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Log Blog--Long and Winding Roads...

By
Real Estate Sales Representative with Keller Williams Realty--Boerne Hill Country

My husband and I have been looking for a place to buy in the country...  This past weekend we found the coolest homestead...Rose Ranch...just outside a little town in Texas called Waring.  I would love to tell you all the details about this home...but it was the impromptu drive just past Waring that inspired this blog. 

One of the many reasons I love my husband is his passion for history and his spur-of-the-moment-let's-go-for-a-drive attitude.  That zeal led us past this little homestead to and through the town of Waring...population 73.  In it's hay day it had 300 resident and boasted of a general store, a quarry and a train depot.  Now...it's a sleepy town on the edge of the Guadalupe River splattered with eclectic signs of days gone by.  I was particularly tickled by the neon sign in the general store window that gleamed "OPEN" on our way out and "SHUT" on the way back.

From there we meandered down Old Highway 9.  I was transported back to the days of my youth on a Sunday drive where I would find myself pressing my nose against the window of the car...straining to see the many sites along the way.  I didn't have my nose pressed against the window...but I found myself straining to see all that the country-side had to offer.  We passed miles of hand-stacked stone walls...put there my German immigrants.  Because of all the rain we have been getting the stone walls were stark contrasts to the deep green fields.  I could feel my shoulder dropping...relaxing...as we continued to drive.

Seemingly out of nowhere popped up the town of Grapetown, Texas...abandoned and somewhat haunting.  The town consisted of a school house, a home, cemetery and a pavillion with picnic tables.  We passed the town in the time it would take you to blink your eyes a couple of times.  Larry, who knows so much about early Texas history, was musing about what the pavilion was used for.  In one breath he was telling me about the history of the place and in the next he was putting on the brakes and making a U-turn back to Grapetown.

"You know what that is, Claire?  That's not a pavillion...it's a shooting range".  Sure enough, you could see a line of black zig-zag V-shaped contraptions in front of a raised bench...apparently where the judge would sit and judge the shooting.  As we pulled away...I couldn't help but think about how that town must have once thrived with a flurry of activity.  There was a canteen behind the pavilion and I wondered if that's where fresh-squeezed lemonade was served or pot luck dinners. 

My curiosity got the best of me and I found out that my idealistic view of what may have happened on a given weekend at that spot was far from what really happened.  Here's what REALLY happened per a story I found taken from the pages of The Handbook of Texas...

In 1887 a singing club and a shooting club merged (allowing members to sing while shooting) and as if that wasn't enough, Grapetown then started the first annual Gillespie County Schuetzenfest (shooting festival). The Handbook of Texas allows that during this festival, 140 kegs of beer were consumed in four days - but gives no information on the accuracy of the marksmen.

Made me smile thinking about beer-happy Germans singing and shooting at targets at the same time.  How life has changed...  We find ourselves so wrapped up in our ipods, iphones, nanos, twitters and even Active Rain.  By the end of many of my days I will find myself sitting in our living room and will notice that my shoulders are hunched up and I have to tell myself to drop my shoulders and RELAX...

Long and winding roads...they can be a nuisance when we are in a hurry...when we want to get somewhere.  But...they can also be a pathway to a place that reminds us that life is more than the destination.  It's the journey that counts.

Comments (3)

Barbara Michaluk
Weichert Realtors | Phone Direct 240-506-2434 | 301-681-0550 office - Silver Spring, MD
Leisure World Specialist / Full Service REALTOR

Claire, You have reminded me to remember to slow down and smell the roses.  It sounds like you and your husband took time to do that on a winding road in Texas.

Feb 24, 2010 09:58 AM
Claire Record
Keller Williams Realty--Boerne Hill Country - Boerne, TX

Barbara...glad to help.  I wrote it to remind myself as well.  If you ever get to Texas...the best things to see are off the beaten path...

Feb 24, 2010 10:03 AM
Anonymous
Kathy Giese

Claire,

I'm fortunate enough to have that area as part of my territory and feel blessed everyday traveling those roads.

If you ever really want to experience it, try it on a bicycle. The smells, the sounds and the thrill of seeing it all up close and personal made all the "training rides" something to look forward to every weekend. Nothing like seeing the sun coming up on the dew-kissed fields to let you know God shared it with us all for a reason.

Now, when I'm driving in my car, those same memories flash through my mind so I look forward to getting back in shape and out there again.

That particular little store you described was an all-time favorite rest stop when we needed something to refuel.

Stop in one of those times you are exploring to Welfare Cafe and say hello to Gaby and her crew. You will be glad you did!

Enjoy your blog ... good luck in finding your own piece of heaven ...

Feb 24, 2010 11:21 AM
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