2014 Exploring Texas

Exploring Texas

Journal kept by Susan Hanes during a trip through Texas from October 8-16, 2014. Photos by Susan Hanes and George Leonard, c. 2014.

Exploring Texas October 8—October 16, 2014 On the 'inal leg of our trip, we turned north from Brownsville along the Texas Gulf Coast to Galveston. We brie'ly visited Houston, San Antonio, and the Hill Country. In Austin, we saw the State Capitol and the Ransom Center at the University of Texas. The Kimbell Art Museum took us to Fort Worth. Texas is large and diverse, and although almost half of our 8,000-mile trip was spent in the state, we felt that we had only sampled a small portion of its richness.

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Wednesday, October 8

to Port Aransas, Texas

After reaching the mouth of the Rio Grande River where it joins the Gulf of Mexico, Jake and I began the next segment of our western journey. We drove from Boca Chica to Kingsville to visit the famous King Ranch. Since we had missed breakfast, we stopped at the historic Harrel’s Pharmacy in Kingsville where we ordered milkshakes and cheeseburgers at the old fashioned soda fountain, arriving at the ranch just before the 1:00 tour. In 1853, Captain Richard King purchased a creek-fed oasis in the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas, starting what was to become the King Ranch. It now covers 825,000 acres—more than the state of Rhode Island. Over the years, the ranch has developed Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz breeds of cattle and produced champion thoroughbreds under its iconic “Running W” brand. During our 10-mile loop around the ranch by air-conditioned minibus, we saw the property and lavish main house, and learned that the ranch has now become a conglomerate that is run out of Houston.

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We skirted Corpus Christi, driving across Padre Island and continuing north to Mustang Island and Port Aransas. We are spending this evening at the Tarpon Inn, opened in 1886 and one of the oldest hotels in Texas. The lobby walls are covered with the scales of 'ish—over 7,000 of them—that have been signed by the famous guests who caught them. Our room has a creaky wooden 'loor and rocking chairs on the porch. The town has a pleasant atmosphere that has not been spoiled by tacky development and has the feel of an old-fashioned seaside vacation spot.

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Thursday, October 9

to Galveston, Texas

We crossed Aransas Pass by the free ferry; it was a fun way to start the day. We enjoyed breakfast tacos at Angel’s Bakery, a place we found on the side of the road with several pick-ups parked outside. We were the only ones eating in; the tiny place does a brisk take-out business. We drove up the coast to Tivoli, and then west on TX 239 to the historic town of Goliad.

The Presidio La Bahia in Goliad was a fort constructed by the Spanish Army in 1721 to control the area. It was the only Spanish fortress for the entire Gulf Coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the Mississippi River. Near the Presidio stands the Fannin Memorial Monument, burial site of Col. James Fannin and his 300 men who were executed by the Mexican Army under orders of the President of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, on March 27, 1836.

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Presidio La Bahia Goliad, Texas

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Nearby is the birthplace of Mexican hero Ignacio Zaragoza SeguĂ­n, the general in the Mexican Army who is best known for defeating invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 (now celebrated in both the United States and Mexico as the Cinco de Mayo).

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Also in Goliad is the Mission Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga. It was a Roman Catholic Church established by Spain to convert local Karankawa Indians to Christianity.

Together with the Presidio, it helped to solidify Spanish territorial claims in the New World against French encroachment.

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Late 19th century buildings surround Goliad’s Victorian courthouse on the square. In Victoria, an impressive Romanesque Revival courthouse dominates the downtown, along with a number of interesting Victorian buildings.

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Around the coastal bend of Texas, we meandered through farms and sleepy towns with carefully detailed 19th century buildings, many of which were boarded and crumbling. There is oil here, as we saw from the re'ineries that forest the skyline near Lake Jackson.

At Surfside Beach, we drove along the Gulf and took the bridge over San Luis Pass, the strait at the southwestern end of Galveston Island.

