Kerrville to Austin, TX via hill country

Today we had only a couple hours to go before nightfall. We spent the day exploring the scenic routes through the Texas Hill Country in our book. This is not Colorado. Although the roads were pleasant enough, I found the words "spectacular" and "breath-taking" to be overdone. Even the picnic grounds (the only laybys we found) did not merit a picture.

We went through Johnson City, named for LBJ's ancestors. You can visit his ranch and the ranch of his ancsestors which includes a living history museum. It would be a neat place to spend a whole day, I'm sure, but since Mom isn't that great at walking around, we decided not to pay the fee. We do find this part of Texas much more attractive than what we saw of the Rio Grande Valley. It is also a lot closer than Arizona. So if we reached a point where we wanted to escape the winter snows of Wisconsiin, or more likely, the mud of spring, this would not be a bad place to come south. If we ever did that, the LBJ ranch would deserve a visit for the view of ranch life, not for LBJ.

Steve found a Texas BBQ place in Blanco on-line, so we routed ourselves to be there at the appropriate time.

The atmosphere was very simple--tin tubs with salt, pepper and paper towels on bare wooden tables. The bathroom sinks were also tin tubs with stones on the bottom and spouts rather than normal faucets. The food was not cheap, but it was fabulous. We each had one huge rib and shared an order of brisket. They had all-you-can-eat beans, which I encouraged Steve not to take literally.

The southern stretch of the route along US 46 incuded the town of Boerne (BURnee). Mom and I had been admiring all the buildings made with golden stone like this old hotel. I thought it would be a neat place to come back to, but a sign says it is being converted into offices.

The hotel was located right on a "green zone" walkway along the creek. Mom took a nap while I went for a walk. I thought Steve was going to nap, too, but I guess he walked around a bit.




Mom thought we needed a picture that showed that not all of Texas is beautiful homes and vistas. I was embarrassed to take this lest the owners see me, but when we drove past, it was in fact, abandoned.

Delightful evening with Larry Abraham and wife Dolly Lambdin. He is in admin at the University of Texas. She teaches physical education teachers, or did. She officially retires this Friday before the new semester starts although, like Steve, she is involved in lots of projects that she will continue working on. We had fun talking education. Dolly and Steve have very similar philosophies of teaching. They are coming north for a conference in the spring, so we may well see them again. Hadn't spoken in forty years, and then Larry showed up on Steve's Facebook a few weeks ago.