Spring Hill Country Tour

by CHARLIE DAVIS

The first Spring Hill Country Tour went off without a hitch...well, perhaps there were a few problems. Alan Barrilleaux organized this event. Weather was absolutely perfect! And the Bluebonnets were in full sway.

Clay and Betty Perrine met Teri and I for breakfast on the square in Weatherford early on Friday morning. I had just put the engine and transmission back in several days before (after a winter of maintenance) and had a transmission fluid leak. I had wrapped the center of the transmission with several layers of duct tape to see if that was the source of the leak. It wasn't, but Clay was inspired to take a picture.

After breakfast, we went West on I-20 to pick up US 281, our favorite route to South Central Texas. We met up with 3 fellow teeners in Avant. This group had come from Dallas, down I-35, to Waco and over on US 84...not the most fun route, but when you live in Dallas, you don't have good choices. ;-)

While waiting for the Dallas contingent (Rich and Diane Johnson, Jim Meyer and Karol Kendra, and Richard and Riva Fisher), we were approached by a woman who said she had a car like ours. It was in poor shape in a shed. She said she bought it 10 years ago in Arkansas and had intended to restore it...but NO! She wondered if we knew anybody who would be interested in a parts car?

When the group arrived, we drove the 2 blocks to her house to take a look ("Take the first right turn and go to the last double-wide on the left...the shed will be on your left as you enter the driveway"). It was generally as described, except it was an MG.

We now had 5 teeners: a pair of 4's, a pair of 6's, and an 8 (wild card?). Sounds like a poker hand...worthy of a stop for a picture.

We continued down US 281 to Burnet and the Highlander Restaurant, where we joined Alan and Veronica Barrilleaux and Tommy Williamson. Tommy had driven all the way from MS to join the tour!

After lunch, we toured down to Austin. On the way, Clay broke his transmission. It was stuck in 3rd gear. He managed to keep it going and we drove to Alan's house, which was less than 10 miles away. He knew what the problem was: The roll pin inside that held the shift fingers on the shaft had broken (again). Clay pulled the side shift console off the transmission and confirmed his diagnosis. Alan had a spare transmission, so they swapped for a good one and we were going again in under an hour. The broken roll pin parts were in the bottom of Clay's transmission, but not causing problems.

At every stop, Richard Fisher (the wild card) tried to "fix" his Holly carb. It was gushing gas out the top, which tended to flood it. So, while Clay worked on his transmission, Richard went to AutoZone and bought a new needle valve. Nope, that was not the "fix" either.

The gals, not being into this heavy "guy" stuff, had departed for the Oasis, a nice restaurant overlooking Lake Travis. By the time we got there, they were REALLY enjoying it. The view is spectacular. They had staked out a corner of the terrace deck and didn't want to leave. Even though Alan had reservations at a nice Tex-Mex place, we stayed and ate dinner at the Oasis and watched the sunset.

The drive to the hotel was interesting. Alan was leading. I was near the back of the group and we got separated from the rest of the P-train...twice. We caught up the first time, but the 2nd time, Jim Meyers, Tommy Williamson, and I got lost and ended up in downtown Austin. They were having an arts festival and it was CROWDED. We finally figured out that the hotel wasn't downtown and got to the hotel. Alan was pacing the pavement outside, wondering where we had been. "Down on 6th street" didn't please him...

The next morning, I filled up the transmission with fluid and the gas tank with $1.349 brew (the cheapest of the weekend) at the Shell station next door to the hotel. Then we headed over to Veronica's Kitchen for a delicious home-cooked breakfast. Next we met some of the local Hill Country Region members. Hill Country Region sponsored the tour for us. There were 4 HCR cars that met us, including the Region President, West Dillard. Two of them joined our little tour, making it 7 914's and 2 911's. They were nice folks (Jim Cowlishaw and Jim and Loreta Iden) who insisted on running at the back of the P-train.

We toured to Fredericksburg via the famous Willow City Loop. The "loop" is a narrow ranch road that wanders around through some rather rugged country and has some of the most spectacular scenery in the area. It was crowded on Saturday morning...lots of people in Austin were there, looking at the flowers and the scenery and us. We took lots of pictures...

Lunch in Fredericksburg was not a group affair. We split up and everyone did their own "thing". In spite of this, 7 of us ended up at the Rathskeller for lunch. Afterwards, several of us went through the Pacific War Theater Museum. I knew about this, but this was the first chance to actually spend some time there. It was much better than I had expected!

At 4 PM, we toured to Lake Buchanan and the Canyon of the Eagles Lodge. I didn't see any eagles, just Turkey Vultures. I guess "Canyon of the Buzzards" didn't work or something? Whatever, the place was picturesque and the meal on Saturday evening was spectacular!

On Saturday night, the group went on a hay ride to the Eagle Eye Observatory on the preserve grounds. There are two permanent telescopes there, a 12" and a 16" reflector, I think. Astronomers from the Austin Astronomers Club pointed out a number of constellations and other objects and we viewed Saturn, Jupiter, and the moon through the telescopes. Bummer! Teri and I went to bed instead of going to the observatory, because...

We left REALLY early on Sunday AM, but for the rest of the group Sunday morning was pretty relaxed. A casual breakfast at the lodge restaurant and walks around the grounds which were covered with bluebonnets. At 11 they took the Vanishing Texas River Cruise which left from the grounds for a 2.5 hr tour up Buchannan Lake and the Colorado river into the Canyon of the Eagles. The narrated tour included interesting geologic formations, waterfalls, wildlife including osprey and a gread horned owl, plus lots of local facts.

Alan gave us a Trivia Quiz, which we worked on all weekend, as we came across the answers. Teri and I won it somehow. Our only error was not knowing (or finding out) who the first President of the Republic of Texas was. He was some guy named Burnet (rhymes with "durnit", BTW). Most of the other answers we guessed at. Richard and Riva Fisher took second place. We all got nice Hill Country Region caps. Thanks to HCR for these donations and sponsoring the event! Tommy Williamson, of course, got the longest distance travelled honor.

Did I mention that we took LOTS of pictures. Here are links to some of them...

Jim Cowlishaw
Clay Perrine
Charlie Davis