A Trip to the Hill Country of Texas LBJ Country

It has been snowing for a week in Tennessee and I'm sick of it.   But right after the latest snow storm it is an early spring break.  This is a trip we have planned for a while.   A booked condo in Largo Vista on the banks of Lake Travis just to the Northwest of Austin will be our base of operations.  A whole week of seeing other sights other than the inside our house in Tennessee will be refreshing.  We have cabin fever bad!

We leave on a late Friday morning hoping the roads would have thawed a little.  I takes us twice as long on snow covered roads to get to Interstate 40, but after that it is clear sailing to Little rock where we spend the night.  The next day it is a short trip to check in.  12 hour drive in all.

The first full day here we make tracks to Johnson City to the LBJ National Historic Parks to see the Boyhood home of Lyndon Baines Johnson our 36th President.  The Texas Hill Country provided a hard scrabble up bringing. Although he was a member of a prominent family, life was still hard and one of the nicest homes of the period reflected this.  No electricity no running water in the house.

After the Boyhood home we make the 14 mile trip west to see his ranch which was recently opened in 2007 for tours due to Lady Birds passing.  Lady Bird the much adored wife of our 36th President.  The ranch and house or the Texas White House as it was called by the press was spectacular.  Still a working cattle ranch with cattle that are descendants of LBJ's cattle.  They even had the oldest daughters Lucy's 18th birthday present a 65 Corvette Stingray.

He never forgot where he came from.  One of the hardest working presidents ever, sleeping 4 hours a night.  He worked hard for all Americans passing 1000 pieces of legislation that advanced average American lives.  From Medicare and medicaid; to rural electrification, then everything in between.  His biggest accomplishment being the landmark Civil Rights bill.  And although mostly forgotten clean air and water acts that made most rivers and lakes much cleaner than they were in the 1960's.  The Cumberland River near my home in Tennessee is 20 times cleaner.