Want to take a bike ride around the Texas ranch of a US president whose term got bogged down in an unpopular war?
Don't bother heading to Crawford to ride at W's ranch unless you're Lance Armstrong. I'm talking about the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, about an hour's drive from Austin.
Luci Johnson, the youngest daughter of former president Lyndon Baines Johnson, led two bike tours of the ranch and surrounding areas last weekend that each drew about 75 people. The ride — about nine miles — started at the LBJ State Park and Historic Site and crossed over to the LBJ Ranch National Historic Park.
Austin American-Statesman reporter Katie Humphrey wrote that Luci Johnson told tales that provided an insight into family life. The bikers visited Johnson's birthplace, the family cemetery, and the so-called Texas White House, where the president's widow, Lady Bird, still lives.
The bike tours, the first at the national park, were Luci Johnson's idea. More are anticipated, although there are none scheduled.
According to a park service press release:
“The tour route includes a scenic ride on the south side of the Pedernales River adjacent to the LBJ Ranch via Ranch Road 1 and then entry to the ranch on Park Road 49. This portion of the ride will be guided by National Park Service rangers. Ms. Johnson will meet the riders just across the river at the Junction School, where her father received his first formal education in 1912 and whose restoration she helped dedicate in 2004.
“Sights along the tour route from the school include the Reconstructed Birthplace (the only presidential birthplace reconstructed by a sitting president), the Johnson Family Cemetery, where the president is buried, President Johnson`s grandparents' home, and the “Texas White House,” the ranch`s focal point and still home to Mrs. Lyndon B. (“Lady Bird”) Johnson. The tour continues to the airplane hangar, where several of the ranch`s vehicles are on display, and then through the working ranch lands up to the highest point on the ranch, where President Johnson had his Show Barn built in 1966 and where he often went at sunset to enjoy the view. The tour then winds through English Park, a good location to spot wildlife, and back down across the river to the state park.”
The LBJ Ranch was well-known to us who followed the news in the '60s. Johnson flew down there 74 times during his five years in office, spending about one-quarter of his presidency at the ranch.
We visited the state and national parks a couple of times when I lived down there, and they offer a good slice of the old Texas Hill Country.
If you want to get on the next bike tour of the ranch, I'd regularly search “bicycle” at the NPS calendar of events for the park, or contact the park staff.
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