San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 25 — It seemed obvious to do when I looked at it. There were two more sites related to President Johnson and the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, and there wasn’t that much driving in between. It turns out the AAA book grossly underestimates the time needed for all of them.
Route: US 290, US 87, I-10
Number of songs on my iPod with “Texas” in the name: Six, not including “Austin” or “Laredo”
An in-between designation of “four-lane undivided rural” for Texas highway maps would be a good idea. The only difference between 290 to Fredericksburg and some roads marked as two lanes is a narrow paved median.
The first stop was LBJ’s boyhood home in Johnson City. I skipped the films, having been at the museum the previous day. From the tour, I learned that his mom was college-educated, a rarity in those days, and the family would often talk politics in the kitchen.
Old US 290 past the LBJ Ranch is Ranch Road 1
Stopped by the LBJ ranch and toured it and the Texas White House. I would’ve preferred to skip part of the driving — it’s not like I haven’t seen a Hereford before, even if these were shorthorns — but it was one way around. The CD from the Park Service could stand to be broken up into tracks, although it did track the driving pretty accurately.
Every room wired for phone lines, TV, and Muzak
The house wasn’t open until recently, after Lady Bird’s death, and it put the National Park Service in the interesting position of removing modernizations to bring rooms back to their bright-yellow formica 1960s glory. The bedrooms were just opened to the public a month ago. And wow, did LBJ love his telephones and electricity. Perhaps a byproduct of going without electricity early in life.
Reached the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg at 3. AAA says you need two and a half hours, but four at a minimum is more like it. There’s an outdoor tour portion that is an hour alone, and I didn’t get through the entire museum before it closed at 5. Unfortunately, I was intent on meeting someone in San Antonio, and couldn’t take up the offer to use the admission the next day.
South of Fredericksburg, US 87 was my first experience of a 70-mph limit on a two-lane road, a curvy two-lane at that. I-10 starting at Comfort was very central Texas in character, but once I got nearer the San Antonio metro it escalated quickly. I had to pass my exit because of the traffic.
I had a reservation at a hotel in the northwest that used to be a Hampton but is now a Quality. I suspect that Hampton gave it up because of age. Upon my second trip to the room, I realized it had an ashtray and no “No smoking” marker outside. I went back to the desk for another room and got it. The new room…had an ashtray. I went back to find out what was up. He said the hotel was now smoke-free. When? December. I asked for a nonsmoking room that had already been one and got an upgrade to a “King Deluxe” with a fold-out couch and fridge.