Galveston, Texas 13

Galveston is home to six historic districts and contains one of the largest and most historically signi'icant collections of 19thcentury buildings in the United States. This is especially surprising since it was hit by a massive hurricane in 1900 and pummeled again in 2008 by Hurricane Ike. We are staying at the Tremont House, located in the heart of the Strand District. The hotel occupies an 1879 landmark building that once housed a premiere wholesale dry goods company. Before checking in, we drove up and down the streets of the Strand, taking photos of the buildings, many of which date from before the hurricane of 1900. We had a drink before dinner at the Toujouse Bar, crafted of mahogany in 1888 and nestled among the palms in the airy atrium of the lobby. A block away, the Black Pearl was our choice for a seafood dinner. Although the 'lounder was fresh and tender, a group of raucous woman at the bar spoiled the ambience, try as we could to ignore them.

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Friday, October 10

to Seguin, Texas

It was already warm and muggy when we pulled out of Galveston just after 8:00. As we drove towards Houston, re'ineries, storage tanks, and tanker trucks did not let us forget that we are in Oil Country. Houston is the most populous city in Texas and, with six million people, the 'ifth largest metropolitan area in the US. The city was named after General Sam Houston, who led the Texan Army in defeating Santa Anna and his Mexican troops at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. We started the day by visiting the San Jacinto Battle'ield and its soaring monument, twenty-'ive miles south of town. Dedicated on April 21, 1939, the masonry column is the world's tallest (at 567 feet) and is topped by a 34-foot Lone Star. One of the inscriptions at the base states that the Battle of San Jacinto was one of the most signi'icant in history.

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The freedom of Texas won in that 18-minute battle led to the Mexican War, which resulted in the acquisition of nearly 25 percent of the land that is now the United States. In the museum, I enjoyed seeing personal effects belonging to Sam Houston, especially a gold ring given to him by his mother, with the word Honor inscribed inside.

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Negotiating a challenging network of highway interchanges, we drove to Houston’s Museum District where we visited the Rothko Chapel and the Menil Collection. The Chapel is an interfaith sanctuary that was conceived by Dominique and John de Menil who commissioned painter Mark Rothko to create paintings for a sacred space. It was opened to the public in 1971 when the world’s religious leaders came together to dedicate the octagonal, sunlit place. On a bench by the entrance, there is a row of the books of the great religions, including the Quran, the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Bible. It is truly a place of peace.

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The Menil Collection is housed in a Renzo Piano-designed building nearby. The collection includes 17,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs and rare books and is one of the most wideranging private art collections in the United States. A special exhibit, Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence, re'lects the Menils’ humanitarian concerns; it is the 'irst international project to explore Gandhi’s ethics of non-violence in the visual arts. The exhibition presented more than 130 works from all over the world that span several centuries. We found both the Chapel and the museum to be deeply satisfying.

After walking through the adjacent Cy Twombly Gallery, we had lunch at Bistro Menil, a highly-anticipated new restaurant that just opened two days ago on the museum campus. We shared 'latbread and salad and a carafe of rosé before heading out of town. This evening we are taking it easy at a highway motel off I-10 in Seguin, setting us up to get an early start to see things in San Antonio.

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Saturday, October 11 to Fredericksburg, Texas It was breezy and overcast for our drive to San Antonio.

As we reached town, we were caught in a real gullywasher. Fortunately, we saw the inviting windows of Schilo’s Delicatessen, a San Antonio institution since 1917, and ducked in for hot coffee and a light breakfast.

Eventually, the worst of the rain moved on and we only had to deal with drizzle. We walked through the grand Menger Hotel, built by German immigrant William Menger in 1858. Jake had hoped to see the bar, once occupied by Teddy Roosevelt when he was recruiting his Rough Riders, but it was closed at that early hour.

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San Antonio, Texas 23

The Alamo

Nearby, the Alamo stands in a lush park in the middle of the city. It was just as impressive as I imagined. Visitors lined up, not just to go in, but to have their picture taken in front of this shrine where nearly 200 defenders lost their lives during the siege that lasted from February 23—March 6, 1836.

