jan 12, 2012

Austin, Texas…January 12, 2012

GEE-MOW-NEE-CHRISTMAS!  It is cold.  The upper left quadrant of a witch’s upper torso couldn’t possibly be any colder and there are 40 MPH winds.  The sky is overcast, too, hoping the sun above will warm the clouds somewhat.

Junnie and I were rocked in the truck cab while Dan ran into Wal-Mart to see if they have any “Aromatherapy for cats”.  We do not want to travel without it and our supply becomes less each day.  All three of us will be even loonier if it gives out.  I was going to say that we’d be “loony”, and then my mind heard someone mutter---“they already are”, so I chose a different adverb (or is it an adjective?  I’m leaning toward adverb.  It’s been so long since elementary school!)  I HEARD THAT! We have stopped at Wal-Mart, a veterinarian and a tractor supply place (I’m sure everyone wants a calm farm cat!) looking for Junnie’s “happy smells”. 

We passed Peach orchards, horses, cows, sheep, goats, wineries, fields of dead Live Oaks with a scattering of live ones, vineyards and a meat market and taxidermy shop.  Thankfully our freezer is stocked with all the meat we need for a while.

When we arrived in Johnson, TX., we drove past LBJ’s home.  Johnson was his hometown.  His home is a lovely 1900’s farm house with a nice front porch from which he announced his candidacy for every race he ran.  The yard sports yaupon, crape myrtle, magnolia, cedar, chinaberry and sycamore trees.  There are live oaks in the back near the elevated water tank along with a lean-to work shed and there’s an outhouse in the back corner.  The back yard has a split rail fence, but the front yard is surrounded by a two level picket fence.  Each of the rooms were designed to have windows on three sides to take advantage of all available light.   Johnson, Texas even has grakles.  Talk about having a lot in common with Beaufort.  BTW did you hear that Beaufort is in the top three candidates in “The Best Small Towns in the US”?

The highway system over Austin afforded us with a wonderful panoramic vista of the city.  We arrived in the afternoon and went to the home of Dan’s first boss after he graduated from IU.  Dan, that is.  Dan and DeLayne worked together at the College of Pharmacy at The Ohio State University for  over five years.   It was good to see him again.  Unfortunately he and his wife have divorced, but she and their daughter and son-in-law who live in Austin will be coming over tomorrow evening.  We called Lin and Beverly Shivers to invite them out to dinner for tonight.  They are the parents of Michelle who was the youth director when Kryn and Kathryn were in MYF.  Last February they stopped by the house to take us to dinner and we were trying to do the same to them tonight, but Beverly had a PPR meeting.  Their minister is moving and it was imperative she go to it.  That’s what happens sometimes.  We were only able to give DeLayne a 2 hour notice as to when we’d be arriving this afternoon.  He did, though, have some inkling we were on our way.  Lin has had some severe health issues and we didn’t want them to make any plans for us so we just took our chances.  This time they didn’t work out, but it was good we  were both able to talk with both of them.

We finally found a Petsmart in Austin for Junnie’s favorite fragrance.  Our GPS told us the nearest one was over fifty miles away…note to self…Get an update for the GPS!  On this trip we’ve been to several places that are no more, too.  I may not change, but other things do.

Signing off for today.  Hope you’ve had a great day.  It is still cold and promises to get colder as the evening progresses.  I’m delighted we have so many blankets and heavy clothes, but I thought they’d be for more northerly climes.  Ah well, the weather here is as changeable as it is in Beaufort!

Blessings,

Trailer Traveling Tourists