Sat. 5/16… (Austin , TX )
The drive today was only 83 miles so
we did some of the prep work on the motorhome and met up at 10:00am to go to
Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Once back
we had only to walk Bailey one last time, pull the power cord, and hook up the
car so we were on the road pretty quickly.
The drive from San Antonio to Austin was very pretty.
I like this part of the state.
This area is known as Hill Country because it is not as flat and barren
as is much of the rest of the state.
Our park, Austin Lone Star Carefree Resort is right on Highway I-35
again is an old KOA campground that was recycled into a really nice park. We had no rain so the drive and the park were
dry and we got our rigs in and parked with no issues. Since we are in Hill Country this is our
first campground with trees. I was
worried about getting a signal from my roof satellite dish but we were about to
get out through the trees with no problem.
Janie’s aunt (Zelda) lives on the
outskirts of town so they went to visit her as soon as they hooked up. We had decided to eat out tonight and I had
seen reviews and shows on TV that said when in Austin
you must eat bbq at The Salt Lick! So we
looked it up and arranged to meet the Moores and Aunt Zel there. This place is huge! It reminded me of a Knowlwoods on
steroids. They have picnic tables out
under the trees for the hundreds of folks waiting to be seated. They got there
a few minutes before us and turned in our name.
After an hour and a half wait we finally got seated! They only take cash and have limited beer and
wine so they say BYOB and everyone did!
There were coolers and alcohol at every table outside as folks waited
and waited. Guess it made the wait seem
shorter! The food was good but since the
wait was too long it took some of the fun away from the day. We would definitely go back but we will be
prepared next time!
After dinner Janie
brought Zel back to see their rig and then took her home. We had planned on going to the LBJ
Presidential Library tomorrow but thought against it and all decided to take
tomorrow off and just catch up on things. We will go on Monday morning.
Sun. 5/17… (Austin , TX ) We
slept in this morning. Janie wants to go
to see her aunt but will wait until the rain lets up. The forecast is rain until around
11:00am. Turns out they were on the mark
and the rain let up. Janie then called
her aunt but she wasn’t feeling well so we decided to head over to shop for a
belt for Janie. We texted Bill and
Treasa and they did not respond so just the four of us went. We hit Sheplers and Cabela’s and then stopped
for lunch and then went to Walmart before coming home. We were eating in and it was Lydia ’s turn. She
made roast and we ate the caramel cake leftovers for dessert. Very good!
Rick and Janie went to Zel’s and the rest of us went looking for the
groomer that we found in our campground brochure. It’s only about 5 miles from us. We want to
get Bailey bathed and her nails clipped plus we can leave her there when we go
to LBJ’s ranch on Tuesday. After walking
the dog (yes, we try to do a lot of that – Bailey loves it!) we kicked back for
the night and caught up on some TV. Oh, yeah, we are still finding moths!
Mon. 5/18… (Austin , TX ) The
plan today was to leave at 10:00am and head up to the University of Texas
(go Longhorns!) campus where the LBJ Presidential Library is located. We found it and we were glad we decided to do
the tour on Monday. It was almost empty! The archives are on floors 5-9 and the
library/exhibits areas are laid out on floors 3, 4, and 10. Not too many people research the archives but
they are there if they do. The exhibits
are very interesting and well laid out.
President Johnson had a rough 5 years in office. Even though he didn’t get us into the Vietnam
War, he felt the weight on his shoulders with all the causalities and
protests. But he did do many good things
for the country in his term. It was a
positive experience for all of us but we have seen other presidential libraries
that we like better. Rick and Janie have
never been to one before so now they can compare this to Bush (both), Carter,
and Clinton all of which we plan to see on
this trip.
Afterward we gathered and
decided to go find a Whataburger’s and have lunch and then go home and walk the
dogs. Just ok – nothing special. We then decided that we still have enough
time to drive out to the LBJ Ranch, just outside of Johnson
City , about an hour’s drive out. We got there and found it was a drive and tour
for 90% of the ranch. We saw his
birthplace and burial site plus the airport/runway/hanger as well. In the store we paid the $3.00 (senior) fee
and caught the last (4:30pm) tour of the house. The President and Mrs. Johnson
donated a portion of the LBJ Ranch to the National Park Service in 1972, with
the stipulation that it remain a working ranch. Prior to her passing in 2007,
Lady Bird used the home and had it remodeled to today’s styles. But most of the
furniture and other items were kept in storage, so after she passed, the Park
Service restored the home to what it looked like in 1968. Also on display were
cars that were used on the ranch plus one sweet 1965 Corvette that LBJ gave to
Luci just before her 18th birthday.
After the long drive back home, we had a quick dinner and decided to
head into town to see if the bats were flying.
They have an observation area under a bridge crossing Lady Bird Lake (actually a river). We parked and took our chairs and sat and
waited. They keep track and the website
says between 8:55 and 9:02 when they come out to feed. Tonight it was after 9:15 so I guess they
overslept tonight! It was really dark and the only way we could see them was
when the bat boat tours on the lake shined their red lights under the
bridge. I tried and it was too dark for pictures of the bats flying.. We did take Bailey though and
she entertained everyone around us and made a couple of dog buddies. All in all, it was worth the time. We headed back and rested from our very busy
day!
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