Texas Question for Bird
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ERNIEB
Platinum Member
Things happen fast around here. The location given is fairly accurate, I live maybe 15 miles from the southern edge. It's roughly in central Texas. I've been pretty much all through it at one time or the other.
It is mainly limestone hills, escarpments, and so on. At one time it was grassland, but overgrazing in the 19th century took care of that. In the areas that have top soil, it is very thin, and fragile. Most of it is covered in a brushy variety of mountain Juniper, which the locals call "cedar" probably because when cut it smells like cedar. When it blooms it deals out alot of misery to people with allergies, and sinus problems.
A few oaks here and there, Alamo trees, cypress near the rivers. Prickly pear and cholla, of course.
A nice place to visit, but not much good for anything except goats.
BTW, there are families there who inherited large tracts of land, but because there is no way of making it pay, they're land rich, but dollar poor. They're called "cedar choppers", because they make fence posts from the cedars (junipers) on they're land. Back in the late eighties one of these families was put on trial in Kerrville, because they were picking up transients, holding them captive, and forcing them to make key chains and doo-dads for the tourist trade. They used torture, and at least one captive was murdered. The media nicknamed it "The slave ranch". Just thought someone might recall that.
Ernie
It is mainly limestone hills, escarpments, and so on. At one time it was grassland, but overgrazing in the 19th century took care of that. In the areas that have top soil, it is very thin, and fragile. Most of it is covered in a brushy variety of mountain Juniper, which the locals call "cedar" probably because when cut it smells like cedar. When it blooms it deals out alot of misery to people with allergies, and sinus problems.
A few oaks here and there, Alamo trees, cypress near the rivers. Prickly pear and cholla, of course.
A nice place to visit, but not much good for anything except goats.
BTW, there are families there who inherited large tracts of land, but because there is no way of making it pay, they're land rich, but dollar poor. They're called "cedar choppers", because they make fence posts from the cedars (junipers) on they're land. Back in the late eighties one of these families was put on trial in Kerrville, because they were picking up transients, holding them captive, and forcing them to make key chains and doo-dads for the tourist trade. They used torture, and at least one captive was murdered. The media nicknamed it "The slave ranch". Just thought someone might recall that.
Ernie
ERNIEB
Platinum Member
<font color=blue>Taking I-10 northwest out of San Antonio will let you see a fair amount of the hill country</font color=blue>
Take 281 north, and you'll see alot more.
Ernie
Take 281 north, and you'll see alot more.
Ernie
Bird
Rest in Peace
Yep, Ernie, I remember the publicity the slave ranch got. And I agree with you about taking 281 north. The only reason I mentioned I-10 was because Bob said something about passing through Houston, and going to Arizona, so I thought at least he'd get to see a little bit.
And about all I'd add to your description of the hill country is that besides being good for goats, there's lots of whitetail deer.
Have you ever visited the Y-O Ranch at Mountain Home, near Kerrville? I wonder what it's like now; been 25 years since I was there. For anyone who never heard of the Y-O, it was one of first of the exotic animal ranches. In addition to a sizeable herd of longhorns (which you've probably seen in a few movies), sheep, goats, and horses, they raised ostriches, zebras, several exotic antelope species, etc. They used to have high paying hunters 365 days a year. I always thought that'd be like shooting fish in a barrel, but then when I was there, I found they allowed NO hunting in their little hundred acre breeding pens; only on the rest of the ranch. I don't know how big it was originally, but in '76, the game manager told me Charlie III had sold off some of the land, so they only had 78,000 acres at the main ranch and another 18,000 at another location.
And like a dummy, I sat here typing all this before I thought to see about a web site and found it at http://www.yoranch.com. And sure enough, I guess they've sold a lot more land. The web site says it's now just a 40,000 acre working ranch.
Bird
And about all I'd add to your description of the hill country is that besides being good for goats, there's lots of whitetail deer.
