Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2021 i Texas Highways Magazine

I lied about my age on the job application. I even doctored a Xerox copy of my birth certificate with zero regard for any possible fines or imprisonment. I had to get this job—but I was 15, too young. The minimum age to work at AstroWorld was 16. Who could blame me, though? A job at AstroWorld was the hottest thing a teenager could do in Houston in the ’80s. I sat in the personnel reception area, waiting for my name to be called. My mother waited in her car in the parking lot listening to Luther Vandross, windows down and managing the humidity and heat with a hand fan depicting Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. It didn’t take long. I got the job. A week later, I put on…

Far West Texas has large colonies of rosy-purple bull grass, which can be found along the mountain slope grasslands at Davis Mountain State Park as well as Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains national parks. tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/davismountains; nps.gov Bright yellow leaves of giant Eastern cottonwoods line the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/palo-duro-canyon The Cross Timbers region west of Fort Worth boasts ancient post oak and blackjack oak forests with orange and golden brown leaves. Bigtooth maple and Lacey oak trees shed their leaves at Lost Maples State Natural Area in Vanderpool, about 95 miles northwest of San Antonio. Book your tickets early, as the site often sells out during fall. tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/lost-maples East Texas’ state parks at Daingerfield, Atlanta, and Caddo Lake are…

It began at the Game Xchange in my hometown of Temple. I was browsing the aisles with no money to spare while visiting home from college in 2018 when my friends and I spotted a gem: a 2003 short documentary entitled Growin’ a Beard. The film follows competitive beard-growers preparing for an annual showdown in the Panhandle town of Shamrock, with an original soundtrack of country-style beard-themed songs by defunct Austin band The Gourds. My grandfather’s beard—a cropped salt-and-pepper-but-mostly-salt number he claims he was born with—is legendary among my friends and family, but the beards we saw on the DVD case could rival even his. Since 1938, the contest has taken place during Shamrock’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival, which was declared the state’s official such celebration by the Texas Legislature…

On a sunny Saturday, I sat on the patio of a Fort Worth bar enjoying a drink, an act that was radical for me. I gave up booze 10 years ago, and HopFusion was the kind of place I mostly saw from the outside: picnic tables, good music, 20 beers on tap. But I’d heard the brewery served a tasty carbonated iced tea, so I sidled up to the bar and watched as the server pulled the golden draught from the tap. I took my seat among chatting strangers, and as I sipped my drink (good! spicy!), a warmth spread through me. Not inebriation, but something I’d been chasing in these spaces for a long time: belonging. Until recently, being a nondrinker in a drinking world meant a certain exile.…

INGREDIENTS: 4 medium Rio Red or Ruby Red grapefruits5 cups granulated white sugar¾ cup honey2 teaspoons kosher saltJuice of two lemons DIRECTIONS: Wash the fruit and remove the rind with a sharp vegetable peeler. Cut the peel into long, narrow strips. Slice the top and bottom of each grapefruit as close to the flesh as possible, then, following the curvature of the fruit with your knife, slice off the thick pith layer and discard. Slice the fruit into ½-inch rounds, and cut each round into roughly 8 pieces, removing any residual pith and seeds as you go. Work over a bowl so you can save any accumulated juice. In a heavy-bottomed pot, bring the rind to a boil with 4 cups of water. Lower the heat and let simmer for…

“There’s no shortage of rattlesnakes in Bosque County,” says Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Yellowstone, the highest-rated cable TV show of 2020. “I don’t know how I never got bit. Now I’ve gotta find wood to knock on because we’ve got a scene with some rattlesnakes tomorrow.” Yellowstone is set on a Montana ranch that’s “the size of Rhode Island,” according to the show’s ruthless patriarch, John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner. But the roots of the gripping contemporary Western can be traced to a 214-acre ranch near the town of Cranfills Gap, 54 miles west of Waco. That’s where Sheridan, who writes and directs the series, learned to ride horses, shoot guns, and make movies in his head. He named his production company Bosque Ranch to honor where he comes…

In the Fort Davis area, stop at Davis Mountains State Park after a rain to see scarlet bouvardia, littleleaf lead-tree, trompillo, sumac, Apache plume, tree cholla, Torrey yucca, catclaw acacia, and agarita. tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/davis-mountains Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge serves up sedges, rushes, and cattails along with evening primrose, coreopsis, paintbrush, Indian blanket, and spider and rain lilies. Brazos Bend State Park has a variety of wildflowers: ten petal anemone, Texas frogfruit, coreopsis, Mexican hat, plains wild indigo, wine cup, and showy primrose. fws.gov/refuge/brazoria; tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/brazos-bend Bastrop State Park’s open spaces make room for wildflowers like red firewheel, spotted horsemint, Carolina larkspur, yellow primroses, lazy daisies, Drummond’s phlox, sensitive briar, and Georgia rockrose. There are also plants unique to Texas such as Brazos-mint, stemless spiderwort, broadleaf snakecotton, and sandy-land bluebonnets. tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/bastrop…

