"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

Blink and you miss it. Keep your eyes open, and you'll see all that makes tiny  Hye  so interesting during its annual  Heritage Festival  on April 29. Local vendors, handmade goods, helicopter rides, live music, local wine, beer, BBQ and much more. Plenty of room to sit or stand around on a beautiful sunny day. There were even hay rides and pony rides. Kathy Martinelli-Zaun William G Bradley, JR visitvango@gmail.com Today is a good day to drive!

Old Tunnel State Park is a railroad tunnel of the Fredericksburg and Northern Railway, which ceased operations in 1942. The property came under the care of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and was officially made a state park in 2012. The abandoned railroad  tunnel  that gives Old  Tunnel  its name is home to up to 3 million Mexican free-tailed  bats  (Tadarida brasilienses mexicana) and 3,000 cave myotis (Myotis velifer)  bats  from May through October. During those months, visitors come to watch the  bats  emerge from the  tunnel  nightly. Kathy Martinelli-Zaun William G Bradley, JR visitvango@gmail.com Today is a good day to drive!

The Dam was built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1956. It holds back the Guadeloupe River and made a 20 acre lake. Today locals like to sunbath and slide down the water spilling over. Make sure to wear a pair of heavy shorts if you want to slide with the locals.

Just down from Stonehenge II we pulled off the main road at the bridge and tucked off the side of the old road dead end road. Some pretty blue wildflowers were blooming. The sound of the Johnson Creek trickled through the air. We could see the bridge and traffic was thinning. We settled in for the night, watched a Star Wars movie and we were just climbing into bed when a pick up truck without his headlights on rolled in. Then another vehicle passed us and went to the end of the road. We listened and we watched. The second vehicle left after a short time. The man from the pickup rooted around in the truck, smoked a cigarette, then walked up the road leaving his truck. Okay, back to quiet. Will decided to sit up a bit. Two police cars came down. They came a knocking. Seems they had stopped that guy walking. He was a convicted burglar and he had said that he left the truck because the clutch went out. The police were here to check out the truck and spotted us. Will and the officers chatte

We met Thomas back in 2006 when we volunteered at the LBJ State Park in Stonewall, TX.  We would work all day then go down to Luckenbach to listen to music and were lucky to get to know him.  Today he has three songs on the Texas Music Charts.  He plays the big arenas in Houston and Austin, but does free gigs around Fredericksburg.   We caught him singing at Hodo's one night. He had a lead guitar, bass and drummer with him and the music had the place foot stomping and dancing. It was nice to be remembered.  Last time we saw him play was in Lajitas, TX.  We had driven the MR2 across Texas from the valley of the deep south just to hear him and Mike Blakley play.   Thomas Michael Riley is becoming a legend with his Texas tunes. Around the campfire we sing Cow Pasture Pool, a song about golfing that even Willie Nelson enjoyed saying, "he's as real as it gets". You can hear his songs on his website. A quote from our blog December 1, 2007 Thomas

One of our favorite groups is ShAnnie Band.  We were there when they first met at Luckenbach, TX.  Annie is the singer songwriter and Shan plays.  He plays a mean twelve string guitar as well as the basic six string.  Their voices together make great harmonies.  They are really sweet people as well as great musicians.   With them is T-Roy.  He and his wife Candace have several albums of their own, but T-Roy also plays with ShAnnie Band when he can.  He can sure pick a melody! We were listening to them one night at The Hangar in Fredericksburg when a group of ladies dressed for a night on the town came down to join Shan around the piano.  Yes, he plays a beautiful piano and sometimes Annie with join him and sing. ShAnnie Band does house concerts; if you are interested you can contact them via their website.

We took a drive today out through the Texas Hill Country.  While rolling up and down the hillsides we saw wildflowers.  Ladybird Johnson, President Johnson, had as one of her missions to plant wildflowers all over Texas.  Some years they are just breathtaking.  Others like this year they are beautiful.  Wine cup  Texas Bluebonnets Love the road trek view parked among the roadside bluebonnets along the Willow Loop Road. Texas bluebonnet Field of flowers A great blue heron lands in a tree top. Bluebonnets Field of flowers One white poppy among the bluebonnets A fence of old boots This area was just covered two years ago; this year none. Beautiful roadway out in the country.  Today is a good day to drive! A wild pig or is it a javelina? We came across meadows with cows; this one wanted to say hello. The horns on those guys are really long, thus the name, Longhorns.