Meet new friends

Today Stan & Connie Browning (old mustang 66) who are staying at a CG 4 miles down the road came over. Steve & Susy joined us are we started talking about RVing and HitchHikers. After a beer we went to Gruene and had a nice lunch at The Gristmill. We returned on River Road which follows the Guadalupe River. The restaurant was next to Gruene's Hall, the oldest dance hall left in Texas. I sure hope they don't smoke in there, one match and poof. We couldn't go inside as it was closed in preparation for a wine festival. This is a touristy type place and the festival starts tonight and continues this week end. We returned to our campsite and sat in the shade the rest of the day until well after dark resolving the current US and world financial crisis, our incompetent Congress, and many other difficult matters. The beeritas helped us clearly see the way to resolve these issues.

Canyon Lake, TX

Yesterday Judy & Susy went to Curves, did the laundry & visited a wildflower farm. Steve and I stayed home. In the afternoon we all went to a nice Mexican resturant for a nice meal, and some Tacate. Unfortunatly either Judy's meal or her margaurita didn't agree with her.

Today we made the 79 mile trip to Canyon Lake arriving about noon. It was an exhausting day!! We stayed put this afternoon and took a couple pictures of our units and the Guadalupe River. It was a sunny and low 80s day. You can work up a sweat setting up camp but the A/C is nice when we come inside. This time of the year is great, only 11 RVs in the park so it's nice & quiet.

LBJ Ranch

Today we visited the LBJ Ranch which was just opened to the public in August. We saw the one room school house where LBJ went to school, starting at age 4. Then we checked out the reconstructed home he was born and lived in as a child. The replica is where the original sat. We also saw his grandparents home and then the ranch he purchased from an aunt in 1951 that became the Western White House. The small Johnson cemetery is also on the same road; all the sites are within 2 or 3 miles. The ranch house is not "elegant", just a nice large home with several additions. We also watched a video, the only room you are allowed into is his west wing office. They threw some BIG parties there, the coolers were as bigger as the grocery store coolers I used when I worked at Gruber's Food Store. We saw the front yard where he threw all his parties and held many many meetings under a 400 year old oak tree as he liked to work outside. The pecans are falling from the trees so we all ate several that fell from the trees by the cemetery. After the tour we had a real good BBQ lunch & tonight we watched the presidential debate. LBJ was a politician, in the video he said he walked 4 miles to school, the school is MAYBE one mile from his childhood home. He stated more than once how important his home in TX was to him growing up. We were told his two daughters didn't know he gave THEIR childhood home to the public until after he died; and they were upset. Mom would have liked this, huh Bev?

LBJ Municipal Park

A relaxing day. Judy and Susy went to Curves then did a little shopping in Fredericksburg, I think she did good by spending less than $5!!! Steve and I did some maintenance work on his water heater and cable TV. Susy made us all lunch, a nice salad and hash. Judy and I haven't had hash for awhile and it was good!

Fredericksburg, TX

We have returned to the land of cactus. We made the 150 mile drive south against a substantial headwind and arrived at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park for a 4 night stay. We are on the edge of the CG with the main park behind us and LBJ Airport in front of us. Kind of nifty, small prop planes and even one private jet taking off this afternoon. The jet got my attention! After we set up camp we went with Steve & Susy the 3 miles to downtown Fredericksburg for the Oktoberfest. It's a touristy German city. The jagger schnitzel was very good. We noticed this purple flower/bush on a side street in Fredericksburg, anyone have an idea what it is?

Gatesville, TX

Today we traveled 200 miles to Gatesville, TX with Steve & Susy. Jeff & Susan were off to Albany, TX then San Diego. We were headed for a PA CG but Judy found a free city park CG in Gatesville. We checked it out but it didn't impress me (and it turned out to be $15) so we went to the PA CG and it was b-a-d. There were a couple more that were w-o-r-s-e. We ended up in a nice new gravel field for $20. It was the best of the lot for an overnighter. We went out with Steve & Susy for supper and it turned out to be pretty good. One item we did find interesting was the 1897 county court house downtown and a drive in movie that's still open.

Thackerville, OK yard art and Gatesville, TX

Steve & Susy arrived at Red River Ranch Thursday so we now have 3 Haulin' HitchHiker couples. Judy did chicken on the grill for supper for the 6 of us. Friday we all went to Gainsville, TX to check out the big fiberglass people (the lady is Jackie Kennedy), then some ranch yard art and finally a glockenspiel, but it wasn't working so no pictures. we had a so-so lunch in Muenster at a German restaurant. Friday night we met with a dozen Oklahoma HitchHikers club members who were also in the park for their October rally. We had a good time exchanging info with them before hitting the sack.