Have you ever visited the Y-O Ranch at Mountain Home, near Kerrville? I wonder what it's like now; been 25 years since I was there. For anyone who never heard of the Y-O, it was one of first of the exotic animal ranches. In addition to a sizeable herd of longhorns (which you've probably seen in a few movies), sheep, goats, and horses, they raised ostriches, zebras, several exotic antelope species, etc. They used to have high paying hunters 365 days a year. I always thought that'd be like shooting fish in a barrel, but then when I was there, I found they allowed NO hunting in their little hundred acre breeding pens; only on the rest of the ranch. I don't know how big it was originally, but in '76, the game manager told me Charlie III had sold off some of the land, so they only had 78,000 acres at the main ranch and another 18,000 at another location.
And like a dummy, I sat here typing all this before I thought to see about a web site and found it at http://www.yoranch.com. And sure enough, I guess they've sold a lot more land. The web site says it's now just a 40,000 acre working ranch.
Bird
RBManufacturing
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Hi Bird, and all the Great Guys in Texas !!! I may be going
to Sealy Tx. soon. Any great scenery there ? I have been
asked to possibly develope a new tiltmeter by a major o.e.m.
in Sealy. I keep offering to go there, to get me out of here
for awhile, but they say to send prints, design, etc. first.
You might know the company. lets call it S&S. Military
related. If I get to go, I plan on driving from Kansas City MO.
Hope to take a scenic route. Any suggestions would be
appreciated. Thanks Rick
Rick Hedgecock
R&B Manufacturing
http://www.tiltmeter.com
(816)587-9814
to Sealy Tx. soon. Any great scenery there ? I have been
asked to possibly develope a new tiltmeter by a major o.e.m.
in Sealy. I keep offering to go there, to get me out of here
for awhile, but they say to send prints, design, etc. first.
You might know the company. lets call it S&S. Military
related. If I get to go, I plan on driving from Kansas City MO.
Hope to take a scenic route. Any suggestions would be
appreciated. Thanks Rick
Rick Hedgecock
R&B Manufacturing
http://www.tiltmeter.com
(816)587-9814
glennmac
Veteran Member
Bob, I lived in Austin for two years. The hill country begins on the west side of Austin. It just sort of arises out of nowhere and continues on as the foothills of the mountains in the far west. Most of the newer pricey houses are in the hill county. Location is everything, and only in the hill country could you get property with a "view". I didn't live there. Bought my first house in a pleasant flat suburb. I'm looking at trucks and tractors now that cost almost as much as that house did, and it was a nice house.
ERNIEB
Platinum Member
Your right Bird, lots of whitetailed deer. But, not the quality you see in South or East Texas. I'll bet Von and some of the other fellas from up North would mistake them for Jackalope/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
I was at the Y-O in 80, while I was going to A&M. At the time it seemed to me that they were going into a number of different areas. When I mentioned this to another student, one of the Schrieners, who was standing close by, walked over and said. "The Y-O is a working ranch, always has been, and always will be" OK /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif Did You know Eddie Rickenbacker owned a ranch in the hill country?
Ernie
I was at the Y-O in 80, while I was going to A&M. At the time it seemed to me that they were going into a number of different areas. When I mentioned this to another student, one of the Schrieners, who was standing close by, walked over and said. "The Y-O is a working ranch, always has been, and always will be" OK /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif Did You know Eddie Rickenbacker owned a ranch in the hill country?
