RV Adventures

Before leaving College Station, I took the time to visit the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. What can I say, I like history! The library is primarily for researchers, so I concentrated on the museum. Let’s just say I know more about Bush 41 than I did before. It was an enjoyable two hours. I also walked the grounds (in 100 degree heat) and visited George and Barbara’s eventual grave sites. It seems a little strange to see their headstones already there even though they are still alive.

George H. W. Bush Museum

Corinne sitting in a replica of the Oval Office…solving the world’s problems.

Grounds of the Museum

Future burial site of George and Barbara Bush

We finally took our leave of Janelle and headed west. Our route took us near Austin where I have a nephew going to school. A few text messages later, we had a lunch date set up. Austin has a lot of great restaurants, but not necessarily ones with big parking lots. We settled for a Chili’s Restaurant at an outlet mall. We were guaranteed ample parking for our RV/car combo there. It was nice catching up with Eric. You have to seize these opportunities when you can!

My little nephew Eric. He won the “Tall Lottery” in the family.

The next few days were spend in the Texas Hills west of Austin. We needed to recharge and relax. It was finally starting to feel like a normal trip. We spent time in the pools and hot tub of a very nice RV Resort. We watched the Olympics. We ate out. We needed this.

One afternoon I decided to visit the LBJ Ranch. I must be on a mission to learn about all the Texas Presidents!  Jim opted to stay back at the RV with a book instead.  The LBJ Ranch was the home of President Lyndon B. Johnson.  The press called his ranch the Texas White House. Johnson spent 25% of his presidency at the ranch! Having an air strip right on the property helped. The house was furnished with all the belongings that were there in the 1960’s. I felt like I had stepped back into my childhood!

Welcome to LBJ Ranch

Final resting place of Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson.

The ranch’s airstrip

Wind indicator next to the runway.

The Texas White House.

The Oval Office in Texas

The Living Room. Note the three TVs. LBJ would have each tuned into one of the three stations that existed back then… CBS, NBC and ABC!

Also on the property was the smaller jet that would ferry Johnson from the Austin Airport where Air Force One could land, to his private air strip. Johnson called it Air Force One-half!

Air Force One-half

Another afternoon, Jim and I checked out the town of Fredricksburg. There are two towns in Texas that were settled by German immigrants. One is New Braunfels, the other is Fredricksburg. We had no idea this was the case…but when we started looking for someplace to get lunch, we realized there were a large number of German restaurants. Count us in! We had lunch at the Old German Bakery and Restaurant.  We talked to one of the owner’s sons, who is the second generation to live in the USA. We discussed spatzle, maultaschen, and schnitzel, and reminisced of when we lived in Stuttgart. He surprised us with an apfelstrudel appetizer (more of a dessert if you ask me) free of charge. All in all, it was an excellent meal and experience.

Apple Strudle

Schnitzle and Spatzle

Outside the restaurant we spotted this vehicles.  Notice all the weather monitoring equipment on the roof?  They had a website on the side of the car, StormWarriors.TV.  I took a look at the website and this is what I learned.  “Storm Warriors is a television show that follows the real life adventures of Bill Ford and his wife, Danielle and their two children Cori and Noah as they chase the most violent weather events on earth.”  And people think WE are strange for gallivanting around the country?!?!?

Storm Warriors

Fredricksburg was the home town of Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of the Navy in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. There is a museum in the hotel his family used to run. It also houses the National Museum of the Pacific War.  We breezed right through the initial exhibits about Admiral Nimitz’s life. Then we got to the exhibits about the war in the Pacific. WOW!!! It was very well done, complete, with lots of detail. Jim LOVED it. I started suffering from overload about 3/4 of the way through. Dave P., you would love this museum.

Statue of Admiral Nimitz

PT Boat

The Texas Hill country is very picturesque. There are lots of wineries in the area, but we didn’t take the time to visit any. Next time!  I’m sure we will be through here again.

We left our lovely resort campground on Sunday morning for Balmorhea State Park. It’s claim to fame is the world’s largest, spring fed, swimming pool.  It was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. The pool was a cool 75 degrees.  Of course, the weather decided to cool down the day we showed up.  We could have used this type of pool during one of the 100 degree days in College Station!  But we took a quick dip and can now say “We’ve been there.”

We are now at one of our favorite KOA campgrounds in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  It’s time to catch up on paper work and do some routine maintenance on the RV, etc..

Our campsite with a view.

Sunset last night, with the moon rising.

Till next time!