One of travel’s many gifts is its ability to change our perspective. When we set out to experience something new, whether close to home or in a far-flung locale, the resulting shift can be subtle—a little more empathy, a little more courage, a little more understanding. Or it can be overt, altering the way we see the world permanently. Perhaps it’s because our hearts are more open when we travel: We must surrender to different rhythms and customs, and yield to unfamiliar landscapes. Here, four writers reminisce about trips that changed their minds, or brought their own knowing into sharper focus.…

It sounds like an oxymoron to say that highways and backroads are where I found solace and felt the safest growing up as a Black girl in East Texas. It’s where I learned to meditate, focus, and be mindful of life’s many journeys—a practice I inherited from my pawpaw. Highways and country roads are still where I turn when I can’t find my way. Growing up in Lufkin, my pawpaw, Leroy Reed, found peace while driving. He was rarely worried since he always traveled with his shotguns and usually knew where to go. Especially when he was younger, he knew how to avoid the pockets of East Texas where bored white men or the Klan might be. He taught me how to navigate the roads throughout my childhood, often taking…

Why settle for a mellow, everything-goes-according-to-plan road trip when you can have one splattered in mud, infested with mosquitoes, and laden with metaphorical potholes? Late last spring, I followed along as a group of five kayakers navigated the Gulf of Mexico and Intracoastal Waterway for a 370-mile trip from South Padre Island to the Sabine Lake Causeway Bridge on the Louisiana border. While the kayakers spent 13 days plowing their way through waves the size of school buses and past the occasional alligator, I motored through my own on-land adventures. Along the way, I discovered friendly little towns and learned a few lessons in self-reliance. The real fun began halfway through, when in the small seaside community of Sargent, I encountered a construction crew busily replacing the state’s last swing…

IT’S STILL DARK on a muggy August morning in southeast Texas. But inside the Neches River Wheelhouse, a waterfront bar and restaurant in Port Neches, husband-and-wife duo Dana and Krissy Melancon are bright and chirpy as they settle in front of the microphones of their remote broadcasting studio. On cue, the airwaves crackle with the sound of a train whistle, followed by a loud accordion pushing a peppy rhythm with fiddle and guitar. Every Sunday morning, The Cajun Express radio show mixes four hours of swamp pop, zydeco, and most of all, Cajun music with community news, dedications, and requests. Loose and familiar, the broadcast serves as a meeting point for Cajuns from across the Golden Triangle, that geographic zone in Texas’ southeast corner defined by Beaumont, Port Arthur, and…

Six years ago, when Mumbai native Rashmi Bhat was attending the University of Houston’s College of Business, the entrepreneurial-minded student first visualized what has recently become a reality—7 Monks Café, the first Indian restaurant in New Braunfels. Her small-business plan for an Indian eatery was so well thought out that it won a $1,000 university pitch contest. Although Rashmi used the funds to open a French-inspired deli called Bonjour, Texas in New Braunfels in 2014, the dream of an Indian restaurant never faded. While running Bonjour—which now operates solely as a wholesale business—regular customers were increasingly requesting Indian food made by Rashmi’s mother, Neeta Bhat, who helped run the deli. They often asked when the duo would open up an Indian spot. Fueled by these requests, Rashmi realized the time…

In 1849, pioneering French botanist Auguste Trécul followed the Guadalupe River inland from the Gulf Coast to New Braunfels, noting flora and fauna along the way. Trécul was primarily interested in edible plants of the American West, but Texans remember his trip for a different discovery: a feisty little fish, green with a golden belly, that darted about the clear waters of Hill Country streams. Today we know this fish as the Guadalupe bass, the state fish of Texas. Trécul’s French colleagues recorded the find in the ensuing years, but the fish’s identity in Texas remained a slippery debate for decades. A handful of similar river bass confounded scientists. The sleek Texas native, which inhabits rivers across the Edwards Plateau, was lumped in with the likes of the spotted bass…

Marcus J. Guillory The LA-based screenwriter recalled his time as an AstroWorld employee in “For Your Amusement” (Page 12). “It’s one thing to revisit a location from my past, but it’s another thing to revisit the experiences and the emotions connected with that location, particularly when that location no longer exists,” Guillory says. “AstroWorld is still a part of me, a highlight in my identity as a native Houstonian.” Guillory is a writer and producer on BET’s Sacrifice. His debut novel, Red Now and Laters, published in 2014, received a starred Kirkus Review and was shortlisted for the Ernest Gaines Award. Suchi Rudra For “Global Mix” (Page 58), Rudra chatted with 7 Monks Café owner Rashmi Bhat about growing up as a serial expat, an experience that strongly informed the…

