4,000 Miles and 90 Counties Across Texas

During two weeks in late February and early March, 2009, I put more than four thousand miles on this car, rented at the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas airport. On that trip, which took me on a very zig-zag route around the state, I completed visiting my final 90 of the 254 counties in the Lone Star State, and also completed several counties in Oklahoma.

I've heard other county counters brag about collecting 20 or more counties a day in wide open areas like this. I got 8 or 9 counties a day, going from dawn to dusk, but stopping often along the way. Still, I felt like I was cheating myself my rushing through so many places without seeing all they have to offer. To me, there are only two kinds of places on earth, those I have never visited, and those I have visited but hope to return to someday to explore more thoroughly.

Here I have stopped to take a few pictures at the Glasscock/Reagan county line on Texas Ranch Road 33.

With 254 counties, Texas has by far the largest number of counties of any state in the United States. The second highest number is 159 counties in Georgia. Tiny Delaware has the smallest number of counties with only three. The average state is subdivided into 66 counties.

Confederate Monument at Ochiltree County Courthouse

Ochiltree County, Texas, was named for Colonel William B. Ochiltree, an officer in the Confederate army. This monument is in front of the Ochiltree County Courthouse in Perryton. The Inscription reads:

COUNTY NAMED FOR CONFEDERATE OFFICER

COLONEL WILLIAM B. OCHILTREE 1811 - 1867

SECRETARY TREASURER AND LAST ATTORNEY

GENERAL REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. SECESSION

CONVENTION DELEGATE 1861. INFLUENTIAL

MEMBER PROVISIONAL CONGRESS WHICH

DRAFTED CONFEDERATE CONSTITUTION.

MOBILIZED MANPOWER, SET UP FINANCIAL

STRUCTURE, ELECTED POLITICAL LEADERS.

RESIGNED TO RAISE 18TH TEXAS INFANTRY

LED TROOPS TO ARKANSAS IN 1862 WHEN

REGIMENT CALLED IN CAMPAIGN TO REPEL

UNION FORCES FROM STATE.

MEMORIAL TO TEXANS

WHO SERVED THE CONFEDERACY

ERECTED BY THE STATE OF TEXAS, 1963

.

Check out my Confederate blog: http://confederatedigest.com/

Historic Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas

The Driskill Hotel, built in 1886 by Colonel Jesse Driskill, it is one of the crown jewels of Austin, Texas.

This historic old hotel is a popular location for fairy tale weddings, it is also a luxurious place to relax in the splendor of a bygone era. In 1934, Lyndon Baines Johnson and his future wife, Lady Bird, had their first date in the Driskill Hotel dining room. Johnson later became president of the United States, following the assisination of John F. Kennedy.

The Driskill Hotel was saved from destruction in 1969 and became an official historical landmark. The hotel underwent a multi-million dollar renovation beginning in 1996, which culminated in a grand re-opening on December 31, 1999.

International Hostel, Austin, Texas

The Hosteling International in Austin, Texas, offers great digs for the budget traveler.

My two nights at this Austin Hostel was a very pleasant and comfortable experience. The 39-bed hostel is also convenient, located one-half mile east of Interstate 35. Beside the hostel is plenty of free parking.

I had a rental car when I was here, the hostel is only a fifteen minute city bus ride from downtown Austin and its famous live music scene on 6th Street, as well as other attractions. The common room is very large and welcoming and there is also a well equipped kitchen. The thing I liked most was the wall of windows to the back of the common room overlooking Town Lake.

The hostel sits on a dedicated hike and bike trail around this beautiful lake. Inexpensive rental bikes, canoes and kayaks are available for hostel guests. I could have enjoyed a much longer stay here if other adventures had not been calling.

Texas Rangers Statue, Austin, Texas

The TERRY'S TEXAS RANGERS MONUMENT, on the Texas State Capitol grounds in Austin, features a bronze statue, by Pompeo Coppini, portraying one of Terry's Texas Rangers astride a spirited horse. In 1861, during the War for Southern Independence, Texas Rangers were mustered at Houston after Benjamin Terry and Thomas Lubbock's call for volunteers. Ten companies of 100 men each were formally activated as the 8th Texas Cavalry. During the next four years they participated in many engagements defending the Confederate States from Northern aggression.

The monument was erected in 1907, by surviving comrades. A plaque on the side reads:

LAST ORDER

Headquarters Calvary Corps.

April 24, 1865

GALLANT COMRADES

You have fought your fight. Your task is done. During four years of struggle for liberty you have exhibited courage, fortitude and devotion. You are the victors of more than 200 sternly contested fields. You have participated in more than 1000 conflicts of arms.

You are heroes, veterans, patriots. The bones of your comrades mark the battlefields of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. You have done all that human exertions could accomplish. In bidding you adieu I desire to tender my thanks for gallantry in battle. Your fortitude under suffering, and the devotion at all times to the holy cause you have done so much to maintain. I desire also to express my gratitude for your kind feeling you have seen fit to extend to myself and to invoke upon you the blessings of our Heavenly Father in the Cause of Freedom:

Comrades in Arms, I bid you farewell.

Joseph Wheeler Leut - Gen.

Commanding Calvary Corps.

Army of Tennessee
.

