Montana Tours of 2005, April 6, 2005, Luckenbach & Storm Clouds

The weather this week has been wonderful, sunny, clear, bright, if this is spring, GIVE US MORE!

Above, another photo of bluebonnets. They sure are pretty.

Another one of our stops this week was in Luckenbach. I am not quite sure how to describe or explain Luckenbach. Except to say it is small, it has a dance hall and a old post office that is now a gift shop and in the back is a bar. There is usually a musician pickin' at a guitar in the bar. That is about all the action this place has, except that every summer Willie Nelson comes and performs here. Fun place, where when you ask what kind of beer they have, they show you the caps from every kind they have, hooked to a piece of cardboard. A cap menu of sorts. It works, and is kinda cute, eh?? Left, the Post Office turned bar and gift shop. The population, they say, of Luckenback is THREE! They say, that everyone in Luckenback is someone (or something to that effect!)

Below, we saw a number of homes built in this style, and we thought they were very handsome homes, the stone work and brick work is very impressive, although it does not show real well here.

Al came back from running errands the other evening and caught these magnificient storm clouds on film. It had been a gorgeous clear and very warm day. This storm did not cause us any grief, but we understand it did some nasty business over towards Austin.

Montana Tours of 2005, April 5, 2005, Lyndon Johnson Ranch

Monday, we had lunch in Fredericksburg at another German restaurant. The food was so fabulous, well, we just cannot express how good it was! We then drove out to Stonewall to the LBJ Ranch. They have a very nice bus tour, which we took and enjoyed. We saw the re-constructed house of his birth, the cemetery, the Texas White House, the landing strip, and a lot of animals! Lady Bird is said to spend about half her time at the ranch, sitting on the porch and waving at the tourists. They said she was at the ranch the day before we arrived. Here are a couple of photos.

This is the Johnson Cemetery, on the Ranch. The public is not allowed inside of the stone wall. President Johnson is buried in the closest row, about midway, his stone is taller than the rest. Five generations of his family are buried here.

Above, the Texas White House while President Johnson was in office, Lady Bird is sometimes sighted sitting on the porch, waving at the tourists.

Above is one of the cattle on the ranch, look closely at his left horn, yep, it says "LBJ".

Left, it is spring, the pansies are planted. One of my favorites. Note the border on this flower bed, it appears to be made of glass bottles, buried neck down. See the enlarged photo. These were taken at the Sauer-Beckman Farm, which is part of the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historical Site. The Sauer-Beckman Farm is a sample of Rural Life in the Hill County of Texas. Interesting tidbit we learned, Augusta Sauer Lindig was the midwife at the birth of LBJ.

Close up of the bottles that make up this flower border.

Montana Tours of 2005, April 4, 2005, The Hill Country of Texas in the Spring

The week of April 3, 4 and 5, 2005, Fredericksburg, Texas, the Texas Hill Country. Again, lets let the pictures tell our story.

Sunday April 3rd was another beautiful day in the Hill Country. We drove out to Bandera, The Cowboy Capital of the World. Al's nose found this Bar-b-que restaurant. You know where we ate lunch!

Our ride around the Hill County through Medina and back to Kerrville was lovely. There were some great views, sadly, there are no pulloffs, so we just drove and enjoyed the views and did not take any photos.

Montana Tours of 2005, April 3, 2005, The Hill Country of Texas in the Spring

We are in Fredericksburg, Texas, in the Hill Country. We ate at a terrific German restaurant today, and went for a ride in the countryside. It is wildflower season here, the photos will tell the story.

Nope, they are not Texas wildflowers. They were part of a rather large

group, all enjoying a sunny Texas spring day, they took
the same scenic tour we did.

NOW, some flowers:

 Above: Texas Bluebonnets. Prickly pear cactus in front.

Right:  I believe this is called a White Prickley Poppy, it sure is prickley, reminds me of thistle.

Above, prickley pear cactus with a Texas hill behind, it was a

cloudless beautiful sunny day in the Hill Country!

Above, a field of Indian Paintbrush. These, as well as the bluebonnets and other wildflowers are planted along many of the higways here in Texas, miles and miles of them. They are quite the sight when seen from that prospective. Colorful and breathtaking!Above, a field of Indian Paintbrush. These, as well as the bluebonnets and other wildflowers are planted along many of the higways here in Texas, miles and miles of them. They are quite the sight when seen from that prospective. Colorful and breathtaking!

Above, more bluebonnets, the official state flower of Texas.

Montana Tours of 2005, March 23 to March 31, 2005, Bees, Sand Art & Wind Grilling

Our stay is coming to a close, we have been to South Padre Island for a day, walked along the ocean, got a bit of sun, had pina coladas by the beach, a very enjoyable day.

Made another trip to Progreso Mexico, had breakfast (something we had not done before, YUM), found a great jewelry store, picked up a few other requests, and ran out of $$, must be doing something right??

One of the MOC members dropped by, John and Donna, they are staying out in Mission, where we hope to be next year. Had a nice visit with them, and hope to see them all down here next winter.

