Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site

On a cool and cloudy day, we drove to Stonewall--about half way between Fredericksburg and Johnson City--to visit the state park which bears President Johnson's name http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/lyndon-b-johnson.  Directly across the Pedernales River from the state park is the  LBJ National Historic Park which includes the LBJ ranch http://www.nps.gov/lyjo/planyourvisit/placestogo.htm .

Entrance to the state park and an auto tour through the ranch are free.  At the ranger station, we received a free cd for the auto tour (cd needed to be returned at the conclusion of the tour).  The cd contained historic information and described the buildings, etc.  The park included the Sauer-Beckmann Living Farm.  Guides here were in period dress and presented farm and household living as it was in  for the German immigrants to the area in1918.  

The state park also had a very interesting video telling the history of LBJ's wife, Lady Bird.  She was a powerful force and financial whiz in her own right.

Our route took us past the school LBJ attended--a one room school house which held 7 grades:

And then we followed the road through the ranch and past lazing Herefords.  The ranch is a working open range ranch.  We finally ended at his house, known as the  "Western White House."  LBJ spent about a quarter of his presidency staying here. 

Many heads of state visited here as well as Vietnam war era military operations were planned here. 

We paid $3.00 each to tour the house.  The house was furnished in the late 60s early 70s style reflecting his presidency.  We saw the famous bank of three televisions in both the living room and bedroom which he had on during the day.  The volume was kept off until he saw something interesting (usually war protests and the like).  The three television reflected the three available networks:  ABC, CBS and NBC.  Photography was not allowed in the house.

And, of course, we saw his version of Air Force One parked in back of the house:

The runway is still intact and the taxi way lies adjacent to the back of the house. 

Adjacent buildings house some of his autos and other historical  items.

The blue vehicle in the back is a car/boat and was used to drive in the river which lies at the front of the house.

And, of course, from where all the wisdom of his presidency was verbalized:

At the time, he was not one of my most favorite people because of the war.  However, he  certainly had a very strong and positive domestic record ranging from the Civil Rights Act to Head Start.

On our way out of the park, Donna said her goodbyes.

Not too many bluebonnets were found here either!

Bluebonnets Part 2

We noticed in a San Antonio newspaper that there would be a "bluebonnet walk" just to the west of the city.  Since we were still on the hunt for the Texas state flower and since at least one of us needed a little exercise, we decided to check it out. 

The event was to be held at the Shooting Star Museum just south of Castroville.  The town lies about a 45 minute drive southwest of Boerne.  Founded in 1844, it is known as the "Little Alsace of Texas."  Alsace is a region of France on its northeastern border with Germany and Switzerland.  Apparently its heritage is traced back to that region. 

According to its website (http://www.txtransportationmuseum.org/shootingstar/) the museum: "is dedicated to the preservation, perpetuation and exhibition of vintage aircraft, historical aviation items, antique automobiles and early 20th century farming equipment and gasoline engines."  Whew!  Most people would call it junk in a shed.

So we drove our newly washed truck down two gravel roads and onto the property.  Driving into the property we knew we were in trouble.  The parking lot had one other car belonging to the caretakers.  We visited here about 7 years ago and did enjoy the landscape.  But this year for the advertised  bluebonnet walk, there was dirt, dust and gravel.   It was a much too dry a year for these wildflowers.  We did find a few that had gone to seed.  You would think that an establishment that advertises a "bluebonnet walk" would not force you to walk 100 miles somewhere to find them.  Ah, the disappointment.

But we did tour the museum.  It was free after all.

 

 

The museum was a large shed used by tinkerers to tinker on their old vehicles, planes and what not.  A little bit of everything from the 20th century can be found here.

 

 

 

 

Gasoline engines, anyone?  Many of these are from old washing machines.  They claim that each engine runs.  We did not test that assertion.

 

 

 

All types of farm supplies were also evident including John Deere seed containers.



 

 

And how a shipping container for lutefisk arrived here from Norway was a well kept secret.  Perhaps some Norwegian took a wrong turn in Stoughton.