Check out my Confederate blog: http://confederatedigest.com/

King Ranch, Kingsville, Texas

This is one of the oldest and largest working cattle ranches in America, and the birthplace of the American ranching industry. It is also home of the first American Registered Quarter Horse and founder of the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle. I first heard of King Ranch when I was a kid and all of my heroes were cowboys. It was a thrill to see the place for myself after all these years.

King Ranch was founded in 1853, half a century before the town of Kingsville, by Captain Richard King, a steamboat operator on the Rio Grande. King became interested in the area while riding horseback from Brownsville to Corpus Christi. His original purchase was a total of 15,500 acres, which was the Rincon de Santa Gertrudis Land Grant. Today the ranch sprawls over several counties, 825,000 acres, and is larger than the entire state of Rhode Island. It is still family owned by more than 100 King heirs.

Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas

In a state where just about everything is BIG, the Texas Statehouse is huge - larger in gross square footage than any other state capitol in America. In height it exceeds the United States Capitol Building in Washington D.C. by 15 feet.Rising majestically from one of the highest points in Austin, the Texas Capitol is an extraordinary example of late 19th century public architecture and is widely recognized as one of the nation's most distinguished state capitols. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986 for its "significant contribution to American history."

The Capitol building, in the Renissance Revival style, was completed in 1888 as the winning design from a national competition. The exterior of the building is "sunset red" granite, quarried just 50 miles from the site. Texas paid for the construction not in dollars, but in land: some three million acres in the Texas Panhandle that would later become the famous XIT Ranch. A $75 million underground Capitol Extension was completed in 1993, doubling the square footage of the Capitol complex and providing room for more rampant government growth. In 1995, a comprehensive interior and exterior restoration of the original building was completed at a cost of approximately $98 million.

The park-like grounds surrounding the Capitol underwent an $8 million renovation and restoration in 1997. Much of this expansion took place during the administration of then Governor George W. Bush, who had never been timid about spending the taxpayer's money.

Austin, Texas

In a state as big as Texas there are several great cities, but none any more alluring than Austin, the Capital of the "Lone Star State."Austin has a personality that will win you over. It is cosmopolitan, yet unpretentious - a place where you can be yourself, whether you are a sophisticated urbanite, or as country as a hay seed. You'll even see bumper stickers which proclaim: Keep Austin Weird! There's a place for EVERYBODY here.The people of Austin obviously have a zest for life, and they enjoy showing their town to visitors - who always discover more than they expected.

I was especially fortunate on my last visit to Austin, in February, 2005, meeting friends Mark and Sarah, who took time off to give me a royal tour. This was my second time in Austin, the first being about 20 years ago. Still I would love to return - there's so much more of the Texas Capitol I want to experience. Somehow, I feel that I've just scratched the surface.

Deer Horn Tree, Junction, Texas

People in the town of Junction, Texas, claim that this tree made of deer antlers is one of the most photographed attractions in Texas. Maybe it is; I photographed it myself. The Deer Horn Tree was erected in 1968 by the Kimble Business & Professional Women's Club, to celebrate the fact that Kimble County, in the Texas Hill Country, is one of the state's more popular areas for hunting. It is estimated that the county's whitetail deer population is one animal for every 7.5 acres of land. Hundreds of natural springs around Junction feed the North Llano and South Llano Rivers, which come together to form the Llano River. These "living waters" help to enhance the area as a habitat for wildlife.

Directions:The Deer Horn Tree is in small park next to The Hills Motel, on US-377, south of I-10.

Birthplace of the Texas Baptist Convention

Some of the biggest Baptist churches on earth are in Texas cities such as Dallas and Houston, but the first organizational meeting of Texas Baptists was held in this church in the tiny town of Anderson, 81 miles northeast of Houston. On May 8, 1848. Seventy-eight messengers representing twenty-three churches gathered at the Antioch Baptist Church (now the Anderson Baptist Church) to form the first statewide Baptist body, the Baptist State Convention of Texas.

The constitution of the new Convention stated that "the objects of the Convention shall be missions and education, the promotion of harmony of feeling and consent of actions in our denomination and the organization and system of operative measures to promote the interest generally of the Redeemer's Kingdom within the state."

During the 37 years of its existence, the Baptist State Convention assisted numerous missionaries around Texas in establishing churches, gave financial support to Baylor University, and supported foreign missions through contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1885, the Convention voted to merge with other Baptist organizations in the state and form the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The first meeting of the new General Convention was held June 29, 1886.

Popeye Statue, Crystal City, Texas

Crystal City, Texas, proclaims itself Spinach Capital of the World, and since 1937 a statue of Popeye has stood in front of the city hall. You remember Popeye the Sailor Man, the cartoon character who gains superhuman strength every time he opens and eats can of spinach.

This town of just over 8,000 people is 110 milees southwest of San Antoniio on the south Texas plains, and is the seat of Zavala County. It is a primary center for packing, processing, and shipping vegetables, and the commercial hub for a large ranching area. This winter-garden area produces large quantities of onions, carrots, tomatoes and peppers, but it is best known for its spinach crop, and its statue of Popeye.

Every November Crystal City holds a Spinach Festival, a week-long event which includes a Miss Spinach Festival Queen's Pageant, live entertainment, carnival rides, booths, softball and golf tournaments, a spinach cook-off and more.