Enchanted Rock, TX

As I travel further afield in Texas, I realise that Dallas is to Texas as Slough is to England. Enough said.

Today, I headed to Texas Hill Country, to the “Enchanted Rock”. This is about a four-hour drive, but once you get south of the Brazos River, the highways straighten up, and, even though it’s a two-way, two-lane road, you can set the cruise control to 75mph, and sit back while the miles slip away under the wheels. You hardly ever meet any other traffic, and, even when you do, the accepted practice seems to be that the slower vehicle moves halfway onto the shoulder, so that passing is easy. Occasionally, you have to slow down as you pass through a “town”, usually characterised by a gas station, a Dairy Queen and a couple of houses.

I passed a dairy farm (a little unusual in predominantly “cattle country”) with a slogan underneath its name: “Drink more milk – the udder cola”. I also passed ranches raising sheep, goats, llamas and ostriches, as well as the more common Texas Longhorn cattle. I stopped for lunch at the Roadhouse BBQ in Lampasas. Outside they have a huge (about 10ft) barbecue, from which you choose your meat –  brisket, 2-inch thick pork chops, baby-back-ribs, sausage. I chose an inch-thick slice of brisket. You take this inside to add “fixin’s” – potato salad, coleslaw, beans, and sweet iced-tea. The owner told me that the succulence is due to good barbecue sauce, and slooooow cooking – around 18 hours!

Hispanic Temple

And I passed a Hispanic temple. I’m sure there’s nothing strange about Hispanic Jews – I just hadn’t thought about it before.

Enchanted Rock is a 500ft tall dome-shaped granite outcrop, and is quite spectacular. I didn’t arrive there until about 4pm, when it was a little too late to attempt the ascent, but I’d love to go again earlier in the day (I’ve been advised that it’s not wise to attempt this in the middle of summer).

Enchanted Rock

Travelling back through the Hill Country was beautiful. Around there, the trucks all have cattle guards on the front – for good reason, and not just for show. Cattle wander freely across the road, and I’m sure would make quite a mess of a car (I know, I know … the cattle’s perspective may be different). I passed through a town called Llano where I needed to stop for gas. I asked the guy behind the counter: “If you had to get to Dallas from here (which, unfortunately, I do), how would you do it?”. The answer: “Look at a map – don’t know, ain’t never been over that way”. OK, we have a redneck – time to up the ante. “How do you pronounce the name of this town?”. “Lan-oh.”. No more imaginative than I expected, so in for the kill: “Is it the first “ell”, or the second, that’s silent?”.

Cow!