For many Texans, the Alamo still represents the ideal of 'ighting for what one believes in, no matter the cost.

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We wanted to experience San Antonio’s famous River Walk, but the drizzle persisted and the cruises were cancelled; we walked a few blocks to get a sense of it.

The Spanish Governor’s Palace, built in the 'irst half of the 18th century to protect the Alamo, is the only remaining example of an aristocratic early Spanish house in Texas. At the Historic Market Square, I got a taste of old Mexico.

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The King William Historic District is an elegant San Antonio neighborhood of houses built primarily by German immigrants in the second half of the 19th century. Jake drove down King William and Washington Streets while I took pictures of many of these interesting homes.

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The weather had greatly improved as we headed into the Texas Hill Country. We came 'irst to Boerne (pronounced “Bernie�) and discovered that we had arrived on a Market Days weekend.

Craft booths and food carts were set up and the main street was closed to traf'ic.

Jake was intrigued to 'ind impeccably restored antique cars lined up along the street, their owners happy to show them off. I was delighted to see lots of antique shops; at Fickle Pickles I bought some homemade pickles and browsed the antiques.

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Boerne, TX Boerne, Texas

Twenty-four miles further is Bandera, the self-designated Cowboy Capital of Texas where we had a Shiner Bock at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar. The quirky main room is decorated with liberated ladies’ undergarments that hang from the ceiling. A huge space in the back was the venue for the Texas Hill Country Music Fest this weekend.

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Bandera, Texas

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Comfort is another 19th century German settlement tucked into the hills. Founded in 1854, this idyllic little town lives up to its name. We loved the shops, several of which featured handicrafts, including pottery, woodwork, weaving and needle arts. The town is known for its antique shops too. Unfortunately, the historic Hotel Faust, where we would have liked to stay, was fully booked. We went on another 20 miles to Fredericksburg, through green rolling hills dotted with vineyards. Main Street was bursting with shops and restaurants but we found it surprisingly lacking in charm. We had local beer and sausage at the Altdorf, a classic German restaurant in a limestone building that dates from 1847, but we found both the meal and the atmosphere to be disappointing.

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Sunday, October 12 to Austin, Texas At 8:30 we were on the road to Luckenbach, a Hill Country hamlet with a population of 3, “not counting the cat.� It is a big music venue in spite of its small size; the main building is an old trading post established in 1849 that now serves as a general store, saloon, and post of'ice. We were surprised to 'ind the store open on a Sunday morning, but a cheery woman named Lorna assured us that she kept the place going every day but Christmas and Thanksgiving. The store was a wonder of old tins and antiques, none of which were for sale, and tee shirts, jewelry and beer cozies, which were.

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The University of Texas 37

We drove through Stonewall and Johnson City, home of Lyndon Baines Johnson, passing a number of wineries. Reaching Blanco, we saw the turnoff roads to several ranches. We had hoped that Wimberley would be an interesting place, having read that it was an antiques hub, but were totally turned off by the kitschy shops that crowded both sides of the street. I stepped into one, and was overwhelmed by the aroma of potpourri and the sounds of a New Age CD in a place crammed to the rafters with gaudy jewelry and candles. At that point we decided to drive on into Austin, joining I-35 at San Marco. Once we got into town, we parked at the University of Texas campus and visited the Harry Ransom Center, the remarkable institution that specializes in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the US and Europe. The current exhibit is The Making of Gone with the Wind; it was drawn entirely from the Center's collections and included on-set photographs, storyboards, correspondence and fan mail, makeup stills, costume sketches, audition footage, and producer David O. Selznick's memos. Whether or not one was interested in that particular subject, it was a fabulous showcase of the breadth and depth of the Center’s holdings.

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The University’s Blanton Museum of Art is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. We spent an hour walking though the galleries; I was particularly intrigued by the Blanton’s Poetry Project. Writers from across the state of Texas have composed poems inspired by works of art in the museum’s permanent collection, many of which are posted beside the works that inspired them.

