We wake up and we are still in Ozona, Texas. It is misty, spritzy, and overcast, 54 degrees. Quite a change from the last few days. Outside our window are some of the wildflowers I have been seeing
all along the highway. I was surprised to find that one of the purple ones was verbena! I don't know what the others are, but these were right by the road.
As we said our goodbyes to Ozona, we drove past two large lots where they were selling deer blinds and 40 pound bags of deer corn.
The people that we see look most like farmers, and the restaurants are full of Mexican men dressed cowboy style. Restaurants have names like El Chaco's, Mi Taco, The Hitchin' Post, and Bryan's Poco Taco. They all seem to be driving little one ton flat bed trucks. If the area is a producer of mohair and wool, there have to be a lot of goat and sheep herders around, but we see neither herders nor herds!
There is no wind this morning. And we are starting to get into Hill Country. We put on one of Laura's tapes, Westerns for Dixie, a mix she did for my birthday one year. So we listen to Back in the Saddle Again, Tumblin' Tumbleweeds, and Happy Trails sung by the likes of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Sons of the Pioneers. And we're happy to sing along!
A word about the road we are on - Route 10. It is one of only two intercontinental highways in the country. Mind you, this is different than interstate highways, which may only go short distances. Highway 10 is part of the Interstate Highway Eisenhower System started in 1957. It is 2,460 miles long, and originates in Santa Monica, ends in Jacksonville, Florida. And guess what? One third of it is in TEXAS! It's official name is the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway. It is credited with "shaping the United States into a world economic superpower and a highly industrialized nation."
For you trivia buffs, the other such coast-to-coast highways are I 80, which is SF to Teaneck NJ and I 90 Seattle to Boston (which is the longest). Two of the north-south routes originate in San Diego, I-5 and I-15!
That being said, we are about to leave Highway 10, and head toward Austin on 290. We found the Llanos River Rv campground that we had stayed in our last trip through here, and remembered that we lost our awning and had a flat tire between here and Las Cruces the last time. So, this is a good day!
We are going over rivers, one of which is the Pedernales. Every time we look down, we don't see any water. And we develop a mantra, "dry as a bone," said in a Texas twang, of course! Appropriately, we are listening to Robert Caro's Passage to Power, one of his fantastic volumes about LBJ. It is fascinating that one person could dredge up so much information. I hope he lives long enough to write about the LBJ presidency and the years after he retired.
We have looked for a post office all across the country and have yet to spot one when John veers off the road in front of one in Harper, Texas. It is closed! And the building is for sale! Down the road is a new one and we post some letters that have traveled 1200 miles and are probably going back to San Diego.
We are now on Route 290, going toward Fredricksburg. Everything is becoming German. This is where Admiral Nimitz grew up. I have looked into a link between him and my maternal grandmother's Nemitz family, but haven't found one. Even though she said he looked just like her father! We see roads like Zeder Strasse, Weisheimer, and lots of sheep, goats and cows. We had been looking forward to getting to Fredericksburg, but a quick tour of the town reveals a lot of really built up tourist shops and lots of people We head out of town to the Wild Seed Farms. This is part of Lady Bird Johnson's National Wildflower initiative, which was created to protect and preserve America's native plants and landscapes. Probably her most recognized work is in Washington DC. She was instrumental in the passage of the Highway Beautification Act, to preserve habitat and species. One doesn't think about the Johnson administration as being environmentally oriented, but Lady Bird really did have an impact, as evidenced by all the wildflowers we see along hundreds miles of freeway.
There was a very persistent woman in the visitors center who was determined to help us find the ultimate experience in Fredericksburg. She encouraged us to go to Luckenbach, where Willie and the gang sang. I didn't tell her I knew it was WAYLON and Willie and the gang! She told us George Jones had died that day at age 81, and she figured there would be a musical tribute to him that night. I was sure she was right, but we had been to Luckenbach, and needed to keep going. Besides, Willie's 80th birthday was coming up too, and there were all kinds of tributes about to happen. Can't have too many celebrations and remembrances when it comes to genuine country music! George was definitely one of a kind, though.
We see lots of pecan and walnut trees, as well as peach trees. And then we are in Johnson City, LBJ's home. We have gone through the ranch before, and we stop to fuel up. When a fellow gasser upper
asked us "where ya from?" and "where ya goin?" he said he was also headed toward Austin, and he said, "I'm cryin' cuz the traffic's gonna be jes' awful!" We shrug, and head toward Austin.
A sign along the way: "We the People Have No Clue."
He is right! Austin was horrible - rush hour on a Friday night, and 290 is under construction! We had planned to find a nice park and go back into Austin for BBQ, but by the time we got out of town, and found our first preferred RV Park by a lake closed, we find another place along the freeway, the Lucky Too RV Park, and crash for the night. Another disappointment and a working man's park, but we are too tired to care.
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