Sometimes, ya gotta have a back-up plan. And sometimes, you need a back-up to your back-up. Today was one of those days where I made a fairly amateur mistake in seeking out a place for my wife and I to try.
I had done a little research on the Google and found a place called Cora's 471 Grill that according to their web page, has been around since 1932. That's a long time to be in bid'ness on a lonely stretch of road, but if you believe their web page and signage, they also have the best nachos in Texas, so they may account for the longevity.
Of course, I'd be telling you about Cora's right now if their business hours matched what their web page proclaims, and they opened at 11AM on Saturday's instead of 5PM. Maybe another time. My amateur mistake was not calling ahead to verify. This is not the first time (nor the last I suspect) that we drove someplace expecting it to be open, only to find out that had we called in advance, we could have saved a trip. 
But, I do like the drive, so what the heck. These are a few shots taken along FM471 between Rio Medina and Castroville. The view from an air conditioned truck is mighty fine.
With Cora's out of luck, I did have a back-up in the form of a Diner in Castroville, but come to find out, they are open on Sundays, but not Saturday.
On to the small town of Hondo where we have had some good dining experiences; Hermann Sons and McBee's to name a few. So the funny thing was, we thought we would let Garmin pick out a few potential places, drive by and then choose what looked good.
The first place we picked was called Olivia's. We followed the directions on Garmin to an empty lot that looks as though it has been cleared to make something else. No sign saying, former home of Olivia's or anything. I seriously believe the answer is that the address is wrong in Garmin - and on Google. Garmin told us to go onto J street and that was where we found the empty lot. Google says it is on 18th Street, but to be honest, we drove down 18th Street and didn't see it there either. Who knows? Perhaps a reader will tell us what we missed.
If that wasn't bad enough, we went with our second Garmin choice, a place called Hi-Way Drive-In. The first clue we had a problem was when the British woman in my Garmin told me to take a street heading away from the highway. Would it make sense to name a place Hi-Way Drive-In and not be on or near the highway? This time, we ended up in front of someones house. And I couldn't even smell a fire going, so we thought perhaps we were in the twilight zone or something.
Instead of driving around in Honda for hours, and let's face it, you could probably do it and see the place several times, we decided to get on Highway 173 and head north to Bandera. I love the drive between Hondo and Bandera because it looks to me like some place they could film an old western flick. I can just see Clint Eastwood or John Wayne riding on a horse along these small hills. If you live up north and see this, yes, it really is this dry and brown, and wide open out here.
Once safely into Bandera (my wife kept mentioning snakes and stuff along the way), we quickly decided to go into Old Spanish Trail. OST is at the intersection of Main Street (173) and Highway 16 which means, you can't get in or out of Bandera without seeing it. Of course, as many times as we have been to Bandera, we thought that we had eaten there before, but when we walked in, realized we had not.
We took a seat in the John Wayne Room where the walls are covered in pictures of mostly The Duke, but many other famous cowboy actors.
The rest of the restaurant has a similar feel about it. Cowboy related memorabilia, a bar where you can sit on a saddle instead of a stool - what fella wouldn't want to sit there after a long day of cowboying? Good stuff.
Just looking at other people's plates, the servings looked fairly good sized. We had heard good words about the Chicken Fried Steak, so my wife was all for it, but opted to get the Kid's meal version (to which they had no problem with). Obviously, the kids in Bandera eat a lot, because the CFS was enough for an adult. She got the mashed potatoes with gravy and a roll (though we may have had to pay extra for the roll). The mashed potatoes were excellent, gravy was awesome and the CFS was a treat. She said it was a bit chewy, but the hunk I had was pretty darn good. Better than Lulu's? No. But worth every penny.
My dinner came with a trip to the salad bar. No complaints from me; it was clean, filled with the stuff they put out, and there didn't appear to be any little kids rummaging through it. I could have used some chopped up boiled eggs, but I need to lose a few pounds anyway.
