The BBQ Capitol of Texas!!! Lockhart Texas.

After leaving College Station we headed west toward the town of Lockhart, the BBQ Capitol of Texas. We will be staying at Lockhart State Park for three nights as that was all I could reserve. That will be just enough time for Sharon and I to have our Texas BBQ fix!

The first stop was for dinner  at Black’s BBQ one of the oldest and most well know BBQ joints in Texas. Black’s consistently has great BBQ, however in our past polls, it has mostly scored lower than its Lockhart competitors. Our order that evening was for some of their lean brisket and smoked turkey. The flavor and smoke ring on the brisket was spot on and the meat was very tender. The turkey was fabulous as well. We knew right away that the competition had their hands full this year as this meal was exceptional. We savored every single bite.

Back at the park we took in a few hikes as it has some nice trails. As far as recreational activities we also played some disc golf at the nearby city park in Lockhart.  For a change of pace we also took advantage of the exceptionally inexpensive green fees to play a round of golf on the pretty nice par 3 golf course adjacent to our campground.. I haven’t played in five years or more and actually shot pretty well. Sharon joined me on the back nine for some golf lessons and actually struck the ball fairly well for a newbie. We both really had fun…

Our second BBQ stop was at Smittys for what has been typically our winner each of the years we have stopped here. As an added bonus we also were lucky enough to have RV friends, Jenny and Tim, meet us for lunch. We first met them in Red Bay Alabama at a time we were both being held captive in the Tiffin Service lot campground. Not only was the BBQ excellent the company was even better. Since Tim grew up in Lockhart he had some really great history to share. He also gave us a personal tour behind the scenes at Smitty’s and introduced us to one of the owners. Wonderful insights! It was such fun catching up with these great people and hopefully our paths will cross again soon! If not, we decided meeting up in Lockhart every year in the Spring should be our new tradition!

Lockhart has a new brewery in town since we last came so one evening we headed over to Caracara Brewing. They had only been open for a few weeks so we sauntered up to the bar and tasted a few beers before settling on their IPA. We chatted with the bartender who introduced us to the brewer who was busy tying up loose ends with the final paperwork involved in their opening. They were also taste testing some wines to stock in the bar and gave us some tastings to help them zero in on their favorites.  We were sure glad we made the trip as everyone there was super nice.

Our final BBQ was at Chisholm Trail BBQ which is known as the locals joint. They have also always had consistently good BBQ at a substantially lower price. While the BBQ was not up to Black’s standards it was still quite good. Our only complaint was the smoked turkey was not fresh as they had to nuke it in a microwave to warm it up.

We sure enjoyed our three night stay in Lockhart and had the opportunity to enjoy some famous Texas BBQ. We squeezed in a lot of fun as well and the only interesting thing different this year than in past years was all of the snake sightings we encountered. Texas Rat Snakes apparently had a good year as we saw several of them in our three days in the park.

In our poll this year our winner was Black’s BBQ as everything we had there was perfect.  We  really enjoyed our time in Lockhart but it was time to hit the road to our next location to Canyon Lake in the Texas hill country where we have a little family reunion…

NOTE: We are now at Cranes Mill Park on Canyon Lake in the hill country of Texas…