Hill Country Run, April 8-9, 2006

Great weather meant great fun during this overnight event in the Texas Hill Country. About 40 members and 25 cars from the Alamo, Fort Worth, Lone Star and North Texas sections participated in some or all of our planned activities during the weekend. On Saturday, Fort Worth and North Texas members linked up with those from the Lone Star and Alamo sec-tions at Llano, where we had a group (or wave) lunch at the Acme Café on Llano’s Main Street. The Acme was reserved just for our members. After a briefing to make sure everyone was on the same page, we followed the Willow City Loop on our way to Fredericksburg. The leg

cut across private ranchlands and provided spectacular views of the Hill Country. After a short rest in Fred-ericksburg, we all had dinner at Friedhelm’s Bavarian Inn, reputed to be one of the best German restau-rants in the city. We then had a nightcap at the Officers’ Club of the Hangar Hotel, themed after a World War II U.S. Army Air Corps base. The Rolls Royce Club had a convention there, and we were treated to a magnificent lineup of classic and modern Rolls’ and Bentleys. On Sunday, after a breakfast and another briefing at our Best Western motel headquarters, we visited the George Bush Gallery of the National Museum of the Pacific War. The Gallery featured unique, chronologi-cally-organized exhibits and walk-through dioramas to make history come alive. Artifacts included a Japa-nese midget submarine recovered from Pearl Harbor, a B-25 bomber which simulated the tense moments before takeoff on the deck of the carrier USS Hornet during the Dolittle Raid of 1942, personal effects from those who made history in the Pacific, aircraft and battleship remnants and models, art, and other rare treasures. We then proceeded to the Becker Winery to sample their wines and to purchase varieties which appealed to us. The caravan continued on to Llano via Ranch Road 965, passing the pink granite forma-tions of Enchanted Rock. The road was excellent, with enough twists, dips and turns which our Mercedes-Benzes took in stride. The Hill Country is Texas Barbecue Country, so we capped our event with lunch at Cooper’s Barbeque, where gargantuan quantities of meat were prepared in huge pits. With full stomachs and lots of doggie bags, we parted company and headed home on our own.

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