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Peter Dean Dallas Chaos, 1981 42

Oil Field Girls Del Marie Rogers These two, become women overnight, Don’t notice much the great black cloud Towering behind their heads, As if God, recently provoked, Brings down his wrath in reIinery soot.

Instead, poised, they gaze toward a car, Invisible for now, that will come To take them farther down the road Away from everything they know.

It’s not just the men they need To hurry toward, or leave behind.

Oil has shifted the sights of earth, The pictures of their childhood burned, Scattered on the open Iields.

Money, green as a good crop, Comes suddenly, with any luck.

Impossible, now, to live your life In a single place, to call it home.

Jerry Bywaters Oil Field Girls, 1940 43

Texas State Capitol Austin

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We visited the Texas State Capitol. The Italian Renaissance Revival building was completed in 1888 and is the sixth tallest state capitol in the country. It was also the most crowded we have visited. The elegant Driskill Hotel was a great place to unwind at the end of the day. Built in 1886 as the showplace of cattle baron Jesse Driskill, the hotel is designed in the Romanesque style and is the epitome of Texas opulence. We enjoyed signature Batinis while we sat at the bar, surrounded by Texas-themed furnishings. This evening we are staying in a funkier part of Austin, at the Austin Motel in the South Congress area. The motel is a ‘50s style establishment that has been family owned and operated since 1938. Our room is tiny but neat as a pin, and the motel has a great atmosphere. We drove out to Hyde Park where we had dinner with my old Guam friend Nancy Vernon.

Unfortunately, Jerry is not in town, but it was great to catch up with Nancy. Being a true Texan, Nancy shared stories of her great-great grandparents who came to Texas from Germany in the 1840s only to be killed soon after by Comanche renegades. It is easy to see why Texans are so proud once one has spent a little time in this amazing state.

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Driskill Hotel Austin, Texas

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Monday, October 13

to Fort Worth, Texas

We were disappointed to discover that Franklin’s, the #1-rated barbeque restaurant according to Texas Monthly, is closed on Mondays. Instead, we made a detour south to Lockheart. According to a 1999 resolution passed by the Texas Legislature, Lockheart has been designated the Barbeque Capitol of Texas.

There are four main barbeque places there, and after driving by them all, we chose Black’s, owned and operated by the same family since 1932. The brisket was tender and 'lavorful, and the atmosphere was great if you did not mind a décor that involved taxidermy. I noticed a photo of Lyndon Johnson on the wall by our booth; Black’s had proudly catered a dinner at the LBJ White House back in the ‘60s.

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We took I-35 from Austin to Fort Worth, a nerve-wracking drive that involved signi'icant areas of road construction. As we neared Fort Worth, the wind kicked up and 50 mph gusts buffeted the car. We thought it would be fun to stay in the Stockyards National Historic District. We arrived in the early afternoon and explored the Western-wear shops, saloons, and steakhouses that lined the streets near the historic 1907 Stockyards Hotel. When we entered the hotel lobby, furnished with cowhide-covered chairs and potted palms, we felt we had stepped into an earlier time of cattle barons and crooks; Clyde Barrow had once stayed there. Our room is cowboy all the way, with a bull skull mounted on the wall and lamps made of spurs and horseshoes. Down the street, we shopped at M.L. Leddy’s, “purveyor of the 'inest in Western accouterments since 1922.” The shop smelled like 'ine leather and it was fun to see the selection of beautifully crafted boots, hats, and saddles. At 4:00, we were ready with our cameras to capture the moment when six authentic-looking cowboys drove a small herd of Longhorn cattle down Exchange Avenue.

Afterwards, we had a beer at the White Elephant Saloon; later we moved across the street to the H-3 Ranch Bar for another round and stayed on for steaks. What else would one order in Cowboy Country?

