center park-like area, main street, and a town hall. I thought Texas was all country, cowboys and ranches. I didn’t expect quaint towns, many of which looked like the movie set for Back To The Future.

My boyfriend had a plan for the day. He wanted to stop in Marble Falls for brunch. I’m glad my boyfriend wanted to stop there because Marbles Falls is a pretty river town. Visiting Marble Falls proved to be one of the highlights of the trip for me.

After spending a few hours in Marble Falls we got back in the truck and went off course a little bit so we could go and check out Fredericksburg.

Here is my comparison of the two towns: I found Fredericksburg to be more of a tourist town. The main street was booming with people going in and out of shops. I saw some German influence. But, I didn’t see the kind of charm that I did in Marble Falls and Fredericksburg was congested. I enjoyed strolling down the streets in Marble Falls:

... not so much in Fredericksburg ...

In Fredericksburg we walked a few blocks off the main street and went grocery shopping. Side bar: My boyfriend and I both prefer to buy and make our own food, as much as possible, compared to eating out.

Ahhhhh, it was nice to be in an air-conditioned store for an hour. It was also nice to restock the truck with fresh fruit, veggies, sandwich fixings, fizzy water and snacks.

After we bought our groceries we spent another half of an hour rinsing off the fruit and veggies with bottled water and getting everything put away in the refrigerator and cabinets.

We got back on the road and I sat on the bunk, made a cutting board out of some clean cardboard and started making sandwiches. I made about a dozen sandwiches, putting each sandwich in its own baggie.

You know, if I ever make sandwiches on the bunk of a truck again (which I ended up doing a few times while on the trip), I’m going to make sure I have a metal knife (versus a plastic one) and an actual cutting board. Cardboard cutting boards really are not the way to go.

But, having a batch of sandwiches over the next few days proved to be nice while traveling the Texas roads. It was a simple matter of reaching back into the refrigerator to get a sandwich and then handing it to my boyfriend when he was hungry. I ate a few too.

I’m telling you, keeping your trucker fed is a definite plus. :-)

We kept moving and watched a beautiful sunset while driving on the highway towards Lubbock. We drove through Lubbock and decided to stop at a country gas station in Amherst for the night.

Total miles traveled on day five = 563 miles.