A couple of days ago the U.S. Government was required by law to reveal to the general public all that was really known about the assassination of President Kennedy. (I think in general it could debunk the "lone gunman" theory.) This led me to think of President Johnson, who had been Kennedy's Vice President and therefore took over the presidency after the death of Kennedy.
President Johnson was the President from when I was 15 years old all the way to my college year when I turned 21. I graduated from Berkeley my senior year when I was 22. Nixon was president then. After I graduated from Berkeley, I got a job as a College Textbook Sales Representative for a company called Cummings Publishing, Inc. I was given the "Southwest territory", a region I wanted to go to (I was born in Asheville, North Carolina and always maintained a love of that area). This mean that my job was introducing and sell professors Cummings's test books in every college and junior college in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
This was the first time I would be driving across country on my own, so my mother worried about that and asked me if I could ask my good friend, Jim, if he would travel with me. Jim had wanted to visit his sister in Ohio, so this idea of a cross-country trip with me appealed to him. I would pay Jim's expenses from California to Asheville, which was going to be my headquarters. Jim said he would pay the expenses from Asheville to Cleveland and then back home to San Diego, where he lived at the time.
Having Jim along with me on my move eased my mother's concerns, and made the trip extra fun for me. Jim could kill you with laughter, he was so funny. On this rip, he enjoyed himself, too.
I picked up Jim in San Diego, and since we were heading to the southern states, our route took us through Tucson, Arizona and Las Cruces, New Mexico (really enjoyed the Tex/Mex food!), and slid into Texas. We saw that a reasonable route across Texas would be to head towards Houston, and when we studied the map to see the way from where we were to Houston, we got a kind of silly idea that really appealed to us.
Both Jim and I were deeply into politics. Looking at the road map of Texas, I saw that it would be quite easy to drive to where the L.B.J. Ranch was without going very far out of our way. The location of Johnson's ranch was not all that far north of San Antonio and west of Austin, two major Texas cities.
Since Johnson was no longer in the White House by then, we figured he would be completely back home now at his L.B.J Ranch. Who knows, we might actually happen to see him in town! The idea of that suddenly became an exciting potential. We decided we would have breakfast in some likely coffee shop that would be in whatever town was near the L.B.J. ranch.
When we got there, we found what we thought might be "the" coffee shop in this very tiny town, and went on in and ordered a nice big Texas breakfast (at least we would be eating good!).
When the waitress came to take our orders, Jim said to her, "We felt that this place would be the kind of coffee house that President Johnson would frequent when he was in town. Does he ever come in here for a meal?
The sweet elderly waitress wearing a white lacy bun on her head said, "Well aren't you two boys the sweetest thang! You hoped to see Lyndon? Well, you almost did! This is his favorite place to come into in the mornin' and get his first big tall cup a' coffee. He comes in pretty early... them ranch fellas get an early start, you know, and even though he had been the PRESIDENT, bless his heart, he is still a ranchin' man at heart.
Jim and I were eating this up!
The waitress said, "Where are you boys from, I know it's not Texas!" and she gave us a knowing smile.
Jim said, "No, we're not from elsewhere in Texas, we're from California."
"California! You boys come all the way from California to see Lyndon?"
I said, "I am moving to North Carolina for a new job I have, I just graduated from college this year, and my friend here, he decided to join me for the ride since this is the first time I have driven across this wide country all by myself."
Jim added, "We chose to come through this area of Texas with the hope that we would see President Johnson. I graduated from college with a degree in political science."
The waitress's brows furrowed, "Science what?"
I answered for Jim, "Politics, the science of politics."
Jim continued, "I studied the works of President Johnson in college. He took on a very hard task...replacing the assassinated President Kennedy, and having to deal with the pressures and horrors of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War is a subject that is very important to people our age."
Everybody was silent for a moment and I wanted to enliven the mood back again, so I said, "Beagles, I want to see him with beautiful beagles! Did President Johnson ever bring his dogs in here with him?"
"Oh you make me feel happy," she said, "He LOVED them dogs! Those big ol' floppy ears. No, he never brought them into the shop, but sometimes you'd hear them barking and yelping as Lyndon would take them down the street. He liked to show them off. And they made us forget about Vietnam for a moment."
Then she swiveled in her chair and pointed over to a brown table in a corner of the shop and said, "Right there, that was where Lyndon was sittin' early this mornin'. Most times when he comes in here he is happy and funny, likes to joke with who all is in here. He says he wants to set his mood right from the very beginning of the day, but this morning as I brought him his coffee, I could hear a sigh in his voice when he said good morning. I hate to see him down like that."
Jim and I just looked at her with a sense of regret on our faces...what can any of us say to cheer up a President who has carried so much of a burden?
Then the waitress brightened up. She said with a sudden glow in her cheeks, "Next time he comes in, I will tell him about you boys. I will want him to know about you, you who have the brand new job and will be living in a fresh new town, and you who studied Lyndon's 'science', you both who came all the way from California and chose a route to come here into this little town with the hope of seeing him. Two smart handsome boys startin' out their adulthood, seein' acrost America and finding it good, I just know that Lyndon will give a great big smile at that."
"That is a wonderful idea, I am glad you will tell Lyndon about us, you make me feel that I really know him better now, please tell him of his importance to us!" I said."
“Tell him I listened to all his speeches, too," said Jim; "let him know that so many people knew that he cared about us and we won't forget that."
"Okay, okay, it is settled then, you will be the boys who will make him believe again!"
She then said that even though we didn't have the chance to see Lyndon, there is something we can do that would be kind of close. She told us how to get to the L.B.J ranch, itself.
