Route 16, Llano and Buchanan Lake

Wednesday, March 30

 Warmer today, it is 67 degrees by 8:30 when we hit the road again.  This time on Hwy 16 towards Llano, reputedly the best road to see wildflowers.

The first few miles are nice, with patches of bluebonnets and paintbrushes  here and there. 

We are about to question the reputation of the road, but then things change and there are wide swaths of color everywhere!

The terrain is hilly and rocky with occasional streams or ponds.  Driving by is nice, but when we stop and walk we find some exquisite areas of color!  WOW!

 Partway to Llano, Greg decides to explore a little road to the right called Willow City Loop.  We thought it would be a quick little loop, but it goes on and on.

 

 Beth snaps a photo for this cyclist who is passing by.

 Quite a lovely country road, though, and lots of wildflowers, ranches, cattle and goats.  The bluebonnets and paintbrushes and daisy-like yellow flowers are seen often, but when you get out and get close there are many many other tiny purple, pink, blue, white and other flowers.  These white ones were sometimes very plentiful.

 We cross many cattle guards and see cattle making themselves at home everywhere.  One ranch has decorated their fence posts with boots!

Just when we think we are going to end up back in Houston, we come to a sign for 16N in two miles, so we did indeed make a large loop to the south!

 Back on 16N this huge turkey crosses the road in front of us.  He tries, futilely, to get through the fence on the other side of the road but it is closely meshed and last we saw him he was going down the fenceline looking for an opening.

We reach Llano around 2:00 and decide to try another Barbque place that we have seen written up – Cooper’s Old Time Pit BBQ.  They have several huge cookers outside, followed by a long grill where they show all the meats you can choose from.

Beef and Pork Ribs, Various Sausages, Lean and Moist Brisket, Turkey, Chops and more.  You point to what you want and they cut it for you.  Then, inside to choose from a few sides and drinks.  Free breads, beans, jalepenos and onions.  Their sauce also has a mustardy twang, and the meat tastes like they use good old salt and pepper for their rub.   We shared a 1-lb beef rib  and some sliced brisket.  A little on the dry side, we thought, but good flavor.

We continue north to an area known for llanite – a rock that is granite with feldspar and blue agate in it.  Only found in this stretch and discovered when they were building the road.  We explore around a picnic area and then take a side road – country road 435 to see if we can find some rock cut-away areas.  Another nice country road which soon becomes dirt. 

 These "exotics" are in one pasture... there are several ranches in the area which raise exotic animals.

 This longhorn may not be exotic, but is impressive nonetheless.

We find what we think might be llanite on a hill beside the road.  Much of the land is posted so we can’t wander far from the road.

We decide to take 29E to Burnet, which bills itself as the Bluebonnet Capital of Texas and we had read of “giant” bluebonnet statue.  Ha!  Another example of not believing everything you read.  Here are the “giant” bluebonnets along main street. 

And though many businesses or homes had a small patch of bluebonnets, the effect was truly underwhelming.

From here we decide to head north to a boon docking spot at Cedar Point Recreation area, on Lake Buchanan. There continues to be a lot of flowers along these small roads.  The Colorado River as it comes south forms a series of lakes before reaching Austin.  Buchanan is the first and, I think, largest, followed in relatively quick sucession by Inks Lake, LBJ Lake,  Lake Marble Falls,  Lake Travis and Lake Austin. 

 Cedar Point was quite nice with  about 10 or so sites scattered along the lake. 

There were a few fishermen who came and went, but we were the only campers.  Shortly after we parked there were many birds (possibly relocating for the night?) including these Pelicans and cormorants.

Greg made a fire and discovered three or four scorpions in the fire pit! (2-3")

They scrambled when the fire became hot – one escaped only to meet the wrath of Beth’s shoe, the others quite possibly became toast.   We had a dark, quiet night, with many stars.  Nice breeze made for a comfortable sleep and hardly a bug!