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!
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