 

 

Instead of bluebonnets outside, we found an old passenger transport from a long lost railway station. 

 









 

 

 



The "museum" was a working shop with various members in and out to do their thing.  It even included a quilt shop and a military uniform display.  But not even a vase of bluebonnets!  Oh well.  Maybe next year.

On The Hunt for Bluebonnets

Spring in Texas is noted for the beautiful displays of the wildflower, bluebonnets.  A member of the same family as are lupines,  they are as prevalent in the spring Texan landscape as dandelions in a highly manicured lawn in June. 

So early one morning sitting in the local Denny's eating breakfast, we looked out over the beautiful Interstate 10 scene, and noticed a mass of these blue flowers in the median between traffic lanes.  We had heard the best place to view these flowers was in a wilderness area near Fredericksburg.  So we finished our breakfast and headed north to find the rumored blue bonnet heaven.

As we did not know exactly where we were headed exactly, we stopped in downtown Fredericksburg hoping to ask one of the locals for directions.  Well, unknown to us, the town does not open until 11 AM.  So pickings were small.  But we did find these rather stiff fellows hanging around a local hotspot:

After a rather long and twisted conversation, we were finally told that our destination was the Willow City Loop about 20 minutes northeast of town.  So we thanked these "local color" and turned the truck towards the promise land.

The Willow City Loop  is billed as THE iconic Texas hill country experience.  This scenic area is a 13 mile private ranch road traversing Coal Creek through canyons and low lying areas used as open range for cattle.   Signs posted on the road remind the visitor that this is private property and it is illegal to stop along the roadway. This photo (not mine) shows the area in which we travelled:

The road through the ranch is a rustic, narrow, two-way mostly paved road.  The open range is controlled by cattle guards which look like this:

Fencing would be tied off at both the right and left and the roadway is over the grate.  Texas cattle are afraid to cross the open grate because it resembles a large barbeque grill.  Therefore they stay put and do not escape.  As an aside, these guards are not found in dairy country as cows there view the grate as a fancy foot massage.

We were hoping for scenes like these taken on the loop in 2012  (not my photos):

 

 

Our flower hunting trip was disappointing.  We were led astray.  I am sure those fellows in Fredericksburg were having a good laugh at our expense.   We saw more bluebonnets along the interstate at Denny's in Boerne.  The winter has been much to dry for these showy displays.an in this tourist destination.  The road was interesting and the non-flowered views were worth the drive. 

 

On the way back home we stopped at a large seed company and found these in their parking lot:

 

 

At least we found some!  We were made April fools.

 



Our Electric Usage mid January to mid March, 2013

As noted in an earlier blog, we are at an RV park in which our electric use is metered. We pay a monthly rent plus a monthly electric use fee. Having a meter allows us to track our usage.

During the colder days that we were here, we used our furnace (propane with electric controls and blower), 1 or 2 small ceramic space heaters (1500 watt each) and electrically heated hot water. We used each sporadically but usually used one or two devices each day for a period of time. During a 60 day period from mid January until mid March, we used a total of 623 kilowatt hours (KWH) of electricity at $0.13 per KWH. This averaged out to 10.4 KWH per day or $1.35 per day for electricity.

However, since mid-March, the weather has warmed considerably. We have not used our furnace, space heaters nor the electric water heater--we used the water heater on propane instead. Therefore, our daily electric usage has nose dived. For each of these days, we have used approximately 1 KW--or, $0.13 per day for electricity. (1 KWH is the amount of electricity required to burn a 100 watt bulb for 10 hours.) This 1 KW of usage includes using our television and satellite antenna system.

On the weekend that we were at the Butt Foundation camp, our usage dropped to 0.5 KWH per day. The usage was to run the refrigerator, gas alarms, etc. Also, we did not unplug the television to reduce the usage further. So during these "not-home" days, our electricity cost was 6 1/2 cents per day.

