Riding in the Hill Country of Texas

Bob and I have been riding as much as we can.  Recently we toured the LBJ Ranch at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park located between Fredericksburg and Johnson City.  I enjoyed seeing this working ranch much more than I thought I would.  When LBJ decided to donate part of his land, the stipulation was that the National Park Service maintain cattle and manage the ranch lands as a living demonstration of ranching the LBJ way.  He did not want it to be a "sterile relic from the past".  It was a car tour, guided by a CD pointing out the different buildings.  Since there are a herd of Herefords on the land, they have the right-of-way.  You can see the landing strip that Air Force One used when LBJ returned to the "Texas Whitehouse" and a smaller plane still hangered there which he used when he was in a hurry.  We took a tour of the Texas Whitehouse which was very interesting.  LBJ had a penchant for having telephones every where so he could keep in constant contact with those that needed him.  There even was a phone on a shelf under the dining room table, right beside where he sat.  It is said that Lady Bird thought he was extremely rude to speak at the table during dinner with guests but it did little to discourage him.  He would have loved the cell phone!

The family cars are also housed there.  There was a '63 Corvette given to one of the daughters when she graduated.  Upon becoming pregnant, LBJ said it was not right to have her drive that car as she was going to be a mother and bought her something proper.  (can't  remember what )  The grandson still comes down from Austin periodically to take that corvette out for a spin.  In fact, the day we were there, we missed him by a few hours.  He flew in by helicopter just to drive the car!

Although, I was verrry young when LBJ was in office, I was an an adult but it still surprised me how antiquated everything looked.  I realized I am that old!

WINTER IN TEXAS

This has been the warmest winter either of us has ever spent!  We feel so fortunate to be able to choose where to spend the next season!  We have been riding the harleys whenever we can and exploring the area.  More about that later.

We spent New Year's Eve with our partners, Don and Mary.  First, we sat around the campfire telling lies and stories!    Between the two of us, Mary and I made enough food to feed the neighboring town!  They taught us how to play "Pegs and Jokers" and we taught them how to play "Up and Down the River".  There was a little imbibing going on with the eating and playing and we all stayed awake long enough to watch the "ball" usher in the New Year in Times Square.

Lucie has playmates here as Don and Mary have two adorable four-legged kids, Max and Mindy.  They are brother and sister and are very good about putting up with Lucie's energetic craziness.  We are able to let the dogs run around our campers since we are not open (still) and they have a great time.  They are really going to freak when we have to leash them and curtail their freedom.

So life here in the Hill Country is GOOD!  We are very grateful to have partners that are so compatible with us.  This would be a miserable situation if we didn't like the people we work with especially since we don't see many others to talk to!  As you can see, Don is the proverbial kidder.  He said he was going to dress for our celebration and he did!

The update on the ongoing renovations to the campground is not good.  Permits are stalling the work and we hope the electric company will be coming in this work to start placing poles.  We are only two months away from leaving here and it doesn't look like we will see the park in its modern state until we come back in September for our option year.