Luci Johnson to Lead Bike Tours of the LBJ Ranch

Date: February 10, 2007
Contact: Sherry Justus, [phone] Ext. 245

Stonewall, TX–Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park announces the first-ever bike tours of the LBJ Ranch with Luci Baines Johnson, President Johnson’s younger daughter, as guide. The tours will be given on Saturday, March 10 (the rain date is Sunday, March 11) at 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (two separate tours). Reservations are required in advance and will be taken until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 9. The cost for these nine-mile tours is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children between the ages of ten and seventeen. Children younger than ten years old are not permitted on the tours. Helmets are required for every bicycle rider.

The tours will begin at LBJ State Park and Historic Site, just off U.S. Highway 290, one mile east of Stonewall or 14 miles west of Johnson City. Participants should meet at the bike racks in the north end of the large parking lot near the park visitor center. The tour route includes a scenic ride on the south side of the Pedernales River adjacent to the LBJ Ranch via Ranch Road 1 and then entry to the ranch on Park Road 49. This portion of the ride will be guided by National Park Service rangers. Ms. Johnson will meet the riders just across the river at the Junction School, where her father received his first formal education in 1912 and whose restoration she helped dedicate in 2004. Sights along the tour route from the school include the Reconstructed Birthplace (the only presidential birthplace reconstructed by a sitting president), the Johnson Family Cemetery, where the president is buried, President Johnson’s grandparents’ home, and the “Texas White House,” the ranch’s focal point and still home to Mrs. Lyndon B. (“Lady Bird”) Johnson. The tour continues to the airplane hangar, where several of the ranch’s vehicles are on display, and then through the working ranch lands up to the highest point on the ranch, where President Johnson had his Show Barn built in 1966 and where he often went at sunset to enjoy the view. The tour then winds through English Park, a good location to spot wildlife, and back down across the river to the state park.

Those wishing to make reservations or who need further information should call [phone], ext. 231, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Payment for the bike tours is by credit card only. No payment can be made the day of the tour.