TIDBITS ON LIFE IN TEXAS

Our time here is drawing to a close.  The six months have gone by incredibly fast as we knew they would!  We are heading for Arkansas to conduct some business, maintain the RV, car, truck and Harleys and if we can still afford it, head for the Adirondacks of New York.  We have a summer gig there and are looking forward to seeing Bob's Aunt Charm and Uncle George and his late brother Warren's daughters.  In preparing for our trip, we've been watching the weather up that way and it is COLD there.  We are used to temps in the 80's here in Texas so we will be pulling out the woolies from storage before we head north.  On the way, we will stop in Cleveland, Ohio, to see Bob's daughter Alex and granddaughter Taylor. 

I've been saving some photos to post from our roaming the Hill Country.  We feel so fortunate to have been able to explore this area of the United States and look forward to coming back next winter as there is plenty we didn't get to see!
The first two photos are looking down at our campground from about a mile away.  You can see the modernization from primitive to RV sites has not been done yet.  It is so beautiful and has been a wonderful place to live.  We've been using it as our walking track and are up to 2 miles a day.  (The boats  you see are not part of our park)

Picnic table shelters in our campground

Three of our closest friends came for dinner and we had to put Lucie in the RV!

Famous Luckenbach, Texas, behind the old Post Office where the only thing that gets canceled nowadays are the musical acts! 

The ATM in Luckenbach where you can get your "dirty" money and you may need it after paying for the beer!  They are proud of their beer, $3.50 for domestic, $4.50 imported.

You can tell this butterfly was in Texas.  That is my watch sitting next to it, not my ring!

And then there is Bob, a man who wears many hats!

 

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.