I headed to the northernmost point of my eclipse path survey, to Poppy’s Pointe, an RV park with cabins on Buchanan Lake.  It reminded me, not pleasantly, of a place we had stayed along the Ontario shore of Lake Superior

As I drove in and located the office, I was met by a man in a golf cart.  I asked if he was the owner—no he was the maintenance guy, but he could take me to her, get in.  I got into the cart and he drove about 100 feet to her trailer.  She seemed a little annoyed but took me to her office in her golf cart, about 150 feet back from where we had just come.

I eventually told her about the eclipse in 2024.  She said she was contracting the whole place to someone, they just had to agree on a price.  She also told me that she had been getting calls for four years.  The property is 750 feet from the eclipse centerline.  This was the moment when I realized that despite being here two years ahead, I was already too late!

Poppy’s Pointe is a private RV park.  There are some other parks on Buchanan Lake which for some reason were not on my list to stop and visit.  I wish I had, because Black Rock Park also has camping (tents and RVs) and cabins.  It is part of the LCRA Parks system (Lower Colorado River Authority).  From their website, it looks like the reservation system goes one year out. 

There are numerous other resorts around Buchanan Lake.  Check Google Maps to find them; It may be possible to book them for the eclipse.

Buchanan Lake was the first on a list I made of candidate resorts, cabins and campgrounds that were near the centerline of the eclipse.  The second list item was “Stillwaters Ranch Cabin on the Lake”.  The search for it ended up being a tour of Texas ranch country.  I eventually found a gate with the right name, but did not find any signage for a resort or cabin, or even a lake. 

It was now late afternoon and I decided to stop my survey of viewing sites for the day and resume my survey of local Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants.  So far the food had been delicious, and it remained so for the duration of the trip.

I spent the night at a nice, old but clean, Day’s Inn hotel in Llano TX, run by an Indian family.  In the morning, after enjoying a Texas-style Belgian waffle, I spoke with the owner who told me that he couldn’t make a reservation two years out, but he had been getting calls already.  The Llano city council has been planning over the last two years already, how to prepare for the overrun of the town’s resources on eclipse day.  A million or more extra people are expected in the region!

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