Hill Country/San Antonio

Hi, you'all! We said goodbye to Dick & Linda in Harlingen, TX., and drove north to see our friends Dori & Clyde Kimball in Hondo, Texas, located in the picturesque Hill Country. Dori was our real estate agent in New London, NH, and actually found the house we have lived in since 1998. As the 4 of us ate dinner outside that first night, we did our best to catch up with each other. Later, as it grew dark, we continued to chat as we sat around a warm fire pit, with their family dog trying out everyone's lap.

The next day we drove into Bandera, had lunch with Dori, visited her new real estate office, and did a little shopping. Bandera, TX is the Cowboy Capital of the World, and it is not uncommon to see a cowboy on his horse during the weekend. After the Civil War, the town had become the primary southern terminus of the Great Western Cattle Trail, which ran north to Dodge City, Kansas, (remember the TV show Gunsmoke?) into Nebraska, and, for a time, clear on up to Deadwood, South Dakota.

On Saturday we drove through the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, in Stonewall, the birth place and final resting place of LBJ and his wife, Ladybird. The ranch is 1570 acres in area, and was known as the "Texas White House" during LBJ's administration. On permanent display at the ranch is a JetStar plane in a hangar, with a mile long airstrip, built after LBJ acquired the ranch in 1951. Interesting, Air Force One never landed at the ranch because it was too heavy for the runway. LBJ would fly from Washington to either San Antonio or Austin, and then make the short hop to the ranch by helicopter or car. Also seen on the ranch are his parent's and grandparent's homes, and a one-room school house LBJ briefly attended. This working ranch with it's many cattle, green lawns and white fences is in impeccable condition.

Later we took a really nice country drive on the famous 13 mile Willow City Loop, on the lookout for Bluebonnets and other wild flowers. We saw some, but unfortunately the season had peaked a week earlier. There were other wild flowers, notably Indian Paintbrush, Mexican Poppies and Winecups. We learned that any fences painted with purple posts on the top seriously meant THEY SHOOT TRESPASSERS! We didn't stop. At another point there were  Cowboy and Cowgirl boots on the wooden fence posts for as far as the eye can see. Nice touch!

That same day we also visited Fredericksburg, TX. The town is notable as the home of Texas German, a dialect spoken by the first generations of German settlers who initially refused to learn English. We enjoyed lunch in a German restaurant and did some shopping, and Steve found his Cowboy Hat, LBJ style!

On Sunday (Palm Sunday) Dori and I went to Cowboy Church in a large converted barn. I fit in with my jeans, suede jacket, and of course, my Cowgirl Hat! A full band played for about 20 minutes, very harmonic and enthusiastic, successfully getting the whole congregation joining in. Then the pastor got up and spoke for 40 minutes in his cowboy getup. Very enjoyable. Dori told me that on Christmas Eve they parade animals, including camels, from one end to the other. Sounds like fun!

Steve and Clyde met us after church. On the way they drove by some ranches that raised exotic animals....zebras, Black Buck (a type of African Antelope),  emu, and others. Some of these exotic animals are hunted, for a price. Afterwards, Steve and I drove to San Antonio. We toured the Alamo, (Remember the Alamo)? The Alamo had been the scene of a siege on March 6, 1836, between Mexican General Santa Ana's 1,500 troops and the 250 volunteer defenders. Among the Alamo volunteers, who defended the garrison to the last man were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and Davy Crockett, famed frontiersman and former Tennessee congressman. One volunteer, Robert E. Cochran, came from New Hampshire.

Afterwards we walked to the San Antonio River Walk, where we took in a narrated history on the River Boat Tour. The cruise was 35 minutes long and covered one and a half miles. Our captain kept up a monologue about the history and growth of the riverwalk. The 1968 San Antonio's World's Fair brought about many changes, and today San Antonio is the country's 7th largest city.

The next day we said goodbye to Dori & Clyde, and drove to San Angelo, TX. While parked there, we got an unfortunate email from our local bank. Our Visa cards had been hacked!  The culprits were caught trying to charge $500.00 on it at Walmart. Still, we had to arrange for new cards to be sent to us, which is a little difficult to do when you are on the road. We managed to figure out where we would be on the day the cards would arrive, the bank mailed them, and it all worked out, eventually.

We are sooooo excited to have our daughter Bethany join us for 9 days later this week. We will pick her up at the Midland/Odesssa Airport and then drive onto New Mexico. See you next week!