If you're fortunate enough to have a hill on your home place with an uncluttered view of the Wimberley Valley, your heart is probably going to nag you endlessly to build a cabin there.
That's what happened to me and what I did in April 2001.
At first, I had no idea my little hilltop could produce such a wonderful view.
As with so many places around here, the dense cedar thickets block just about everything from view.The exception is the next limb waiting to smack you in the face.
Clearing the area gradually revealed not only a long, long view out into the hill country with not a single roof top in sight, but a long-abandoned, weathered and grey 14 x 20 ft. concrete pad perfectly positioned for the view.
There were few clues, but it might have been the floor of a small pavilion.
Even with the clearing completed, the site held onto its feeling of remoteness: there was the view far out to the west, but not of my own home down below – scarcely a 4 min. winding drive.
So, what it all added up to was the gift of a potential vacation retreat barely minutes away.
At this point, the hilltop inventory included a usable access road, a ready-made pad site bracketed by trees on a level hill top and – discovered later – a magnificent native stone BBQ just 20 feet or so from the pad.
The pad pretty much dictated the rest of my dream:
a simple 14 x 20 cabin dedicated to the simple life:
no plumbing, no electricity, a rainwater collection system (mainly for washups, my dogs and other animals), a covered front porch, rustic furniture, and a restored BBQ setup. |
| The BBQ, found needing repair under a cedar and vine thicket, came back to life as an eager kitchen substitute.
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