"Someth' just good about lookin' at it," she said.
She drew a map and wrote down street names. She said, "This is where he lives, you can go up and see the gate. It is protected, of course, but you just might happen to see him out and about. Or maybe the dogs will be runnin' around. If nothing else, you will be able to see where the ranch is that he cared so much about. You will have laid your eyes on it. Do you think that is a good idea?"
"That's a perfect idea", I said, and Jim concurred.
Now it was time to leave, so the waitress hugged each of us and we hugged her and she followed us out to my car. I grinningly pointed out the California license plate and she touched it like it was talisman. We thanked her for everything, got in my car, and sadly said good-by. She waved good-by as we drove down the road. “What a nice woman,” Jim said. “Wonderful,” I agreed; “she makes you love Texas!”
I highly doubt that the roads and landscapes are the same as they were in 1970. It looks to me that now the L.B.J. ranch is a museum and a park, not a place lived in as a house anymore. A lot of things can change in over 50 years. Jim and I are no longer those wide-eyed boys like we once were. So many times I wish he hadn't changed.
The ranch was (and still in) on the shores of the Peternales River. When Jim and I got to the river, we saw a man waterskiing! Neither of us had ever seen anybody skiing in a river. On a lake, yes, but a river? Well, why not?
It actually looked like it could have been President Johnson himself, and beyond that, the person waterskiing looked to us that he was naked! Neither piece was likely...or was it? Johnson owned all that. He could do whatever he wanted. Now that he had thrown off the shackles of the presidency, did Johnson take on nude water skiing...because he could?
The waitress back at the coffee shop said that the river was like a moat for a castle. There was a submersible bridge (the bridge deck you drive on can be lowered below the water level to allow traffic to go over the water). Her map took us right up the submersible bridge and we could see that the bridge crossed the river straight to the entrance of the L.B.J. ranch.
There it was, the entrance to the L.B.J. ranch. We were looking right at it. This is where President Johnson lives!
Did we dare drive across the bridge right up to the very front door? Well, there was no "No Trespassing” sign, no words warning that it was "Private". Really, there was simply a large front door and an entry gate for vehicles when opened. And in the middle of the door was clearly a doorbell and some light fixtures that were not on as this was still early in the day.
There was no sign of people anywhere, things were very quiet, almost hushed. Jim and I found our selves whispering at each other. Something prompted me to drive up onto the crossing bridge that was in what looked like raised mode; about half the height of an automobile tire above the level of the river.
Jim said to me, "So, we are now trespassing on a former President's private house?"
I said, "Probably, but where are the Secret Service? I feel that if I had the courage to, I would just ring the doorbell and see who answers. Something about the presence of the doorbell seems to invite me. We might be so bold as to say to whomever opens the door, is President Johnson in, we would love to say high to him, can we do that? Maybe we would be invited in for a refreshing drink, or to pet the dogs, to make himself feel better and know that citizens care about him."
But Jim just looked at me without saying a word. He seemed to be indicating "Well, it is YOUR car, I am just her for the ride", like he really wanted to see what would happen but HE wasn't going to be the one to do it!
However, the truth of my cowardice was almost immediately made clear. We had driven across the bridge over the river and now were stopped right there at the front door when suddenly a light fixture that was in the door turned on and like an all-seeing eye, began to maneuver around as if there was a brain on the other side checked us out. Somehow the idea of a person now watching us was very creepy. Presumably that was being operated by some guard, or a butler, or maybe even President Johnson himself (back from naked water skiing?), but in contrast to the former quietness and solitude, the sudden operation of this spotlight was way too alien or frightening for my previous thoughts. Only a few seconds previous I contemplated that I really could have gotten out of the car and boldly rung the doorbell and either been invited in or summarily sent away.
The determining factor was that out of the corner of one of my eyes I saw that the river water was noticeably rising up behind us, when upon a second glance I saw that what was really happening was the bridge was sinking into the river. All I knew then was that we had to get the hell out of there and get back across that bridge or else we would be trapped at the front door with its frightening eye, or worse, we would be trapped in the middle of the river without being able to proceed any further since the car would be effectively downed in the river. (My car!).
Whatever intelligence I had disappeared, I only knew that I wanted to be back on the original side of the river, so I floored the accelerator and proceed faster than I had ever driven before or since. Near the end of the distance (thankfully not all that far), there was some water resistance that I had to plow through as the bridge continued descending into the river (Jim was holding onto whatever he was able to grab onto), but we made it! Once we were on dry land, we both began hooting and hollering and laughing out so loud like out of control kids that I guess we essentially were!
What on Earth had we almost gotten ourselves into? Who knows. Jim is one who likes the keep alive the mysteries. I think that leaves one with so many possibilities. All he said was, "I don't know about you, but from now on, I am going to tell people that on our trip across Texas, we saw President Johnson water skiing the Peternales River naked and I will swear on a stack of Bibles that that was the total truth." I think he wanted to have Johnson be a man who was now completely free.
I said, "Okay, that will be our story," but here I am breaking it, because this is my Blog and I want everything on it to be totally honest and real. I am not making up stories.
My fantasy regarding this is that President Johnson went to that coffee shop the next morning early and the wonderful waitress did tell him about us like she said she would. He would say, "Oh, those guys, I think they must have been the two that came to my front door! I was excited to have the bold company and wanted to invite them in, but they got scared off. Seems that the river monitor saw further down the river that that water skier was coming his way and he lowered the submersible bridge so that the skier could get past. Those boys got their car over that bridge to the other side faster than I knew any car could ever go! All I can say about them is that I wish them continued “God speed” for their successful lives; God Bless America!
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