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The Texans are perhaps the best at the actual cowboy work. They are absolutely fearless riders and understand well the habits of the half-wild cattle, being unequaled in those most trying times when, for instance, the cattle are stampeded by a thunderstorm at night, while in the use of the rope they are only excelled by the Mexicans.

Theodore Roosevelt 1885

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Tuesday, October 14

to Fort Smith, Arkansas

We had no luck 'inding an interesting place for breakfast in the Fort Worth museum campus area and ended up at McDonalds. Our eggs and pancakes were eaten in the ambience of a lively senior citizen Bingo game going on in the back. The Kimbell Art Museum is a small but remarkable collection housed in two impressive buildings. The 'irst, designed by Louis Kahn, was completed in 1972 and consists of a series of parallel vaults set in a re'lecting pool.

The second was designed by Renzo Piano and was only opened to the public last year. Both buildings are striking and succeed in showcasing their collections to greatest advantage. Since the Kimbell’s founding in 1966, its stated goal has always been de'initive excellence over the size of the collection. Accordingly, the museum's holdings today consist of only about 350 works of art, but they are of exceptional quality. The main building is dedicated to Western Art: primarily European, but also Egyptian and Greek. Highlights include Caravaggio’s The Cardsharps, and the 'irst known painting by Michelangelo, The Torment of St. Anthony, completed when the artist was only twelve or thirteen years old. In the new Piano wing, we appreciated the beautiful works from Africa and the Pre-Columbian collection. In addition, the museum has a wonderful gift shop.

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The Kimbell Art Musuem Louis Kahn Building. 1972

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Renzo Piano Pavillion, 2013

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Leaving Texas, we drove northeast to McAlester, Oklahoma and on to OK 1, the Talimena Scenic Drive, a 54-mile National Scenic Byway from Talihina in southeastern Oklahoma to Mena, Arkansas. The two-lane road curves though the Ouachita National Forest along the highest peaks of the Winding Stair Mountains. There are 22 scenic pullouts and several 13 percent grades along the route. By the time we reached the end, it was after sunset and we had to negotiate the circuitous route to Fort Smith in the dark. When we got to our hotel it was after 8:00, and we decided that we’d had enough driving for the day, settling for popcorn and Bulleit Rye in our room.

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Wednesday, October 15 to Branson, Missouri We allowed ourselves a later start, getting on the road at 9:00. It was a pretty drive through the foothills of the Ozarks, with just a touch of red in the trees. The University of Arkansas, founded in 1871, is located in Fayetteville, and as we drove through the campus, we noticed that a lot of the buildings bore such recognizable names as Tyson and Walton. The Washington-Willow Historic District and the Historic Square have numerous buildings from the mid-19th century; the town has a sleepy atmosphere, which I imagine is dissipated when Razorback fans show up for football weekends.

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The University of Arkansas Fayetteville

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Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Bensonville, Arkansas

A half-hour drive brought us to Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters of Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. It is also the home of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by Walmart heiress Alice Walton in 2011 and designed by IsraeliCanadian architect Moshe Safdie. His design features a series of pavilions nestled around two creek-fed ponds. When we arrived a few minutes after the 11:00 opening, we were surprised at the number of people coming through the doors. The campus is very attractive in its wooded natural setting; the buildings seem to melt into the surroundings and at the same time, provide a beautiful venue for the collection. We were also impressed by the art. Although there are no blockbusters, there are lovely smaller works by such respected painters as Church, Copley, Cassatt, Rothko, Winslow Homer, and Gilbert Stewart. A separate room holds an Audubon folio and two of his oil paintings. The museum has also acquired the collection of the late American photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

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A special exhibition was entitled State of the Art. In 2013, the museum’s curatorial team hit the road to investigate what’s happening in American art today. Over the course of a year, the team logged more than 100,000 miles, crisscrossing the United States to visit nearly 1,000 artists. Traveling to communities large and small, the museum sought to discover artists whose work has not yet been fully recognized on a national level.

And what an exciting show it was! One artist that we particularly liked was Meg Hitchcock, whose works combine letterpress printed words from the Bible and the Quran into beautiful images that meld the teachings of both religions.