Once the cooling season arrives, air conditioning will dramatically increase our daily usage and cost. However, we hope not to be at a metered park to determine exactly how much more we would pay.

Sometime in the coming months, we are going to try to determine how long we can live off just our 12 volt batteries and not plugged into the grid. Time will tell.

Our Butt Experience

The weekend of March 15-17 was a Butt day, Howard E. Butt  Foundation day to be more specific.  We got ourselves elected as assistant cooks at a weekend retreat for families from the school that Judy's daughter,  Kathy, teaches.  Kathy and her husband Phillip were the primary organizers of the event:

Apparently, anyone met the "cook" criteria, and, therefore, we were selected.

The H. E. Butt  camps (known for their  HEB groceries in the San Antonio area) are located in Leakey, Texas.  Leakey is about 100 miles north west of San Antonio.  The foundation owns 1900 acres with several camp facilities.  It is open only to those non-profit groups which meet their religious (Christian) leaning.  We were located on one of the medium sized camps--our group was about 175 people.  Each camp has a modern kitchen/dining hall , outside meeting area, and cabins (most were bunkhouses).  Most bunkhouse contained a dozen bunks and each cabin had toilet/shower facilities.  Our cabin (assigned by the gracious organizer) was the only one with two bedrooms, toilet, shower, dining room and living room.  Our "cabin" which we shared with John and Judy, had about 1200 square feet.  We even had laundry facilities in an outside room off the back patio.  We were housed as royalty.  The only down side to the accommodations was there was no television, no internet and no cell phone service.  We were roughing it!

While the 175 other people (toddlers to grand parents) were off doing whatever their schedule required, we were in the kitchen by 6:00 each morning until about 8:00 each night with a short afternoon break.  We assisted the real cooks (many come each year to this annual event)  with the preparation and service of the meals.  Unfortunately, cooks normally ate last and often the main entrée had "run out" by that time.  By Sunday, we learned to eat early.

The Foundation's grounds lie along the East Frio River.  Getting to our camp was somewhat challenging.  We rode with John who maneuvered his newer Lexus down River Road.  This road was really the river.  We drove down a marked lane in the river for a t least a 1/2 mile:

The designated road was to the right of the stone markers and was tight in many areas for two-way traffic.  The water in most areas was no more than 6 inches deep.  This was the only way into or out of our camp.  We were warned that if we had rain, we may have to wait a day or two for the river to recede.  We could not find anyone who could explain why the road was named "River Road."

The camp offered swimming and canoeing in the very picturesque setting.

 

 

As noted above, this camp is closed to non-Christian religions.  There were, however, signs of a Wiccan presence:

Non-believers were otherwise covert.

Happy Pi Day!

Today, 3/14,  is Pi Day.  Pi (π) is the mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference (C) to its diameter (D).  Any circle's circumference divided by its diameter is π, or approximately 3.14. 

It is approximately 3.14 because π actually is a number without end.  It has been computed to over 10 trillion digits.  Here is π to a thousand digits:

3. 14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825 34211 70679 82148 08651 32823 06647 09384 46095 50582 23172 53594 08128 48111 74502 84102 70193 85211 05559 64462 29489 54930 38196 44288 10975 66593 34461 28475 64823 37867 83165 27120 19091 45648 56692 34603 48610 45432 66482 13393 60726 02491 41273 72458 70066 06315 58817 48815 20920 96282 92540 91715 36436 78925 90360 01133 05305 48820 46652 13841 46951 94151 16094 33057 27036 57595 91953 09218 61173 81932 61179 31051 18548 07446 23799 62749 56735 18857 52724 89122 79381 83011 94912 98336 73362 44065 66430 86021 39494 63952 24737 19070 21798 60943 70277 05392 17176 29317 67523 84674 81846 76694 05132 00056 81271 45263 56082 77857 71342 75778 96091 73637 17872 14684 40901 22495 34301 46549 58537 10507 92279 68925 89235 42019 95611 21290 21960 86403 44181 59813 62977 47713 09960 51870 72113 49999 99837 29780 49951 05973 17328 16096 31859 50244 59455 34690 83026 42522 30825 33446 85035 26193 11881 71010 00313 78387 52886 58753 32083 81420 61717 76691 47303 59825 34904 28755 46873 11595 62863 88235 37875 93751 95778 18577 80532 17122 68066 13001 92787 66111 95909 21642 01989 ...

