April 12, 2011 LBJ and Booker country…

We had planned on an overnight stop (or two) in Austin but instead decide to limit our touring to the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum, and the LBJ ranch tour in Johnson City.

Parking with the big boys.

The LBJ Library and Museum.  If you are my age you might remember in 1966 Charles Whitman killed 16 people from the UT tower, at the left. 

There is no parking or admission charge to the library and museum, a pleasant surprise, but also no RV or bus parking. We manage to back in between some school busses, hiding along a perimeter fence.

7/8 scale oval office.

LBJ is portrayed as a victim of the times, which he mostly is – the champion of an unpopular war at a time all sorts of things were going wrong. He successfully passed major “Great Society” (a term I never liked) legislation but had to deal with great unrest on campuses across the country, the assassinations of MLK and RFK (and of course JFK), riots in the black communities, etc. The museum includes a temporary exhibit on radical groups of the 1960s. It must have been difficult deciding and defending the groups included and excluded. Interestingly, the John Birch Society was included.

We drive on toward Junction, stopping at the National Parks visitor center in Johnson City, but we can find no one to answer questions. We pick up maps and continue to the LBJ Ranch on the Pedernales River, near Stonewall.

Cow's-eye view of the LBJ Ranch.

Air Force One Half on left, Airstream One on right.

The LBJ home.  The Texas White House is mainly in the addition to the left.

View toward the Pedernales River.

At the ranch visitor center we are provided a narrative CD to play as we drive a paved one-way road (trailer OK) through the working cattle ranch, enjoying the views and the calming surroundings. We can see why he liked the ranch. The tour ends at the LBJ home, which includes the rooms that became known as the Texas White House. Outside is a runway and a parked four-engine executive jet with presidential markings - LBJ dubbed it Air Force One Half.

The conducted house tour costs $2 and is well worth it. LBJ bought the house from a relative but it was apparently in depressing shape. With Lady Bird’s money and direction it was expanded and improved and, although it doesn’t look it, I swear the ranger said it is now 8000 square feet – perhaps that includes outbuildings.

The inside has a modest traditional look but no photos are permitted – don’t know why. The eating area has a large window permitting a view of the ranch; after LBJ’s passing Lady Bird would not eat at the formal table, preferring the small one at the window’s edge, where she could look out at the ranch and watch wildlife through a pair of binoculars. Lady Bird died in 2007.

Marcia snapped a photo of LBJ’s office and was admonished, but then the ranger realized he had forgotten to tell us no pictures. At possibly great personal risk, Marcia has let me post the photo.

Ed and Marcia ready dinner at the Booker Ranch.

We continue from the LBJ ranch on the Pedernales to the Booker ranch on the North Llano, and a great dinner and catch-up. Ed had two blown tires on the trip home from Florida; both in the same wheel position, causing some body damage and the slicing of a water feed tube. After a good night’s sleep in their guest hook-up spot, we continue our drive home.