Llano, Texas: a small and interesting town in the heart of the Hill Country. Every year when we arrive after months of living in a desert climate, I'm surprised anew at how lush, green and humid it is here. The flowers are almost entirely different than what we've been seeing.
One of the reasons we like it here is that the City has an RV park right on the Llano River. The wading can be good, and there's always something interesting going on. These days it's dredging the river, because the river provides the city's drinking water and the impoundment has been getting shallower by the year. The City of Llano is 5 years into a 10-year contract for the purpose. Unfortunately a severe flood in the fall of 2018 undid much of their good work (and destroyed this park) so a lot of progress was undone.
Another reason we love Llano is the Texas barbecue available. One of our favorite places is closed because the owners retired and sold a year or so ago -- I heard last year they were relieved to be done with the business, and I'll bet they're ecstatic now! However, there's still our other favorite, Cooper's Old-Time Barbecue. When we come to Llano we figure there will be little cooking and a lot of takeout, out of sheer gluttony. This year we also figure we're doing our civic duty, helping them stay afloat. That's our story, and we're sticking to it. They've worked out a way to do takeout safely.
In two nights here, we haven't had to text our presence because someone spotted us coming in. They take the order, and a little while later come out with the bags and a credit card reader. We put the card in the reader, the waiter hands it back wrapped in the receipt. The waiter never handles the card.
Portions are generous as always, and the free sides are plentiful if you ask. I'm in pinto bean heaven: pinto beans for breakfast! Gussied up with their barbecue sauce and some (quite unnecessary, but oh so tasty) sour cream. Burrp.
Dinner our first night here was beef ribs. I also got potato salad (not free), and free bbq sauce and beans. These ribs are immense; in fact, we weren't able to finish what we'd bought.
Last night we went for brisket. This time we got cole slaw for him, potato salad for me, more beans and sauce, and pickles and onions. I didn't ask for jalapenos (theirs are reliably VERY hot) or bread, but they gave it to us anyway.
We couldn't finish this either, and didn't expect to. It was very, very good. I cooked green beans as a nod to some sort of green vegetables; he had cole slaw.
As much as we want to go back tonight and keep stocking up, we'll probably work on leftovers tonight. If I get enterprising (more enterprising than I've been so far today) I'll work some of them into a pasta or potato dish of some sort. I have some extra incentive; along the river I found some sort of wild allium. Pretty good flavor, just begging to be added to food. I harvested a handful.