I opted for the Catfish and shrimp combo and was more than pleased. It came with the aforementioned salad bar and I got the mashed potatoes. The three pieces of butterflied shrimp were not only well-sized, they were great tasting. The catfish was cooked just the way I like it - very close to what the folks at Clear Springs do. For the $12, I might have liked one more catfish nugget, but what the heck, Bandera is a tourist place. I did wonder why they added a bed of lettuce and tomato to the plate when a salad already comes with the entree, but who knows, maybe the cook was giving me a hint: More salad, less fried food.
No complaints at all. Parking could be an issue but usually if you go to Bandera, you are going to shop anyway, so you can always utilize the free parking in other areas and just walk. I would gladly take friends or family and check out some of the many other things on their big menu.
My wife's favorite store is Tractor Supply Co. and we simply cannot pass by one without making a stop.
Apparently, The King can't stay away either.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Up until the last quarter - or even the last five minutes of the last quarter, there wasn't a whole lot of excitement in this years Super Bowl. Not even the highly anticipated commercials were that good. Though, we did get a chuckle out of that Doritos one where the guy sets a mouse trap and sits back, listening to some opera or something and waits for the mouse to get whacked. Then, as soon as he eats a Dorito, a guy in a mouse suit (there was no attempt to make it appear like a big mouse - clearly a guy in a poorly fitted mouse suit) jumps out of the wall and tackles him. Pure genius. Well, compared to most of the others.
So call me a guy looking for a spoiler. I know Tom Brady and the Patriots are a phenomenal team and deserve much credit for their great season. But Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! I could not have been happier to see them get smacked. Dolphins fans and old players everywhere can rejoice.
We had family over to watch the spectacle and partake of my well-enjoyed pork ribs that I have adapted from a secret recipe I got from the husband of one of my wife's friends. DeeeeLicious. 
During half time, we drove down the street to the Lodge of the Great Northwest to check out the festivities at the lodge. Don't tell the NFL, but they put up the game on the huge screen and it looked great! Is it me, or does Tom Petty look like he is about 80? Maybe it was the beard.
Some folks from the neighborhood, the Diaz, who own a restaurant and catering service, Taqueria El Nortenito over off of Castroville and 34th provided a free spread for the event. Though we had eaten in the first quarter, my wife and I grabbed some tostadas and let me tell you, the homemade shells and the salsa were great. Turns out, El Nortenito isn't that far from work, so I may have to slip out for lunch and give the full menu a look see.
We went back to the house to finish the game and do some clean-up action and as much as I fully expected the Patriots to simply score a few times and pull ahead, it just didn't work out for them. Again, I simply offer this: Ha Ha!
Though we live in what many consider to be a pretty crowded area, complete with occasional bouts of bumper to bumper traffic on the drive to and from work,one of the beautiful things about living close to the ever moving edge of town is that, in 15 minutes or less, we can be out in the middle of open country. And we like to take advantage of that.
You need only take a single flight between San Antonio and Dallas or San Antonio and Houston, and you can see just how wide open and unpopulated the state of Texas is. But sprinkled between the major cities are small little towns, each of them with their own interesting history and architecture worth exploring when you get a chance. 
Today, we headed West of San Antonio and hit three small towns: Castroville, Hondo and D'Hanis. This little adventure started because my wife wanted to go to the Tractor Supply Company.
In case you aren't familiar with them, they are sort of an all purpose hardware store but with an emphasis on things you might need out in the country, on a farm or ranch. The have a slogan that goes something like, "The Stuff you Need Out Here" where "out here" is in the country or on a farm or a ranch or away from the city.
But the main purpose of our going "Out Here" was so my wife could buy some toy animals.
Yea, aside from all the farm implements you might need, TSC knows that country kids like country toys, including toy tractors, toy animals and the like. My wife needed some real farm animals, and specifically, a Texas Longhorn to complete her Christmas Manger set-up.
So once we spent $120.00 on stuff I had no idea we were in the market for, we continued West on Hiway 90 into Castroville. I nearly shit myself with excitement when I passed a '72 Camaro just like mine from high school. Just this one was nicer.
Castroville is a nice little town full of antique shops and meat processing places. Being so close to San Antonio, it is a frequent stop for people looking to attend flea markets and craft bizarres. But if you get off the main road, you can find some interesting old places to gawk at.
