Becker and Bob and Bradley

So, West Texas. Wow. I see now why everyone I talked to when planning this trip told me there was nothing to see in West Texas. We got a sneak peak last night driving across the border and heading into Andrews, but then once the sun rose, we got a really view of the wide-open landscape. Empty flat lands, dotted with drilling cranes or oil derricks or giant reservoirs, the scent of oil refineries floating on the air. I felt a little stuffed up as a result, and Mario mentioned having a headache overnight - it makes me wonder how people can live in these small towns dotting the vast landscape.

Regardless, we take this day as a travel day, using the empty roads as an opportunity to get in some long hours of driving and get to Austin faster. I sit in the back seat and blog while Mario struggles with the steering wheel, fighting constantly with the gusting winds blowing across the flat terrain. I remark how the landscape changes from oil-producing to solar farms to aeolians, harnessing the power of the crazy winds. We stop for coffee in San Angelo, stretch, and make wraps to eat on the road. But eventually the flat lands begin to roll, the ground composition changes to white limestone and iron-rich red earth, and there are trees. Trees! We get to the town of Fredericksburg, where so many Texas wineries await, and so many wines are available for our tasting.

Mario did a little research online and found that for the most part, the wineries in Fredericksburg offer tastings via reservation. Not wanting to tie ourselves down with a timed event that we might miss, we chose one of the larger vineyards, Becker, for hopefully a more convivial and relaxed atmosphere and tasting. Turns out, it was the best decision. The great big wooden barn tasting room was vast but cozy at the same time, and just about empty, even on a Friday afternoon. We joined Cynthia, one of the tasting guides, at the bar and got our tasting underway with a complimentary taste of the 2021 Provencal Rosé. We continued through a couple of the whites, crisp and light, and then moved through the reds, some tempranillo, some port.

The wines were good, though we were not blown away by anything - What made this tasting special was the back and forth conversation with Cynthia. Obviously we talked about the wines, the process, the grapes, the facts that the vines are all hidden away because here it is every man for himself, and you don't want your vines out in the open for everyone to profit from. Apparently the vine culture here had an Old West vibe too! We talked travel and camping, places to visit in Austin and nearby, food and pairing Becker wines with it. She really elevated our tasting to an experience with her attention and interaction. She even snuck us a complimentary tasting of the Fleur Sauvage wine, a slightly sweeter, full-bodied white blend, excellent for drinking cold as a palate cleanser, or just as a refreshing sipping wine. It turned out to be the one we fell in love with, and that currently has a home on our campervan's fridge.

Somewhere along the road, I happened upon info for a place called Luckenbach, a small village turned cowboy music mecca from the 1970's on, where big names including Willie Nelson came to play, and others came to record. Every night there are live music sessions, and people come from far and wide to enjoy the beer, the music and the magic of the place. And imagine - they also have camping. So not 15 miles away from Becker Vineyards, we drove down the dirty back roads to the town of Luckenbach, and pulled into the field overlooking the old wooden buildings housing the General Store, bar and Dancehall. And we were the only ones.

After a supper of peanut noodles made with packets of ramen, frozen veggies and teriyaki beef jerky(delicious!), we headed down to the bar, following the sounds of a folksy guitar being picked. Inside, we discovered legendary(in his own mind!) Bob Livingston and his "sidekick" for the evening, Bradley Kopp. Both have had amazing careers in country music, and many, many stories of life on the road, touring actively for the past 40 years. In between songs, some their own, some covers of other great singers and songwriters, they recounted events relating to the writing of the music, adventures while travelling to gigs, while visiting other countries. And you can imagine, in a room of about 20 people sitting on folding chairs and old church pews, drinks in hand, it felt like a jam session and gathering among old friends. It was a really magically experience. Well, until the last 20 minutes when they played all the Texas Cowboy favorites, and everyone but Mario and I were singing along. All the folk music and acoustic interpretations I really enjoyed, but it's a hard pass for me when it comes to real twangy Country music. Thankfully it was only 20 minutes. 

Once Bob and Bradley finished up, everyone began heading back to their cars. Under the glow of about a million strings of lights, and the full moon, Mario and I walked up the hill and back to the only campervan in the field for a really good sleep.