HI, All!
In another post I referred to the Texas GOF at Salado this weekend. As a
follow-up...
This was the first long trip for the MGA, and she ran beautifully. I drove
up, and, unfortunately, back in the rain. No step for a stepper. I was
amused when I would take a short break and pull in under cover at a gas
station. "Nice car. Boy, I'll bet you're miserable." Nope. "The car is a
blast to drive and I'm really not getting wet." Why do people always have
to think the worst?!
Darlin' only used about 2 quarts of oil, somewhere lost a bit of coolant,
and made the trip on about 15 gallons of petrol. All in all I drove about
400 miles or more. It's only about 140 miles to Salado, but I didn't come
straight home on Sunday. Actually I was enjoying the drive so much I stayed
with friends in Johnson City and didn't return until late Monday evening.
Sunday was a stellar day. It couldn't have been more perfect if I had
prayed harder for it. I headed west out of Salado, Texas map in hand, and
sought out off-roads. What a bonanza!
I found a great route, although there were likely others that would hav
yielded similar results. Keep in mind that Texas is doing her annual flower
show right about now. There were a few bluebonnets (a bit late for their
part of the show), and gazillions of indian paintbrush, firewheels,
black-eyed susans, coreopsis, thistle, feather, buttercups, and the list
goes on. Color was bursting forth everywhere I looked. There were lakes of
gold. There were some real ponds, too. I saw them winking the sky back to
its maker as I passed by.
The road was a well-kept two-lane state road, and I only saw a few other
cars along the way. The landscape in this part of the state changes several
times: prairie with a few trees, then more trees, then whoops! there's a
cedar tree (actually a juniper) that signifies the start of the Texas Hill
Country.
The chorus of the flowers was incredible. I could hear meadow larks and
mockingbirds as I drove along, and it almost sounded as if they were in the
car. The sky was blue, blue, blue, with only some silver cirrus clouds
drifting here and there. The engine hummed its little engine tune, and I
was one with the universe. If that drive had never ended, it would have
been fine with me.
I cruised by Luckenbach to see what was happening and to check out the beer
prices. I verified them several times by making sure that Marge, the
sheriff, was collecting the correct amout. Before sunset I headed back to
Johnson City to help a friend with his computer. [Oops! I forgot to mention
the mandatory Lucas strike: no tail lights when I arrived in Salado.] So I
stayed over and worked on the system, fully expecting a repeat of Sunday's
spectaular show the next day.
But it rained again. The car loved it and we had a great cruise home just
like we had a great cruise up to Salado. The only discomfort was knowing
the scenery was there hiding under the drizzle.
What a great weekend!!
Carol
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