We decided that after all the years we have been passing through Castroville on our way to other places, we were going to once and for all stop and take a walking tour of the town.
Of course, this would have to happen on a day when it wasn't so cold or windy.
So, we moved on down the road to Hondo. You may have heard of Hondo, TX either in the movies or from the famous sign that warns drivers in a nice and polite way, not to speed through town.
In the past twenty years, Hondo has gone from a speed trap with a McDonald's to a full fledged, Wal Mart and now, Super Wal Mart metropolis, yet maintaining that Dairy Queen small town feel about it.
We drove up and down a few streets just to enjoy some of the small town feel. I know that people in these towns have cable (or at least the Dish) and they certainly get the paper, but you can't help but feel as though you are experiencing life in a slower, simpler and more enjoyable pace when you visit. And please don't misunderstand, I don't suggest for a moment that these folks are bumpkins, just that they have a lot less traffic than we do.
My wife was especially fond of the Santa Cowboy. How appropriate for Hondo.
I liked the fact that the local country radio station went all out in their Christmas display along the main road.
Up next: Lunch in D'Hanis.
I had done a little research on the Google and found a place called Cora's 471 Grill that according to their web page, has been around since 1932. That's a long time to be in bid'ness on a lonely stretch of road, but if you believe their web page and signage, they also have the best nachos in Texas, so they may account for the longevity.
Of course, I'd be telling you about Cora's right now if their business hours matched what their web page proclaims, and they opened at 11AM on Saturday's instead of 5PM. Maybe another time. My amateur mistake was not calling ahead to verify. This is not the first time (nor the last I suspect) that we drove someplace expecting it to be open, only to find out that had we called in advance, we could have saved a trip. 
But, I do like the drive, so what the heck. These are a few shots taken along FM471 between Rio Medina and Castroville. The view from an air conditioned truck is mighty fine.
Instead of driving around in Honda for hours, and let's face it, you could probably do it and see the place several times, we decided to get on Highway 173 and head north to Bandera. I love the drive between Hondo and Bandera because it looks to me like some place they could film an old western flick. I can just see Clint Eastwood or John Wayne riding on a horse along these small hills. If you live up north and see this, yes, it really is this dry and brown, and wide open out here.
Once safely into Bandera (my wife kept mentioning snakes and stuff along the way), we quickly decided to go into Old Spanish Trail. OST is at the intersection of Main Street (173) and Highway 16 which means, you can't get in or out of Bandera without seeing it. Of course, as many times as we have been to Bandera, we thought that we had eaten there before, but when we walked in, realized we had not.
We took a seat in the John Wayne Room where the walls are covered in pictures of mostly The Duke, but many other famous cowboy actors.
The rest of the restaurant has a similar feel about it. Cowboy related memorabilia, a bar where you can sit on a saddle instead of a stool - what fella wouldn't want to sit there after a long day of cowboying? Good stuff.
Just looking at other people's plates, the servings looked fairly good sized. We had heard good words about the Chicken Fried Steak, so my wife was all for it, but opted to get the Kid's meal version (to which they had no problem with). Obviously, the kids in Bandera eat a lot, because the CFS was enough for an adult. She got the mashed potatoes with gravy and a roll (though we may have had to pay extra for the roll). The mashed potatoes were excellent, gravy was awesome and the CFS was a treat. She said it was a bit chewy, but the hunk I had was pretty darn good. Better than Lulu's? No. But worth every penny.
My dinner came with a trip to the salad bar. No complaints from me; it was clean, filled with the stuff they put out, and there didn't appear to be any little kids rummaging through it. I could have used some chopped up boiled eggs, but I need to lose a few pounds anyway.
I opted for the Catfish and shrimp combo and was more than pleased. It came with the aforementioned salad bar and I got the mashed potatoes. The three pieces of butterflied shrimp were not only well-sized, they were great tasting. The catfish was cooked just the way I like it - very close to what the folks at Clear Springs do. For the $12, I might have liked one more catfish nugget, but what the heck, Bandera is a tourist place. I did wonder why they added a bed of lettuce and tomato to the plate when a salad already comes with the entree, but who knows, maybe the cook was giving me a hint: More salad, less fried food.