Some people have memorized it to over 67,000 digits!   There are even entire books published about pi1  It is used in all forms of mathematics and science including geometry, mechanics and electronics.  What fun!

Another very common use of π is to calculate the area of a circle: Area = π ×  r² where r² is the radius of the circle (or, half the diameter) times itself (or "squared").  There is a pizza chain in Wisconsin  (Rocky Rococo) that sells square pizzas because "pies are square."  Think about it.  Got it?

So today is Pi day.  Celebrate.  Eat pie. Pi Pie at Delft University:


 


Some very important people were born on Pi day .......... including Einstein.  He loved Pi.  So do I.

A Cowboy, a Cook and a Geek walk into a bar . . .

 

On Saturday we attended our first rodeo at the Tejas Rodeo Company http://tejasrodeo.com/ in Bulverde.  Bulverde is north of San Antonio but only about a half hour from our camp site.  They have professional rodeo every Saturday night from March until November.

We accompanied Judy's family to the event.  While waiting for dinner served adjacent to the rodeo grandstand, an old, broken down, itinerant cowboy tried to sweet talk a couple of city slickers:

I think he may have been selling used cowboy hats from the back of his truck.  They didn't fall for his spiel.  The evening started with dinner al fresco and of course included steak. What else?  Vegetarians and fish eaters were not welcomed.

Prior to the actual rodeo, there was a mutton busting event for kids under 7.  Kids, volunteered by their parents, were attired in safety helmets and chest protectors and perched atop  one of several sheep.  Their ride was timed and the winners received a ribbon and applause.  Most kids won a ribbon by staying on until the sheep was released out of the holding pen.  This was a normal sight--the rider watching the sheep run away after quickly depositing him onto the turf:

The  rodeo opened with a bit of pageantry

A cattle drive then began the performance:

And then came the bull riding and calf roping events:

 

 

About midway through the rodeo, kids were again involved in the programming.  Kids under 12 were invited onto the field to chase calves which had ribbons tied to their tails.  The kid who could capture a ribbon won a prize.  But as participants needed to get into appropriate shape before participating, each had to do sit-ups, pushups etc. in the dirt:

I am sure their parents really appreciated the effort made to get these kids in shape.  Next came the chase:

 

 

 

What do you call a Zamboni on dirt?

And to close out the event, 7 year old Mary shows how a real cowgirl does it:

 

 

Judy and Donna were still being bothered by the old cowpoke at the end of the night  but his shine was fading from the picture:

 

 



 

The following day we celebrated with a meal at Judy's for her family.  Donna spent several days cooking her lasagna and manicotti from scratch (including the pasta for the manicotti) and the results were well worth it.

Then the geek got involved and found a new Microsoft store in San Antonio.  He played with the new Surface Pro and perused the latest Windows 8 phones and Xbox. 

 

The store was about as busy as the adjacent Apple store. 



Boerne Continues

We continue to sit tight in Boerne, Texas, and watch others come and go.  The park has been quite full lately.  Whenever a site opens up near us, it is not long before someone moves in.  We seem to be the anchor at this part of the park--always here, never moving.  Stagnant like a pool of tepid water providing sustenance only for blooming algae.  Maybe we are the reason people are leaving?  Could be.  Probably not.

Across our road are people from Cincinnati who are here only for a few days.  Apparently, they were told that they needed to leave by Wednesday as a large rally was expected.  We have not been given notice of eviction.  Should be fun, elbow to elbow, awning to awning.  Donna will be putting off streaking through the park until later.  She was SO looking forward to it.