Ernie
ERNIEB
Platinum Member
GlennT
Gold Member
Bob: I've been outside all day and just came online. Although I live in the Hill Country, the others haven't left me with a whole lot to add to the conversation. The Hill Country is beautiful. Although the trees are different species for the most part, the scenery is similar to that which we liked in Minnesota and Wisconsin--rolling hills with many trees, flowers, streams, etc. We moved here about five years ago and were lucky enough to find some acreage. Land is expensive. We are retired educators on a pension; most of our neighbors were "in oil" (probably up to their necks in it, if their homes and cars are any indication). If you would drive in the Medina, Bandera area you would see hills that could be termed mountains. Seventeen miles north of Fredericksburg is Enchanted Rock, a monstrous hunk of granite that is sacred to the Native Americans and is a joy to climb. As has been said earlier, there are many, many white-tailed deer (smaller than those we saw up north). They feed on our lawn each morning and evening. Fredericksburg is a very popular tourist town. Busloads of people come from Austin and San Antonio regularly to visit the restored stone homes and commercial buildings built by the original German settlers. You hear German spoken regularly on the streets and in the stores. We have the Nimitz Museum and the George Bush Gallery of the Pacific Theater--large buildings with exhibits which include aircraft, naval vessels, etc. from World War II. The bombing of Pearl Harbor sixty years ago will be commemorated this year in Fredericksburg in a big way. George Bush (and perhaps his son?) will be here along with thousands of people (literally) from around the world. One of the things I am looking forward to is the gathering of World War II aircraft which will do flyovers during the weekend. Many of these are part of the Confederate Air Force. I don't represent the Chamber of Commerce; however, Fredericksburg is an outstanding place to live, with many cultural activities (artists' galleries and exhibits, a superb musical theatre second to none, concerts by world-renowned musicians and musical groups, etc.). Yes, there are unbelievable mansions tucked away on ranches, but there are also more humble abodes such as ours. Come check out Fredericksburg. At last count we had 45 restaurants in a city witrh a population of a little over 8,000. Were you aware that the LBJ Ranch is a few miles down the road? And that Willie Nelson's Luckenbach is close by? If your wife likes to shop, she will go ape on Main Street.
Enough--suffice it to say that we like it here.
Enough--suffice it to say that we like it here.
Alan L.
Elite Member
I was born and raised here in Texas (47 years worth). In April of '00 we took our first trip to the Hill Country - only about a 5 hour drive from North Texas where we live. I really liked the area. We stayed in a 2-room log cabin in the middle of a huge cattle ranch northwest of Fredericksburg and spent a day shopping the various shops of Fredericksbury, a primarily German town.
Its a great place - we sat on the covered porch of our cabin and saw wild turkey and deer, and thoroughly enjoyed our trip. One day we drove down to Kerrville, then took a winding road toward the west to Leakey and then back north by Garner State Park. It was a very scenic drive, and down there the hills are really mountains, similar to the ozarks in Arkansas and Missouri.
One of my favorite things down there is the white Austin stone. I hope to build a new house here on my property out of Austin stone one day, with cedar porches and green metal roof. Its pretty expensive stuff, but very beautiful building material.
We took a trip to Big Bend National park a few years ago, right on the Rio Grande river. Spent some time in the Davis mountains around Alpine and Marfa too. Went through Presidio, one of the hottest places in the country, but didn't stick around Marfa to check out the famous "Marfa lights". Basically just outside Marfa you can look back toward the mountains and see strange lights. Nobody has been able to determine the source. I wanted to check this out, but got outvoted by the womenfolk.
Alan L., TX
Its a great place - we sat on the covered porch of our cabin and saw wild turkey and deer, and thoroughly enjoyed our trip. One day we drove down to Kerrville, then took a winding road toward the west to Leakey and then back north by Garner State Park. It was a very scenic drive, and down there the hills are really mountains, similar to the ozarks in Arkansas and Missouri.
One of my favorite things down there is the white Austin stone. I hope to build a new house here on my property out of Austin stone one day, with cedar porches and green metal roof. Its pretty expensive stuff, but very beautiful building material.
We took a trip to Big Bend National park a few years ago, right on the Rio Grande river. Spent some time in the Davis mountains around Alpine and Marfa too. Went through Presidio, one of the hottest places in the country, but didn't stick around Marfa to check out the famous "Marfa lights". Basically just outside Marfa you can look back toward the mountains and see strange lights. Nobody has been able to determine the source. I wanted to check this out, but got outvoted by the womenfolk.
Alan L., TX