Palestine is a town that knows how to celebrate spring. Nature-lovers flock here for the annual Texas Dogwood Trails Celebration, an 83-year tradition that showcases the trees’ delicate white blossoms. Founded in 1846, Palestine grew as an agricultural and timber hub with the arrival of the railroad in 1872. The discovery of oil in 1928 created an economic driver that endures to this day, along with ranching, logging, and NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. African Americans have long played key roles in Anderson County, a history that Reginald “Reggie” Browne Jr. researched for the 2007 book African-American Roots: Traveling the Boundaries of Anderson County. His work helped inform a new city tour called “Our Black History: Palestine’s Legends & Legacies.” The driving tour stops at sites like Mount Vernon African…

Searching for seashells is just as much an act of meditation as a treasure hunt. Deborah James experienced both growing up in Rockport in the 1950s. Along its shoreline, she combed the sand for riches and frequented the Sea Shell Shoppe, where she acquired doll figurines made of shells. Later, when James worked for the Rockport school district, she helped at the store over spring break and summer holidays. In 1998, the owner offered to sell it to her. Today, as the third female owner of the store, she continues a tradition that started in Rockport in 1946. Inside the Sea Shell Shoppe, James safeguards one of the largest selections on the Gulf Coast. “I have shells from all over the world, and then of course our waters,” she says.…

It was a long way to go: an eight-hour drive by myself to Big Bend, an uneasy night alone in the desert, and, for an additional eight hours, simply stepping one boot in front of the other. After two years of nursing a baby while simultaneously playing Candy Land with my 4-year-old daughter, I craved the crunch of hiking boots on Big Bend National Park’s South Rim Trail, a hike I did often in my 20s. As much as I relished being home with my kids, I wanted to unshackle myself from other people’s wants and stride through the meadows and atop the cliffs of this 12-mile loop to its farthest edge overlooking vast Mexican mountains. So I left my nursing bras at home and packed the camping gear. My…

The Cajun Express radio show broadcasts 6-10 a.m. Sundays on Beaumont radio station 105.3 FM and online at thecajunexpress.com. On the second Sunday of the month, the Melancons broadcast live from the Neches River Wheelhouse in Port Neches. Neches River Wheelhouse, 720 Lee Ave., Port Neches. 409-853-1249; nechesriverwheelhouse.com Larry’s French Market, 3701 Pure Atlantic Road, Groves. 409-962-3381; larrysfrenchmarket.com Big Doobie’s Boudin & Cracklins, 6247 W. Port Arthur Road, Port Arthur. 409-548-1335.facebook.com/doobiescajunmeats Museum of the Gulf Coast, 700 Procter St., Port Arthur. 409-982-7000; museumofthegulfcoast.org La Maison Beausoleil, Riverfront Park, 600 Grigsby Ave., Port Neches. 409-989-9211 The Cajun Heritage Festival is set for April 17 at Port Arthur’s Carl A. Parker Multipurpose Center. For updates on the event’s schedule and status, visit cajunheritagefest.com. Cajun Sounds Internet Radio streams music 24-7 at cajunsoundsinternetradio.com.…

When working in his family’s citrus groves, David Strohmeyer Jr. likes to take an occasional refreshment break. He squeezes a just-picked Persian lime into his water and chugs the bottle on the spot. “It will get you through the day,” he says. If you’d told him 20 years ago he’d be a farmer in the Rio Grande Valley, “I’d never have believed you,” Strohmeyer says emphatically. “Never, ever.” Before he began running G and S Groves in McAllen with his father, David Strohmeyer Sr., he worked in the tech industry in Austin. In the 1930s, his grandfather George Strohmeyer purchased a 25-acre property with the idea of growing citrus, but a freeze thwarted his efforts and he switched to row crops. Strohmeyer Sr. took over the farm in the 1970s…

Each fall, thousands of chili superfans from far and wide descend on this West Texas town for the famed Terlingua International Chili Championship. But the rest of the year, you’ll find a strange, far-out destination mixing artsy freedom with desert air. Ghost Town Walking Tour Terlingua’s lore revolves around its historic ghost town, which boomed in the early 1900s with the area’s quicksilver mines. Throw on some boots and take a selfguided stroll past old equipment and cavernous mining shafts that are now sealed off. The crumbling stone homes form an eerie backdrop, as does the Perry Mansion high on the hill overlooking the town. Honor former residents at the Terlingua Cemetery, which looks like it could have been built for a Western movie set. Big Bend Stables Want to…