MUSINGS FROM HIGHWAY 281

During the holidays, we took a short trip to San Antonio via Highway 281. Given a choice, I avoid the interstates unless I am in a big hurry. Here are a few random, rural thoughts:

Names of ranches:

Lantana Ranch, Little Bear Ranch, Piedras Blancas Ranch, Smooth Water Ranch

Names of Creeks:

Little Lucy Creek, Little Flat Rock Creek, Cow House Creek, Partridge Creek

Small Towns:

Granbury, Glen Rose, Hico, Chalk Mountain, Shive, Evant, Hamilton, Lampasas, Burnet (rhymes with durn it), Marble Falls, Bulverde, Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, Boerne (pronounced Burney), New Braunfels

Miscellaneous Sightings:

Herd of black Brangus cattle grazing in a yellow/gold pasture
Old lichen-covered rock fence
Bright green field of winter oats
County Courthouses made of white stone
A red roan pony and a Palomino biting at each other's flanks, whirling around and kicking up dust
Rusty windmills
Lutheran Church
Dairy Queens and Allsups
Large white wooden cross on a dead tree
Abandoned, weathered John Deere tractor in a field
Pilgrim's Rest Cemetery
Gingerbread houses with peeling paint
Dead coyote on the roadside
Shining tin roof on a barn
Lone, rogue buzzard flying over a noonday meal
Jersey Lilly Saloon
Boone's Implement Company
Barbed wire and rough cedar fences
Home of Alice Star, Champion Cutting Horse
Clotheslines with shirts and jean flapping in the wind
Texas flag flying level with a USA flag
Cactus and broomweed

I love Texas.