After waiting nearly a year and half from our reservation, our new car arrived last week! We replaced our aging, fifteen-year-old Nissan Cube—which remains one of my favorite cars ever, quirks, terrible transmission, and all—with a brand new Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV.
Look at how cute it is! And it’s so easy to get into lawbreaker territory because unlike the Cube, which had obvious wind noise that let you know you were going fast (aka the “windometer”), the Ioniq is quiet even at highway speeds.
It’s also quite a bit longer than the Cube, which meant we spent Saturday afternoon cleaning up the garage and moving stuff around, which needed to happen anyway, but isn’t my preferred way to spend the weekend.
So on Sunday, we decided to have a fun day and do a little mini roadtrip down to Lockhart for BBQ. Lockhart is a small town of about 14k people, that was once named the “barbecue capital of Texas.” There are three main restaurants, and tons of family drama as one would expect in a small town with three BBQ families each trying to become a dynasty.
Lockhart BBQ isn’t really top-tier anymore, and we could get better BBQ right here in Austin, but it was a nice excuse to get out and drive on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Of the three mainstay BBQ joints in town, we hadn’t been in Kreuz Market in the longest time, so we decided to eat there. Brisket is pretty much the order of the day for TX BBQ, so that was my plan, until I saw the sign advertising pork belly burnt ends.
Doesn’t that sound amazing?
Unfortunately, I don’t know if it was or not, because they were sold out. 😭
It was a real rollercoaster. I didn’t even know pork belly burnt ends were an option, then I saw the sign (and it opened up my eyes…) and I started anticipating the deliciousness, then major disappointment, all in the span of a few minutes.
Since the sign lied to me, I stuck with brisket and Mr. M also ordered a couple of pork ribs. The brisket was just okay, but the pork ribs were pretty good. The real star of the show wasn’t BBQ at all, but the poblano creamed corn, which was delicious. Overall verdict: meh.
But the roadtrip was fun, and we went to a nearby state park and did a little hiking, so the day was a success overall.
We also got to figure out some of the high-tech features of the car, such as highway driving assist, which only tried to gently murder us once, luckily when no one else was around.
Oh, and there was the lady in the state park who came THISCLOSE to crashing head-on into us because she was driving too fast around a blind corner on the wrong side of road. That wasn’t too good for the ole heart. Luckily, she missed us by inches, and we had our dash cam installed, so we would’ve had proof of fault, but I’m glad we didn’t have to deal with a crash on a vehicle with just 100 miles on the odometer.
What about you? Did you do anything fun this weekend?
I started on an afghan while watching rugby (Six Nations and 7s) yesterday.
If you want really good BBQ, come up to Fort Worth. I go to Heim’s BBQ at their location on White Settlement road. Their main location is in south Fort Worth on Magnolia. Their brisket is really good. You can choose between fatty and lean. Everything they make is really good. 😁
We don’t get up to Fort Worth too often, but I’ll keep the rec in mind for the next time we do, thanks!
We got our ioniq 5 in January, replacing our nearly 16-year-old Prius. It is fun to drive and, yes, too easy to quietly speed in. I do love driving past gas stations on my way to free charging, though. 😉
PS – looks like maybe you got a Cyber Grey one?
Yep! Cyber gray was Mr. M’s first choice and my second choice, so when the dealer called to let us know they were getting it, we jumped on it.
I liked it because it’s different colors depending on the light. It also has the light interior which means less bun-burning. Texas must not be getting as many of these as California – we just walked onto the lot (where there were several available), tested it and bought it.
Yeah, TX is getting far fewer than CA. This was the first one that matched our specs that our dealer has gotten since they started producing them. 😭 Another dealer in town was getting a slightly bigger allocation, but they were charging a ridiculous markup fee, so we decided to wait.
ooooh an Ioniq! My father-in-law just got one and my mom’s considering one. My partner and I both have Chevy Bolts. In Alaska, no less!
My fun this weekend was a training for Project Learning Tree on Saturday so I got to be outside on a gorgeous winter day with some cool educators. Then time with the fam and animals on Sunday on another gorgeous winter day. I do love this time of year with cool sunny days.
Congratulations on your Ioniq 5. It looks quite chic. Love the color too. Is it fun to drive?
We rather love both our EV’s. We wife drives a Tesla Model 3 and my little commuter car is a fully electric MINI Cooper SE (which, if I had to pick a favorite car I’ve ever driven, this would be it).
Did we do anything fun this weekend? Yes, we spent time planning out our first road trip since the pandemic started: my middle brother is finishing grad school in southern California this spring, so we are going to visit him and his wife for a week. Bring our 8 year old twins to Legoland. Go to the beach. Play board games with family.