Did have one exciting afternoon in the Montana, we got an infestation of bees. They said they were not killer bees, but they were not happy bees either. Al took Abby and Cappy for a walk, came back in, I got Tilly and Gallagher ready for their walk, went out the door and wammo, there they were. UGHHH. We had a couple of interesting hours, it was Sunday, the park has a exterminator on call, but he could not be reached on Sunday. I proceeded to inform the park manager here that bees did not KNOW it was Sunday, and maybe he ought to have the names of more than one exterminator to call?? I had to stay out side for a long time, because I could not get in the door of Montana. Finally the bees decided to stay away from the door for a moment and I ran in. Eventually a bee got in Montana, which we expected, and I was back on the phone with the park manager. He said, well, we can come down there at dusk and spray, we have this foam. I asked him what I was supposed to do about 4 yorks that had to go potty real soon, and it was HOURS until dusk?? They came down and sprayed, the bees have not returned!

Sand art/sculpturing, is very popular in the Rio Grande Valley area, as is to be expected! Here is an example of a rather cute piece, which was being done at the Borderfest Festival. They work on it for a few days while the festival is going on. It is interesting to watch these artists at work! They spray their work with a mixture of glue and water, and they can stand for weeks or longer as long as they are not touched and as long as they are not at the beach!

Last installment we showed a photo of some really Texas styled bar-b-que grills. Now, lets tell you about trying to grill, say a hamburger, here in the Rio Grande Valley, on one of our little portable grills. Maybe we should call it the wind/grill dance. It tends to be a bit breezy here in the Valley. OK, sometimes it is downright WINDY! Cannot tell you how many times stuff blows away or over. Lawn chairs if not being used, are best laid down, or they are gonna move! At this park they have 30 gallon light weight galvonized trash cans at each campsite. We have NO idea why, but that is what they give you. Twice a week they pick up the garbage. In between we chase lids from those garbage cans. The wind picks the lids off the trash cans and tosses them around like a frisbee! We find them in adjoining campsites! Lucky, so far, they have not damaged any rigs or trucks!

Anyway, now, back to the wind/grill dance. First step is to determine if the breeze is light enough to even attempt cooking. IF, you are dealing with a full force wind, our advice, don’t try it, and if you insist, we wish you all the luck in the world! Next step, try to determine which way the wind is blowing. Now, study your campsite and see if you can find a place to tuck in that is a little bit less breezy! Move grill, attempt cooking. Be sure to allow more time for this type of cooking, cause the grill will be real hard to heat up! We have seen other campers pull their truck up to block the wind, and even attempt to put tarps out to block the wind. Al and I have bodily stood guard trying to block the wind. Maritial bliss, cuddling around the grill in the wind trying to get the hamburgers to cook! When all else fails, GO OUT TO EAT!

We leave the Valley tomorrow, heading north, SLOWLY, north. First scheduled stop, Fredericksburg, Texas and Wildflowers!

Even though we were pretty sick for about 2 weeks when we first arrived, we have still enjoyed our stay here, Al had a great time playing billiards, and I just enjoyed being in Montana, and being here!

Montana Tours of 2005, March 24, 2005, Musings and Mumblings

Other musings and mumblings from things seen over the last few weeks:

They have a drive in movie (anyone remember those) a mile or so away from here, we can see the screen at night, not the movie, just that it is there. $5.00 a car full of people to enter!

Saw corn 4 inches high a few weeks ago, now it is about 8 inches high.

They are harvesting fields of onions! They also harvest sugar cane here, part of the process is burning the fields or something, problem is that this burning produces large amounts of soot, large hunks of soot, that fly for miles. It is a bit of a problem here at this park, it gets in the pool, and all over your rig and truck and the grass. Sounds a bit romantic growing sugar cane, the harvesting of same, it is NOT romantic, it is black and dirty.

The orange and grape fruit trees are in bloom, the smells are too wonderful to even try to describe.

The spring flowering bushes are also in bloom. The colors are fab! People are planting their annuals, pansies, petunias, geraniums, all great looking, healthy, large and full of blooms.

Many of the Winter Texans leave as of March 1st, looked like at least 100 pulled out of this park on March 1st. Since then, many more have left. I think we have an acre of empty lots around us! (Not quite, but entire rows at this park have NO rigs.) Most of us that are left will be leaving April 1st, gonna be a traffic jam out there on the highways that day!

Someone was playing the bagpipes here in the campground one evening. OK, they were still learning, missed a few high notes, but I surely did not expect to hear anything like that!

We had another gathering of MOC members in the Valley, a much smaller group, but still had an enjoyable afternoon and evening visiting and comparing stories on Montanas.

We are scheduled to leave the Rio Grande Valley on April 1, 2005. We will head home, first stop along the way will be Fredericksburg, Texas for Wildflower time. We are told it is fabulous. After Fredericksburg we have no definative plans, YET!

Montana Tours of 2005, March 23, 2005, Rio Grande Livestock Show, Amazing BBQ Grills

We attended the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show here in Mercedes. This is a form of our 4-H county fairs, the youth show the livestock they have been raising, only here they show a LOT more cows and steers than I remember in Michigan. They have arts & crafts for sale, carnival rides, junk food, vendors, etc. They have rodeo several evenings a week (we did not attend, heard it was quite good tho). They have fireworks and a parade. We could see the fireworks from our trailer, just stood in the door way and watched! They take their bar-b-que quite seriously in Texas, as you can see by this photo!

All these smokers/cookers were made by individuals for this fair

competition. They were made of very heavy gauge metals. The lids were so

heavy I could barely lift one, and it was a small cooker.

I know, first thought, is that animal would be a lot of steaks and meat for

those cookers! This was a LARGE animal!

Above:  A 1903 John Deere Chuck Wagon. This type of wagon would be

loaded up with coffee, beans, flour, rice and cured meats for cattle drives.

There was a nice demonstration about cattle drives at the Rio Grande Livestock Show.