Road Trip of a Lifetime

Southern Living, Apr 2004 by Thomas, Les

In Marble Falls, I stop to admire fields thick with bluebonnets in front of a ranch house and check in to a lake view room at the Hampton Inn on the Lake, one of the best chain hotel locations on the whole route.

For breakfast at the Blue Bonnet Cafe, a landmark that's been around for more than 70 years, I order eggs and biscuits. The biscuits are hot and fluffy with a side of gravy. I watch a couple in a booth hold hands and pray. Beautiful spring days such as this one in the Hill Country, when it's filled with wildflowers, make you want to count your blessings.

At Johnson City, late in the afternoon, I turn off the highway and make the 20-minute drive to the L.B.J. Ranch. After 5 p.m., you can drive onto part of the ranch until sunset. It's the most beautiful time of day-the serenity is palpable. The longhorns are bedded down. I stop at the little cemetery beside the Pedernales River and read the eulogy given by the Rev. Billy Graham for the former President: "Here on these familiar hills under these expansive skies and under these oak trees that he loved so much, his life has come full circle..."

Orange Groves, Missions, and Miracles

U.S. 281 is my favorite way to drive into the Hill Country. The landscape starts to roll around Lampasas, and by the time you reach Marble Falls you're surrounded by sweeping vistas of live oak-covered hills for the next 80 miles all the way into San Antonio.

In the biggest city U.S. 281 passes through in Texas, I stop for lunch and order mesquite charcoal-grilled venison sausage at the Liberty Bar, an upscale restaurant in an aged wooden building. It stands-or leans really-on East Josephine Street, near downtown. In the afternoon I follow the exit for the Mission Trail along the San Antonio River to San Jose, the queen of the missions. I watch as a beautiful bride poses for photographs under an arch. When she gathers up her gown to walk, I notice she is wearing tennis shoes.

The missions began San Antonio's Hispanic heritage, and traces of Latin culture grow stronger the farther south I drive. You can hear it in the names of towns such as Falfurrias and Encino. It flavors the foods in cafes such as Chente's Restaurant in Alice, where the breakfast menu features eggs with chicharrones.

At Falfurrias, I turn off the highway onto Route 1418 to travel the short distance to the Don Pedrito Shrine. There are enough candles burning to heat the small room where the faithful come to pray for miracles. Don Pedro Jaramillo, who died in 1907, was known as "The Faith Healer of Los Almos." The room's cream walls are covered with photographs, plastic flowers, and messages in Spanish. Seven crutches lean against a wall. I light a candle when I leave and add my wishes for a child who left this note: "Dear God, help my mom and dad be happy and me too because I love them so much."

Growth and changes are coming fast at this end of the highway. South of Falfurrias, the road shifts to four lanes with a median, and signs are posted for the "Future I-69 Interstate Corridor." Roadside stands are piled with baskets of oranges and grapefruit. Past Pharr, U.S. 281 turns east to follow the Rio Grande to Brownsville. Beside the road, farm fields framed with palm trees are plowed for new crops and some are green with cabbages and sugarcane.