If you're ever in the Austin area, the ... jaunt ... out to Johnson Ranch (Stonewall, TX) is an interesting one.

It's about 60 miles from Round Rock or downtown. I prefer the northern route.

The ranch is ... out in the middle of nowhere. And if you keep on heading West, even that seems densely populated.

Imagining that without power, gas, or phones, gives pause.

https://www.nps.gov/lyjo/planyourvisit/visitlbjranch.htm

Vivid is the right word for it!

I had no understanding of what that sort of life must have been like before reading the chapter, but after it stuck with me so strongly. I felt wholly inadequate trying to summarize it above.

which book was that in ?

Believe it was the first - title: The Path to Power.

Goodreads link

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/86524.The_Path_to_Power