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A drive through the Ozarks brought us to Eureka Springs, a spa town founded in the late 19th century near natural springs that were purported to have healing powers. The town has steep, winding, and crowded streets—lined with Victorian cottages and fudge shops—that were quite dif'icult to maneuver by car.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas 82

As we headed west, we saw the Christ of the Ozarks statue, a “sacred project� undertaken by Gerald L.K. Smith in 1966 that stands more than 65 feet high.

Nearby, Bible Land and the Great Passion Play amphitheater are a part of his envisioned Biblical Theme Park.

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In Branson, Missouri, we are staying on the Strip at a motel tucked in amongst mini-golf, Liverpool Legends, the Hollywood Wax Museum, and Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. And oops, let’s not forget the Titanic Museum.

While everyone else in town was apparently attending one of the dozens of music venues this evening, Jake and I joined restaurant family members at La Iguana Mexican Restaurant next to our hotel for the hottest dishes I have had since I lived on Guam.

Branson, Missouri 84

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Thursday, October 16 Home We got an early start in order to make it home by sundown. We had a pleasant drive on a crisp fall day, with little traf'ic until we reached Chicago rush hour. As we pulled up to 1320, we were happy that we did not have to go one more mile than the 7,866 we’ve driven on this remarkable road trip around our country.

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Terlingua

Austin

Bandera

Marathon

Fort Worth

Luckenbach

Bars of Texas El Paso

Fort Worth

Galveston 87

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Itinerary Wednesday 8

Route: TX 4 to I-69E; I-69E to Raymondville; US 77 to Kingsville; TX 44, TX 358 and TX 361 to Port Aransas.

Sites: Kingsville: Harrel’s Kingsville Pharmacy, King Ranch Visitor Center, King Ranch Saddle Shop; Port Aransas.

Activities: King Ranch Bus Tour of Santa Gertrudis Creek Ranch.

Lunch: Harrel’s Kingsville Pharmacy The Tarpon Inn: Room 39 200 East Cotter Avenue PORT ARANSAS, TEXAS 275 miles

Thursday 9

Breakfast: Aransas Pass: Angel’s Bakery Route: Port Aransas Ferry across Aransas Pass; TX 35 to Tivoli; TX 239 to Goliad; US 59 to Victoria and Edna; TX 111, County 2431, TX 35 and County 360 to Lake Jackson and Surfside Beach; Bluewater Hwy and County 3005 over San Luis Pass and to Galveston.

Sites: Goliad: Presidio La Bahia, Goliad State Park and Mission Espiritu Santo, Fannin Memorial Monument, Zaragoza Seguin Birthplace Memorial Site; Victoria: DeLeon Plaza, Victoria County Courthouse, Downtown Historic District; Surfside Beach; Galveston: Pleasure Pier, Historic Strand District, Hotel Galvez, The Tremont House.

Drinks: Toujouse Bar, The Tremont House Dinner: Black Pearl Oyster Bar & Grill The Tremont House: Room 440 2300 Ship’s Mechanic Row GALVESTON, TEXAS 311 miles

Friday 10

Route: I-45 to Exit 32 (San Antonio); TX 8, TX225 and TX 134 to San Jacinto; TX 134, TX 225 and I-45 to Menil Collection; I-10 from Exit 766 to Exit 610 (Seguin).

Sites: San Jacinto Battle'ield State Park: San Jacinto Monument and Museum; Houston: The Menil Collection: Rothko Chapel, Main Building, Cy Twombley Gallery.

Lunch: Bistro Menil Comfort Inn & Suites: Room 126 3013 North Highway 123 Bypass SEGUIN, TEXAS 252 miles

Saturday 11

Breakfast: Comfort Inn and San Antonio: Schio’s Delicatessen Route: I-10 from Exit 610 to Exit 579 (San Antonio); Commerce Street to Alamo; I-10 from Exit 566 to Exit 540 (Boerne); TX 46 and TX 16 to Bandera; TX 173 and TX 27 to Comfort; US 87 to Fredericksburg Sites: San Antonio: Alamo Mission, Museum and Plaza, Menger Hotel, Riverwalk, Spanish Governor’s Palace, Market Square, King William Historic District; Boerne; Bandera: 11th Street Cowboy Bar; Comfort: Historic District; Fredericksburg.

