Before we left Houston, we had called the next RV campground where we made a reservation in Austin, Texas: Pecan Grove RV Park. We called because we didn’t know how long it would take us at Allstar Glass and we wanted to know what time the office closed at Pecan Grove. The manager could not find our reservation, which we made in April 2022 (and for which we had an email confirmation). The manager explained that the previous manager had been fired in August of 2022 and took with him the laptop that contained all of the reservations, which is why he couldn’t find our reservation. He told us that the RV Park was full. We were furious. After pleading, arguing, screaming, and the use of a few choice words and threats, the manager finally recommended another place southeast of Austin called the Austonia RV Resort and Community. We immediately made a reservation with the Austonia, as we had looked at several other places that either did not have availability since it was SXSW (South by Southwest) weekend or were too far away from Austin. Note to readers: DO NOT EVER GO TO PECAN GROVE RV PARK as they are incompetent.
We drove from Houston to the Austonia RV Resort, which is located in Del Valle, Texas. It is a brand new RV Park, and they are still building out more sites. Our RV site was very large, with a concrete pad and full hookups. We were happy with this arrangement, even though we had preferred to be closer to Austin.
On our first night there, our youngest son, Kevin, picked us up at the RV and we had dinner at B Cooper Barbecue; a food truck located in East Austin. This satisfied our barbecue requirement for Texas (although not our last BBQ in Texas). Tim had pork spare ribs and Pat had Mangalitsa pork ribs. After dinner, the three of us returned to the RV and watched Women Talking, one of the Academy Award nominated movies. 
On our second day, Kevin came over in the afternoon and we grilled steaks and potatoes for the three of us, while we watched The University of Texas basketball team win the Big 12 Championship on our outdoor television. After the game, we retreated indoors (as the RV Resort manager had advised us that rattlesnakes had been seen near our site on a previous evening after dark) and caught up on some of the television shows that we used to watch together when we lived in Brooklyn together.
On our third day, Pat and Tim took an Uber to the LBJ Presidential Library. We waited about 10 minutes for the Uber and the ride to the library was about 25 minutes, at a cost of about $25. Visiting Presidential Libraries is one of the things we want to do while traveling the country in our RV. Although we have visited other Presidential Libraries together and separately, this was our first visit to a Presidential Library while full-time RVing. The library contained many videos, pictures, recordings, and other memorabilia from LBJ’s time in office; and the limousine he used after leaving office. It is amazing how much LBJ accomplished in his short time in office: the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act in 1965; the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; Head Start; Medicare and Medicaid; plus major expansion of the Space Program, to name a few. Five-year-old Pat campaigned door-to-door in his neighborhood for LBJ and Virgil Caraway (Hardin County Precinct 2 County Commissioner) in 1964 unbeknownst to his family of Democrats. His Great Aunt Dickie volunteered at the Hardin County Democratic headquarters so when she brought Pat along, he picked-up a few stickers and cards plus a few policy points. So, Pat "obviously" feels "partially" responsible for all of those great legislative accomplishments. 
We also got to see a limited time, special exhibit on Lady Bird Johnson. Pat’s Mom, Dorothy, was very proud of a photo she took with Lady Bird and Rosalynn Carter at a Texas Municipal League convention in the 70s so it was an extra treat for us to learn more about Lady Bird. 
We spent the entire afternoon at the LBJ Presidential Library. When it closed, Kevin picked us up and we all went to eat more Tex-Mex at Matt's El Rancho. We started with a "Bob Armstrong" and then Tim had beef Tacos al Carbon and Pat had Green Enchiladas; we all enjoyed margaritas. When we returned to the RV, the three of us watched the Academy Awards.
Despite the rough start with the lost reservation at that RV park we won’t mention again (but boycott it), we really enjoyed our time in Austin; particularly all of the time we got to spend with Kevin. We are off to north Texas next, to visit the middle son, friends, and Pat’s brother and sister-in-law.
Review of the Austonia RV Resort and Community 
The Austonia is a new RV campground (the sign isn't even finished). It currently has 114 large RV sites with concrete pads and full hookups but is adding more RV sites. It is located in southeast Austin, about a 25-minute car ride to downtown. Each RV site has a large concrete pad with enough space to park the RV, use as a patio, and park a car. The RV sites do not have picnic tables, fire pits, or grills. The campground has a lot of tree coverage and green space. There is no laundry or bathrooms/showers. The park manager is very friendly and helpful and explained that Uber Eats and others would make food deliveries to the campground. We are eager to see what the campground will look like in the future after the addition of more RV sites and some amenities like laundry and showers/bathrooms. We would consider staying at the Austonia again when we find ourselves in Austin.
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| Texas Bluebonnets starting to bloom. |
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