Larry Hodge - Backroads of Texas. The Sites, Scenes, History, People, And Places Your Map Doesnt Tell You About

Backroads of
TEXAS

FOURTH EDITION

FOURTH EDITION

LARRY D. HODGE
ED SYERS

Backroads of Texas

FOURTH EDITION

Copyright 1979, 1988, 1993, 2000 by Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without express written permission of the publisher.

PUBLISHED BY LONE STAR BOOKS
An Imprint of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200
Lanham, MD 20706
Distributed by National Book Network

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hodge, Larry D.

Backroads of Texas / Larry D. Hodge [and] Ed Syers.4th ed.

p. cm.

Rev. ed. of: Backroads of Texas / Ed Syers. 3rd ed. c 1993.

Includes index.

ISBN: 978-0-89123-053-3

1. TexasGuidebooks. 2. Automobile travelTexasGuidebooks. I. Syers, William Edward, 19141987 II. Syers, William Edward, 19141987 Backroads of Texas. III. Title.

F384.3 .S9 2000

917.6404'63dc21

00-021239
CIP

Special thanks go to the Texas Department of Transportation Travel & Information Division, for assistance with photographs, and to the hundreds of chambers of commerce throughout Texas for their cooperation.

Printed in the United States of America.
Printed on acid-free paper ().

Book design by Roxann L. Combs.
Tours maps by David T. Price.

For Betty, who encouraged Off The Beaten Trail,
and all you Texans who traveled it with me.

E. S.

For Sally, with whom I have shared many
backroads adventures.

L.D.H.

The purpose of this book is to provide you the most comprehensive and interesting tour guide of Texas available. The amount of information contained herein is such that four divisions of the state are required for proper presentation.

Backroads divides Texas into four regions: ), it will be easy for you to shift from one highway to another and thus pursue your tour in whatever direction you choose.

Mileage on each tour (varying with odometers) is cumulative, but the distance between any two towns can be computed easily. For each town of importance, the altitude and population are listed, as well as the intersection with other tour routes, where such intersections occur. Each tour is accompanied by its own strip map.

Embedded throughout the text are brief and some not-so-brief indented sections that are set off with horizontal rules. These Backroads Adventures splinter off the main tours and take you down farm, ranch, and county roads that are truly the backroads of Texas. In these 179 sections, 30 of them new with this fourth edition, can be found the flavor that makes this book unique.

For an extensive trip, you may find it easiest to start with a Texas highway map. Note the highwaysInterstate, U.S., or Texasthat you will employ, then locate them by referring to the regional map at the head of each division of the book. Specific cities may be located quickly by use of the index that follows.

Maps can be obtained from most service stations at a small cost or free by writing the Texas Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 5064, Austin, Texas 78763-5064. Maps and complete tourist information are available free at any of the 12 Texas Travel Information Centers listed later. Or, you may call 1-800-452-9292 daily from 8 to 5. A counselor at one of the information centers will speak with you. County maps may be obtained at low cost from any Department of Transportation district office.

For quick reference to any town, you may find it most convenient to use the complete Backroads index.

A final word about Backroads approach in this guide. Most guidebooks merely list the towns encountered, the distance between, and a few points of interest or special events. Here we also tell you why the town is where and what it is, why it is interesting, and we note the legends, rarities, landmarks, and scenic wonders along the way. Happy traveling!

The Texas Highway system is second to none in America. With more than 250,000 miles of roads and streets, it is also Americas largest system.

One rule of thumb applies as you travel the state: dont hesitate to select any Texas road in pursuit of your tour. The secondary road system, including farm and ranch roads, is paved, well marked, and provides easy and interesting travel.

A unique feature of the Texas highway system has been the creation, mapping, and marking of ten Texas Trails, each of which provides a relatively brief tour of scenic-historic interest. Brochures and maps of these trails are no longer available, but you will encounter the blue-and-white signs marking the trails still in place on Texas highways.

The tours, each designed around a geographic-historic region, are as follows (east to west, north to south): Forest Trail, Lakes Trail, Brazos Trail, Independence Trail, Hill Country Trail, Tropical Trail, Forts Trail, Plains Trail, Mountain Trail.

On each of these, you can start at any point along the trail, spend a day, a weekend, or as long as you like, enjoying every minute of your time.

Primarily at major points of entry in the state, the Texas Department of Transportation maintains 12 fully and competently staffed Texas Travel Information Centers. These centers provide a complete range of free maps, literature, and tourist information covering all parts of Texas. You may also call 1-800-452-9292 for information. The bureaus are located as follows (telephone numbers in parentheses):

Amarillo, I-40 east (806/335-1441)

Anthony (beyond El Paso), I-10 (915/886-3468)

Austin, State Capitol (512/463-8586)

Denison, US 75/69 north (903/463-2860)

Gainesville, I-35 north (940/665-2301)

Langtry (west of Del Rio), US 90/Loop 25 (915/291-3340)

Laredo, I-35 north (956/722-8119)

Orange, I-10 east (409/883-9416)

Texarkana, I-30 west (903/794-2114)

Valley (Harlingen), US 77/83 (956/428-4477)

Waskom (cast of Marshall), I-20 east (903/687-2547)

Wichita Falls, US 277/287 north (940/723-7932)

Available on request from these centers or by writing the Texas Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 5064, Austin, Texas 78763-5064 is a 264-page full-color guide, Texas.

Department District Offices, also providing information, are as follows: Abilene, Amarillo, Atlanta, Austin, Beaumont, Brownwood, Bryan, Childress, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Del Rio, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Lubbock, Lufkin, Odessa, Paris, Pharr, San Angelo, San Antonio, Tyler, Waco, Wichita Falls, Yoakum.