I googled
Luckenbach before we went. On google they have a feature that shows you photos. Many of those photos are shots done by regular people out and about taking pictures. I kept seeing the same backgrounds, mostly the town sign and the post office. The post office looked iconic, so that explained why everyone took a picture there. Sort of like in Key West where everyone takes a picture in front of the marker for the southern most point in the US. Because, well if you go that far, you have to take a photo there.
So when we get just about there I miss the turn for the Luckenbach loop. Instead I pull into what looks like a huge grass parking lot. But the Luckenbach sign is there and I want to take a picture. Lower down in the field I see a lot of cars parked. I figure they have some sort of weekend activity, like a fair or a farmer's market going on. Meanwhile cars and bikes are coming and going from the area down below. Clearly there is a big to do going on.
We drive down to where all the hubbub is. Vrai jumps out where the wooden fence leads to an entrance with some signs. It announce a band that is playing and it's $15 to get in. There are also many signs warning that it's not a BYOB event. She comes back and tells me the deal. We decide to just bypass this and take the Luckenbach loop road, so we can see the downtown. Imagine my surprise when we get on the loop road and it takes us to just behind where we just were. There are about 150 people milling about, going in between the different buildings that are more like barns and outbuildings instead of actual sturdy structures.
So we end up going back to where we just were and park the car. Turns out the $15 cover charge was for an event that happened a while ago. We stroll over between the buildings and up pops a little village that is hard to describe. For the SOMD folks, it was sort of like Tall Timbers Marina if they had 3 or 4 more smaller buildings on their property. The buildings there are a
general store gift shop (reminds me of the old Buzzy's), dance hall, post office turned into a
bar, another bar, a hat store, another bar, a
food shack, kissing booth & decent toilets. There are a few stages and many picnic tables so you can enjoy the music. They had a decent, 4 piece band,
The Strayhearts. I knew about half the song they sang. The one's I didn't know, Vrai knew all the words to them. Go figure. When they introduced the band, it was awkward because they said the guitar player was from El Salvador, then the chants of Build That Wall echoed from the crowd.
Luckenbach reminds me of the end result if you gave a tractor trailer full of lumber to an eneretic boy scout troop. The buildings weren't necessarily structurally sound, but they'd keep the rain off of you in a downpour. The longer we were there, the better the music became and the more people showed up. On our way out and back to the car, I spotted 1 of those European tour busses off loading passengers in the parking lot. I spoke to 1 of the couples getting off the bus. They were from San Antonio as part of a group that is touring the hill country on a wino tour. You know you have made the big time when your little music venue is a stop on the drunk bus tour.
I could have lived my life without visiting Luckenbach. I'm sure glad I came and saw it. It's a testament to the idea of if you build it, they will come. And it makes you shake your head with how much of draw that little hole in the wall location is, while other, more glorious locations can't draw flies. And that is why we run the roads and do what we do. Hopefully after we get the Rav4 all fixed, we'll be off to find our next Luckenbach.
Last time we had freezing temps was over two years ago in Charleston. We're such babies that cold to us now is like 50*. 
