It was touch and go for a while, but I finally made it here on Friday. This is the big weekend that we've been planning for months - the one where my sister Kathy and brother Bill and his family were to meet me here in Wimberley, in order to participate in on of Sibby Barret's Hill Country Excursion/Random Acts of Cooking adventures over at Juniper Hills Farm. We had to book the combination food foraging tour and cooking class almost a year in advance, because they are so very popular.
I started getting somewhat anxious a couple of weeks back. As you may recall, in the earlier part of the summer, we were pretty ecstatic about all the rain and cool weather we were having here, but when I heard about the flooding around Marble Falls, I started thinking "OK, enough already!" About a week ago, just before we were to leave for a convention in Orlando, we got an email message from the head of our neighborhood association here, informing us that the gate blocking the back entrance to the neighborhood (previously referred to as The Road From Hell) had been temporarily unlocked. That could mean only one thing - the water was up so high in our creek that the low-water crossings leading into our neighborhood were impassable. Fortunately, I still had just over a week to go before I was to meet up with my siblings, and I thought surely the crisis would be past by then. Unfortunately, the rain just kept on a comin'!
As soon as we got back to Houston on Thursday, I called a neighbor in Wimberley and asked if the main entrance was open again. "For now" he said. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, it comes and goes. The sun comes out for a bit, the water goes down, then it rains again, and it goes back up. Of course, they've got the back gate open for the time being, so you can always come up thataway." "In my Mini?" I asked. "Oh. Well now, I wouldn't recommend trying that." Great. I explained to him that I was to meet my family there the following day for an excursion that had been booked months in advance, and it was too late to get a refund, but if it rained a whole bunch more between now and then, would he please call and warn me? He said "Sure thing. Oh, by the way, which direction will they be coming from?" I answered "From Kyle, why?" He replied "Oh, they should be fine then. If they were coming from San Marcos, that would be another thing." "But I come in through San Marcos!" I said. "Why is that a problem?" "Well, there is a big chunk of road missing around Meyer's Construction, so you might want to come another way." "By Meyer's? But you have to go by Meyer's just to get into Wimberley from our place! Are you saying we can't even get into town now?" "Oh no, you can get there all right. It just might take you a bit longer than usual. They've got a detour set up that circles you way around in the opposite direction." Oh, perfect.
The next morning dawned cloudy and drizzly, but there had been no warning call from our neighbor, so I loaded up the car and headed out. I stopped at Hay's City Cafe as I pulled into town, to grab a burger for lunch and to check on the news. My waitress informed me that the road over to Driftwood was finally clear, and that they were working fast and furious to take care of the problem by Meyer's. Hopefully it would be open in the next day or so. At last, some good news! I went on to the house and, luckily, had no trouble getting into the neighborhood, although the water was certainly higher than I had ever seen it. In non-drought conditions, there is always some water spilling across the first crossing, but now it wasn't spilling, it was rushing. The second crossing is always dry, because it has a huge culvert that diverts the water under the road, rather than over it, but that means there is a pretty steep drop, the distance of the big culvert pipe, on the other side. From the way all the vegetation was matted down on the high side of the crossing, it was obvious that at some point recently, the water had risen above the culvert and gone gushing over the road. I suddenly had a vision of my little car being swept over the edge, like a tiny beer barrel going over Niagara Falls.
I had just enough time to do a little house-cleaning before Kathy arrived. After catching up on all the latest news, we decided to head into town to grab some supper at Juan Henry's. The detour we had to take to get there was a real pain in the butt, and added about twenty minutes to the trip, but at least it was clearly marked with big arrows at every twist and turn, so you wouldn't get lost in the maze. Bill, his wife Dani, and their daughter Merrit didn't arrive until after 10:00. Since everyone was pretty exhausted at that point, and since we had to get an early start the following day, we turned in for the night not long after they arrived, and I offered up a little prayer of thanks for everyone's safe arrival, for being able to actually get to the house, and for the fact that it hadn't rained anymore.....(To be continued)
I started getting somewhat anxious a couple of weeks back. As you may recall, in the earlier part of the summer, we were pretty ecstatic about all the rain and cool weather we were having here, but when I heard about the flooding around Marble Falls, I started thinking "OK, enough already!" About a week ago, just before we were to leave for a convention in Orlando, we got an email message from the head of our neighborhood association here, informing us that the gate blocking the back entrance to the neighborhood (previously referred to as The Road From Hell) had been temporarily unlocked. That could mean only one thing - the water was up so high in our creek that the low-water crossings leading into our neighborhood were impassable. Fortunately, I still had just over a week to go before I was to meet up with my siblings, and I thought surely the crisis would be past by then. Unfortunately, the rain just kept on a comin'!
As soon as we got back to Houston on Thursday, I called a neighbor in Wimberley and asked if the main entrance was open again. "For now" he said. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, it comes and goes. The sun comes out for a bit, the water goes down, then it rains again, and it goes back up. Of course, they've got the back gate open for the time being, so you can always come up thataway." "In my Mini?" I asked. "Oh. Well now, I wouldn't recommend trying that." Great. I explained to him that I was to meet my family there the following day for an excursion that had been booked months in advance, and it was too late to get a refund, but if it rained a whole bunch more between now and then, would he please call and warn me? He said "Sure thing. Oh, by the way, which direction will they be coming from?" I answered "From Kyle, why?" He replied "Oh, they should be fine then. If they were coming from San Marcos, that would be another thing." "But I come in through San Marcos!" I said. "Why is that a problem?" "Well, there is a big chunk of road missing around Meyer's Construction, so you might want to come another way." "By Meyer's? But you have to go by Meyer's just to get into Wimberley from our place! Are you saying we can't even get into town now?" "Oh no, you can get there all right. It just might take you a bit longer than usual. They've got a detour set up that circles you way around in the opposite direction." Oh, perfect.
The next morning dawned cloudy and drizzly, but there had been no warning call from our neighbor, so I loaded up the car and headed out. I stopped at Hay's City Cafe as I pulled into town, to grab a burger for lunch and to check on the news. My waitress informed me that the road over to Driftwood was finally clear, and that they were working fast and furious to take care of the problem by Meyer's. Hopefully it would be open in the next day or so. At last, some good news! I went on to the house and, luckily, had no trouble getting into the neighborhood, although the water was certainly higher than I had ever seen it. In non-drought conditions, there is always some water spilling across the first crossing, but now it wasn't spilling, it was rushing. The second crossing is always dry, because it has a huge culvert that diverts the water under the road, rather than over it, but that means there is a pretty steep drop, the distance of the big culvert pipe, on the other side. From the way all the vegetation was matted down on the high side of the crossing, it was obvious that at some point recently, the water had risen above the culvert and gone gushing over the road. I suddenly had a vision of my little car being swept over the edge, like a tiny beer barrel going over Niagara Falls.
I had just enough time to do a little house-cleaning before Kathy arrived. After catching up on all the latest news, we decided to head into town to grab some supper at Juan Henry's. The detour we had to take to get there was a real pain in the butt, and added about twenty minutes to the trip, but at least it was clearly marked with big arrows at every twist and turn, so you wouldn't get lost in the maze. Bill, his wife Dani, and their daughter Merrit didn't arrive until after 10:00. Since everyone was pretty exhausted at that point, and since we had to get an early start the following day, we turned in for the night not long after they arrived, and I offered up a little prayer of thanks for everyone's safe arrival, for being able to actually get to the house, and for the fact that it hadn't rained anymore.....(To be continued)
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