Duke found a new friend
Duke is always ready to meet a new friend but today he got more than he bargained for!
Which one is he?
I couldn’t believe it when this dog came walking down the street. He looks so much like Duke and behaves similarly! His name is Harry and he is a Laso. Duke was still bigger – that boy has grown right out of his breed!
Oh – Duke is the one off leash! And neither dog was nearly as impressed as I was.
A one hour drive from San Antonio to Johnson City takes you through some of the most beautiful Hill Country and this time of year everything is in bloom. The wild flowers are spectacular; red, orange, yellow, purple, blue, pink, white sprinkled in the tall grass. Lyndon B. Johnson, our 36th presidents home has been donated to the National Parks and the Texas State Parks where they have made the ranch available to the public to enjoy.
Show Cattle!
The ranch has been left the way it was during LBJ’s presidency so we get to see a glimpse of how he operated as the President. He would invite heads of other countries here, congressmen and others so that he could get them on his turf. After being here I see how powerful this place was.
The river runs infront of the Ranch and can be seen from many places on the property
Beautiful fields
The front entrance to the Texas White House
Backyard Pool area
Back porch near the pool
The Ranch and land are spectacular the house is very modest. It does not look like a president lives here nor a place he would entertain or make political decisions but the house is not important it is the feeling you get on this land!
The school he attended as a child of only 4
His childhood home - part of the Ranch
Family plot
I found it interesting that you could walk within 30 feet of his grave. No guards, no high wires, just part of a National Park and made available for us to walk around.
As part of the State Park is a German farm that is operational today and part of this park so we had a look at how they did things in the 1800’s. We saw fresh squeezed milk sitting on the counter turning to yogurt and cottage cheese.
Paul is grinding corn for the chickens
The perfect farm scene
Beautiful fields
After being here I can see why he chose to bring people here for whatever reason and why Lady Byrd chose to stay for 35 years after he died. It is the most tranquil, beautiful place.
Uncle Ben picked us up for our tour of the Alamo. Being here at the Alamo made me realize how much I didn’t learn in school, or maybe it is because then I wasn’t interested and now I want to know what happened a really long time ago and how important it was to our history! Just shows you can’t teach someone something until the person receiving the information is ready.
Entering the Alamo
The Alamo is right in the middle of the city so after seeing the grounds we decided it was time for lunch. A short walk or a ride through the canals should get us to a nice place to have some lunch, right? Not today! Remember when I said we had reservations and we never make them? Well the reason we made reservations in San Antonio is because of Fiesta San Antonio! 3.5 Million party goes come to San Antonio for this 10 day festival and we were going to be there the last weekend!
So when we decided it was time for lunch a huge parade was going on right in town and we had to get across the parade and down two blocks to try another favorite of Ben’s, Shilo’s Deli. Still no Steak! (which I am very happy about!). Shilo’s is a German Deli. That is something else I learned – Texas doesn’t just have a bunch of crazy cowboys, there is a large population and history of Germans settling in Texas.
Anyway, we made our way to Shilo’s and only had to interupt the parade once. The parade was fun to watch however there were just way too many people and we only have 2 days to see what we came to San Antonio to see. Lunch was excellent. A Rueben and German Potatoe Salad!
After lunch we took a little boat ride through the canals where the guide gives us a bit of history of the river and the city.
Uncle Ben
The many bridges
Riding under a Bridge
The ride was really nice and gave us a chance to see the whole riverwalk system.
In the evening Paul and I went back to take a walk along the river and enjoy one of the many fine restaurants and bars along the walk! Margarita’s on the river with music in the background was very nice.
Horse drawn carriage that looked like Cinderella's carriage
Fiesta Colors
It was hard to get pictures at night but the idea is there is lots of stuff going on and it is very colorful. Getting home around midnight we were in a hurry to get some rest for another big day of touring on Saturday however it was so hot and humid I wasn’t sure I would fall asleep. We got out the fans, turned the air conditioning on for a few minutes and just about the time I dosed off Mother Earth or whoever is incharge of the sky decided it was time to raise the roof! Hail the size of Golf Balls, wind that was bending trees, thunder that made your ears hurt and of course the lightening and rain! It only lasted about an hour and it amazingly cooled things off! It went from 80 degrees at midnight to 60 by 2 am! Yeah, I can sleep now.
The next morning we look out our window and the neighbor has a tree right on the cab of their truck! Ouch. The truck looks totaled and I am very thankful that it wasn’t ours because we have reservations in New Orleans and no time to spare!
Staying off the interstates, we entered Texas straight west of Dallas and headed south toward Odessa hoping to see the small towns of Western Texas before arriving in San Antonio. Well, we did see some small towns but all they farm are Oil Rigs! They were everywhere and most of the towns were so small they barely had fuel. So after about 100 miles of that I voted to get onto Interstate 10 and get to San Antonio so I could see some civilization!
Wow, once we got on the Interstate things started brightening up, lots of color, the road started getting a little curve here and there and there were actually a few trees. The Interstate is full of wildflowers and the trees start getting taller as we got into San Antonio.
Paul’s Uncle lives here in San Antonio so visiting is a top priority for this stop. Ben arrived at the RV park shortly after we arrived at 3 pm and was taking us out for dinner. Figuring we were getting standard Texas fare I was prepared for a BIG Steak but surprising in San Antonio you can get all kinds of food and as we will find out they do an awesome job. Tonight we went to a Thai/Chinese restaurant and I have not had a lot of Thai food but enough to know this was really, really good!
Tomorrow is touring the city! Can’t wait
Yep that is what we did. We drove all day through Arizona, New Mexico and 1/2 way thru Texas and landed in Amarillo by about 12:30 am. Driving the motorhome is becoming easier although I can’t wait to get back in the passenger seat. There was one really hairy part thru New Mexico. I was leading and they are working on the roads so it is dark and the Interstate narrows ot one lane each direction and then they put up a cement barrier and reduce the size of the lane to 10 feet! We are 8.5 feet wide not counting the mirrors. And the lane in the opposite direction is the same right on the other side of the barrier!!!! I was the lead car of anyone going East on Interstate 40 for about 10 miles; The trucks will just have to make up their time tomorrow.