Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2022 i Texas Highways Magazine

Erwin “Skeeter” Hagler may not be a cowboy in real life, but his career has been intrinsically tied to the cowboy lifestyle. Pictured on this month’s cover at Blisswood Bed and Breakfast Ranch, where he serves as head of guest services, Skeeter jokes that he ended up in the photo by default because he was the only one at the ranch dressed in jeans and a cowboy hat that day. It’s a full circle moment for the renowned photographer, who ended up at Blisswood—located about 65 miles west of Houston—because of a photography assignment for Texas Highways 17 years ago. He became fast friends with owner Carol Davis over the three-day shoot and moved down to the ranch in Cat Spring soon thereafter. Newly single and with his five kids…

McAllen-based photographer Jason Garza used a drone to capture this aerial photograph of a string of islands in Laguna Madre, the hypersaline lagoon separating North Padre Island from mainland Texas. After pulling off the John F. Kennedy Memorial Causeway—the bridge that links Padre with Corpus Christi—Garza parked at a boat ramp and used his phone to monitor the coastal scenes revealed by his drone’s camera. “When I turned the camera down, I saw birds flying by and a lot of movement in the water from sea life,” Garza said. “As I would lower the drone to get closer, I could see schools of fish and the movement of the water and the plants moving with the tide. There were ecosystems growing around these flats of sand and mud.”…

It’s a heart-pumping hike up 218 limestone steps to the knobby summit of Mount Baldy in Wimberley. But the work pays off with 360-degree views of the Wimberley Valley’s rolling hills and basins, a landscape that harbors some of the Hill Country’s finest natural and cultural treasures. On cool mornings, rising mist traces the course of the Blanco River and Cypress Creek, and sun rays illuminate the limestone ridge known as the Devil’s Backbone. Settled around 1850 as a trading post and gristmill, Wimberley today is a bustling riverside village of about 3,000 residents that’s known for its swimming holes, arts scene, summer holiday rodeos, and a monthly sprawling outdoor market called Wimberley Market Days. “I would make the case that we have more talent in the visual arts, literary…

I LIVE WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF MY FAVORITE trail in Houston, where I’d once spent hours running personal bests. But by summer 2021, the only time I saw that trail was if I drove past it. Running had previously accompanied me on all my adult life’s ups and downs, but the pandemic proved to be the ultimate low, bringing my weekly mileage to zero. My Asics sat untouched while I tried—and failed—to wrap my mind around the world’s many new normals. I’d never ingested so much central air conditioning. Every day that I opted to watch TV from the couch or hit the snooze button made me feel as if my vitality was slipping away like sand through my chunky fingers. As the world began to open back up, my doctor…

Even today, Pinto Canyon Road in the Chinati Mountains of far West Texas is a lonely place. So we can only imagine how remote it felt in the mid-1920s when Francis King Duncan took this photograph of a woman dressed in flapper attire, identified in his notes as Daisy Burke, overlooking the canyon. Rancher James Edward Wilson, who raised cattle and goats in Pinto Canyon, had constructed the road a few years earlier to access his family’s adobe house. Today, the road is an unpaved extension of Ranch Road 2810, linking Marfa and Ruidosa. This photo is one of many that Duncan took in the area. Born in Missouri in 1878, he traveled the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as a photographer and prospector before setting up a commercial photography business…

With 102,000 Twitter followers, Lauren Hough is no stranger to spending excessive amounts of time online. She wrote “The Social Experiment” (Page 44) about trying to give up her online addiction on a road trip to Marfa. “It was like carrying around a pack of cigarettes in my hand, swearing I wouldn’t smoke any,” the Austin-based writer says. “The second I wasn’t paying attention, I already had one in my mouth.” Navigation was a major concern for Hough, but she found it unexpectedly simple. “It turns out if you’re not looking at your phone, there’s a big ol’ sign that says ‘Marfa’ with an arrow pointing that way.” The quiet of life in remote West Texas helped her value silence: “I don’t think any of us are meant to hear…

