Travels with Kenny

Friday July 17, 2010 (It's getting to post these things every night--and remember what we did during the day when we don't.) Anyway...We went to Austin Wednesday morning, 7/15, and started our tour at the Texas capitol building. These capitol buildings are always interesting and Texas' is no exception. We then visited the LBJ presidential library on the grounds of U. Texas. Very well done and very interesting, particularly because Serry and I lived through the Johnson era--we remembered everything. Had dinner in a great restaurant in the trendy downtown area. My best meal so far. That night we went to see the Mexican free-tailed bats fly out from under the Gov. Ann Richards Bridge--a big attraction in Austin. There are about 1.5 million of the critters, and they're supposed to fly out at dusk so you can see them against the darkening sky. Unfortunately, they didn't leave the bridge until 10PM, so we couldn't really see them. Very inconsiderate of them. Austin is a neat city; we liked it.

Thursday, 7/16, we left Austin heading west to New Mexico to see Carlsbad Caverns. A very long driving day through a very desolate part of the country (which I guess is part of its charm). Along the way, we stopped at the visitor's center of the LBJ Ranch in Johnson City. We didn't have time for the ranch itself--we'd still be there!

Then we stopped at Sonora, TX, and got caught in a traffic jam, undoubtedly the only one this little town has ever had or will ever have. A couple of trucks were transporting two immense tanks of some sort. These things must have been 80 feet long and 20feet high. So big that the power company had to dismantle the traffic lights at the interstate intersection and nobody could move. Then on to Ft. Stockton, TX. Serry and I "toured" the virtually empty one-street downtown area. We parked in front of a closed funeral parlor and took a little walk. When we got back to the car, a man drove up and asked us if we were looking for an undertaker. We assured him we weren't. We wound up for the night in Pecos, TX, the home of the famous Judge Roy Bean. Nice hotel, and they had free pizza and beer for the guests!

Friday, 7/16, we drove to Carlsbad Caverns National Park and toured the caverns. Very interesting. At night we finally got to see those bats we missed in Austin; the caverns are full of them. We are now in a motel in Carlsbad, NM. The motel's sign advertises "new rooms." Maybe they were...in 1959! Oh well, it's all part of the fun.