Activities: Boerne: Market Days and National Street Rod Association event Drinks: Bandera: 11th Street Cowboy Bar Dinner: Altdorf Biergarten

Best Western Plus Fredericksburg: Room 202 314 East Highway Street FREDERICKSBURG, TEXAS 158 miles 89

Sunday 12

Breakfast: Best Western Plus Fredericksburg Route: US 290 to County 1376 (Luckenbach Loop); Luckenbach Loop to Luckenbach; US 290 to Johnson City; US 281 to Blanco; TX 165 and Tx 2325 to Wimberley; TX 12 to San Marcos; I-35 from Exit 205 to Exit 235 (Austin).

Sites: Luckenbach: General Store; Stonewall; Johnson City; Blanco; Wimberley; Austin: University of Texas campus: Harry Ransom Center (Exhibit: Producing Gone With The Wind), Blanton Museum of Art; Texas State Capitol.

Drinks: Lobby Bar, The Driskill Hotel Dinner: Mother’s Café and Garden The Austin Motel: Room 128 1220 South Congress Avenue AUSTIN, TEXAS 147 miles

Monday 13

Route: US 183 to Lockhart; US 183 and TX 71 to I-35 Exit 230; I-35 and I-35W to Exit 54 (Fort Worth Stockyards).

Sites: Austin: Franklin Barbecue; Lockhart: Kreuz Market, Black’s Barbecue; Fort Worth Stockyards: Stockyards National Historic District, M.L. Leddy’s, Fort Worth Herd Longhorn Cattle Drive, Stockyards Museum.

Lunch: Lockhart: Black’s Barbecue Drinks: White Elephant Saloon and Booger Red’s Saloon Dinner: H3 Ranch Grill Stockyards Hotel: Room 323 109 East Exchange Avenue FORT WORTH STOCKYARDS, TEXAS 269 miles

Tuesday 14

Breakfast: Fort Worth: McDonald’s Restaurant Route: I-35 and I-35W from Exit 49 to Exit 497 (Gainesville); US 82 to Sherman; US 75/69 to Krebs, OK; OK 1 and AR 88 (Talimena Scenic Drive) to Mena, AR; AR 71 to Fort Smith.

Sites: Fort Worth: Kimbell Art Museum; Talihina, Oklahoma; Talimena National Scenic Byway: Ouachita National Forest, Rich Mountain, Winding Stair Mountain.

Holiday Inn Express: Room 115 6813 Phoenix Avenue FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS 455 miles

Wednesday 15

Breakfast: Holiday Inn Express Route: I-540 from Exit 8 to Exit 67 (Fayetteville) and Exit 88 (Bentonville); US 62 to Eureka Springs and Bear Creek Springs; US 65 to Branson, MO. Sites: Fayetteville: University of Arkansas campus, Historic Square; Bentonville: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Eureka Springs: Historic District, The Great Passion Play, Christ of the Ozarks, Bible Land; Branson: Entertainment Strip Dinner: La Iguana Taco & Burrito Hampton Inn Branson – On the Strip: Room 529 3695 West 76 County Boulevard BRANSON, MISSOURI 170 miles

Thursday 16

Breakfast: Hampton Inn Route: US 65 to Spring'ield; I-44 to Saint Louis; I-55 to Chicago; Lake Shore Drive to Home CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 569 miles

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MILEAGE WITHIN TEXAS TOTAL TRIP MILEAGE:

3,057 7,866

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Journal kept by Susan Hanes during a trip through 92

Texas from October 8-16, 2014. Photos by Susan Hanes and George Leonard, c. 2014.