Best French contribution to American culture? That’s a toughie: french fries or the Statue of Liberty? The trouble with the latter is it’s all the way in NewYork City. Those who seek to pay homage to this beacon of freedom must wait in a long line before embarking on a crowded ferry ride and then wait in another long line—and that’s only for those smart enough to have booked a reservation months in advance. A more convenient option is the Statue of Liberty on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol in Austin. The replica is one of more than 200 the Boy Scouts of America created and deployed across the United States between 1949 and 1951 as part of a “crusade to strengthen the arm of liberty,” according to…

IT’S THE End OF THE Last TRAIL RIDE on a blazing summer day and time to put the horses away. Tami Martin, one of the wranglers at the Dixie Dude Ranch in Bandera, hoists weathered saddles off the trail-weary horses, her arms tan and strong from the job. In faded Wranglers and cowboy boots that read “Just A Good Old Girl” in capital letters on the back, she makes the work look cool and easy. So I ask Garrett Connell, a wrangler who’d been charming me with tall tales on the trail, if I can help “untack” my horse, Sancho. “We aren’t equestrians here; we’re cowboys,” he says. “We unsaddle.” Then he shows me how to ease off Sancho’s bridle and latigo. I’m no Tami, but it feels good to…

On the second Saturday of November, the East Texas town of Henderson will celebrate the 33rd annual Heritage Syrup Festival in Henderson. Sprawling six blocks from the Depot Museum to Heritage Square, the festival features 150 arts and crafts booths, food vendors, and old-fashioned syrup. The highlight is the syrup-making demonstration at the Depot Museum, where volunteers use vintage, mule-operated equipment to make ribbon cane syrup. “Sugar cane was the prime crop of Henderson at one time, so we still do the syrup making the old-fashioned way to honor that heritage,” says Kaitlin Smith, Henderson’s tourism and Main Street coordinator. Throughout the day, visitors can see the mules walking across the sugar-cane press, squeezing the cane to release the juice that is the base of cane syrup. Then, the cane…

Add to the list of must-see cemeteries the Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery located just southwest of Brackettville on State Highway 131. Over 100 Indian Scouts, several of whom were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, are interred.Thomas Siegel, Dallas Painting the Town Odessa Helm just completed a beautiful Texas mural in downtown Jacksonville [“My Hometown: Rusk,” September]. It’s the city’s second one by her. She’s very talented! Betty Cole Far East My grandmother was named Texarkana [“The State Line Two-Step,” September]. Have always wanted to visit there. Barbara Carnahan Yost Wadkins Lydia Mendoza I love her voice [“The Lark of the Border,” September] but am enthralled by her masterful guitar playing skills. @monopic44 Popular Pepper Love the magazine, but must point out that the chiles in the October issue are…

It doesn’t take long after you move to Austin—right about the time you’ve chosen your favorite taco truck, figured out where to mount the Longhorns on the wall of your living room, and gotten your fill of barbecue and swear you won’t eat it again until someone comes to visit—for people to start telling you to go to Marfa. Have you been to Marfa yet? It’s amazing. Let me know when you’re going; I’ll send you my list. You have to go to Marfa. I’ve been in Austin five years. And before y’all start—I’m from Amarillo. If you survived high school in Amarillo, you’re entitled to move to Austin whenever you please. It’s right there in the bylaws next to, “What happens at a pasture party, stays at a pasture…

The eyes of the world turn to Qatar this November as the planet’s best soccer players converge on the Middle Eastern nation for the monthlong sporting spectacle known as the World Cup. The U.S. Men’s National Team will be among 32 teams in the tournament, with matches in the opening round against Wales, England, and Iran. Over 1 million fans are expected for the World Cup, and one of them will be Dan Hunt, the president of Dallas’ professional soccer team, FC Dallas. While the quadrennial tournament is arguably the globe’s biggest entertainment event, Hunt’s trip isn’t just for fun: As chairman of the committee bringing the World Cup to Dallas in 2026, Hunt is a central player in his hometown’s preparations. FIFA, the governing body for international soccer, announced…