We are actively discussing staying here until mid-April.  The weather in the mid-west does not appear conducive to an early, warm, spring.  The weather here has been pretty nice with day times in the 60s and 70s and nights in the 30s and 40s and sometimes even in the 50s for lows,  We had talked about going east into Mississippi in mid-March and following the Great River north following spring's arrival.  We wanted to visit some corps of engineering parks, etc.  But with the Great Sequester now upon us, we are concerned that the parks will not be open.  Oh, well. 

It has been windy on occasion with lots of dust.  It seems the north winds bring juniper and cedar pollen levels soaring.  The local Walgreen's thanks us whenever these winds blow.  Our sinuses are both negatively affected.  The wind does, however, has positives especially in the evening.  Sunsets are terrific:

Better than 2 feet of snow.

Mail, Blooms and Beer

February is upon us.  We had anticipated travelling further south--down to the Rio Grand valley area --but the weather has been very kind to us here in San Antonio, so we are still anchored here.  The weather in the valley has been very warm and windy.  Here the temps are usually in the 60s and 70s with lows in the mid 30s to mid 50s.  This is warm enough for us.  We have discussed driving down there to see what we are missing, but have not yet scheduled the trip.  I did call one of the RV parks down there to make reservations shortly after arriving here.  But it was too early for the parks' office to be opened--it was a Sunday.  I never did call back. 

We are often asked about living full-time in an RV.  People expect that we are on vacation all the time.  We are not.  It is no different than living in a stick house except that we can move whenever we want to find better weather, neighbors or sights.  We get up, eat, shop, waste time and do whatever anyone else does in a stick home.  Other than not having a mortgage and paying site rent, our expenses are no different than those living in a condo.  We don't do lawn maintenance, tree trimming or snow shoveling.  The big difference is with mail delivery.  We do not get daily mail.  Our mail is routed to a mail forwarding service in Livingston, Texas.  Periodically, I contact them to have our mail forwarded to General Delivery wherever we may by at the time.  After a few days, we go to the local Post Office and retrieve our mail.  Some Post Offices require proof of identification, some don't.  Some find our mail quickly, others search, scratch their respective heads, and then search some more.  But we do get our mail.   We have limited  much of our snail mail and get most of it electronically so that we can access it quickly.  Insurance bills, for example, are dealt with over the magic web. Works great. 

Spring is in the air here--at least what we perceive spring to be.  Some trees are budding like this box elder (I think it is a box elder, anyway) near our front door:

Some flowers, flowering bushes and other trees show signs of the warm weather to come.  Here is a bloom on a Hong Kong orchid tree (from Judy) :

Though it is technically winter here, it sure does not seem it to us northerners.

We recently had an outing to the Cibolo Nature Center which is just a few miles from where we now call home.  The Center includes over 100 acres of trails through prairie, marsh and wood lands.  The Cibolo creek runs through it giving rise to numerous majestic cypress trees.

And to a secluding rest area under a huge live oak:

Upon leaving the preserve, we were met with this UFO:

We though we should skedaddle before some out-of-this-world creature asked us for directions. 

On another recent day trip, we ventured over to the community of Gruene--a German town adjacent to New Braunfels on San Antonio's north east side.  This is a tourist trap with several restaurants and shops.  But the star attraction is Gruene Hall (http://gruenehall.com/).

This is an old, but active saloon/dance hall which has live music on most days.  It reminded me of the bar in the movie Blues Brothers where they had both types of music:  Country and Western.  Though Gruene Hall didn't have chicken wire protecting the musicians from rowdy bottle-throwing customers, it did have that special bar-brawl feel to it:

This place has hosted many national acts as well as sites for major motion pictures including the dance scene in Travolta's movie "Michael."  He plays an angel and all the female bar patrons believe that he is everything they ever wanted. 

Built in 1878, it bills itself as the oldest dance hall in Texas.  The place definitely shows its age both inside and out. It is a well worn bar serving up Shiner's beer.  A side view for your viewing pleasure:

Paint, apparently, is not to be wasted on the side of this building.  Yes, the roof probably does leak!