Our first stop this morning was in Dublin, Texas, home to the first, and oldest operating Dr. Pepper bottling facility. There we toured the bottling plant, and tasted their Dr. Pepper which is still made with real cane sugar, rather than high-fructose corn syrup as all other Dr. Pepper is made with. Following our Dr. Pepper tour, we made our way to San Saba where we enjoyed some absolutely amazing brisket at Broken Spoke BBQ. The brisket there is the first I’ve had that can compete with the brisket served up in Lockhart. Happy, and with full bellies, we continued south to Enchanted Rock State Park. Enchanted Rock is a massive piece of granite that rises about 500 feet above the surrounding countryside. We took the summit trail up a brief but very strenuous 3/5 of a mile to the top of the rock. While on top we enjoyed the views, and explored a small cave just below the summit. On the way back down, we ran across a squirrel and some deer before hopping back into the car and moving on.

Heading south again, we eventually found ourselves in Luckenbach, Texas where we strolled around taking in the ambiance while sipping a beer and conjuring up images of Willie, Waylon, Jerry Jeff, and all the other “outlaws” that once haunted the place. Quickly losing sunlight, we moved on to Pedernales Falls, which we reached just before dusk. The sunset was beautiful, but a lack of water made Pedernales Falls more like Pedernales Rocks and Puddles. We left in the fading sunlight and made our way, finally, to Austin where we’ll be until Monday morning. Grabbed a quick dinner at Capt Benny’s near our hotel before retiring, exhausted, for the evening.