DAY SIDE TRIPS IN TEXAS CAN BE INTERESTING

By Harold Merton

The General store in Gruene, Texas

When we visited Texas we found that it was advantageous for us to stay for a few days at a base camp then venture out for day trips to see some of the small towns and areas in rural Texas that were quite colorful and extremely interesting.

When we were in San Antonio at The Admiralty RV Resort we had one day trip that took us into the heart of cowboy country visiting the small town of Bandera (population 877). It is located northwest of San Antonio.

Scope Publishers Harold and Elizabeth Merton are shown with travelling companions Marcelle and Jacques Terrault of
Montreal in Gruene outdoor restaurant

We had just met the Terraults of Montreal and they were driving their
Itasca motorhome.As we were towing a 30 foot Palomino travel trailer with our Lincoln Aviator we had a vehicle to easily make day trips. We invited Jacques and Marcelle to join us on a day trip.

Marcelle is a rodeo fan and she wanted to see if we could find something in that vein. She had researched and suggested Bandera as rodeos were supposedly held there several times a year.

There were a lot of little towns in the area so we headed for them one
morning.

 

Shot of street with boot store -
Downtown Bandera is a real cowboy town

Bandera turned out to be one of the most authentic western towns we
visited on our entire trip. The main street was just what you might expect
in a town filled with cowboys. We visited some of the shops and then found a poster for the Hog Wild Explosion, a rodeo and gathering on the outskirts of town that same day.

We went and found out that the rodeo part of the festival was children
capturing small pigs in a ring and stuffing them into a potato sack. It was
quite entertaining but not quite the rodeo Marcelle had hoped for. We said we would try another day to find one with horses.

 

Kid chasing pig - A young girl tries to catch her
pig during competition in Bandera, Texas

At the event there was a cook off contest and the barbecue smells were
delightful. Craft vendors were on hand and we picked up a couple of items that still travel with us in our RV.

 

Three people cooking - Cookout competitors
prepare the pork at Bandera, Texas event

After Bandera we headed to the country again and found the town of Greune. It too was very colorful with old shops, an ice cream parlor and a mercantile that had been in existence for years. The mercantile today is an antique shop and the quality of nostalgia items there was fantastic. It's a good thing that we don't have a lot of storage room and had just started our trip or we probably would have brought some of it home with us.

 

Interior of store with signs etc -
One of the colorful old shops in Guene, Texas

The town dates back to the 1878 era and is named after the man who opened that mercantile. The old homes and other architecture was a delight to see. We spent a few hours there before moving on.After leaving the San Antonio area we eventually ended up later in
Harlingen, Texas about 50 miles north of the Mexican border.

While in this park we ventured out again seeking some of the notorious
flea markets that everyone had told us about. We headed south towards the Mexican border and discovered several local flea markets that were very interesting.

We took Interstate 77/83 south to Brownsville and found a huge outdoor
market (they sometimes call them swap meets) . This was a place the locals went to and we enjoyed mixing with them and seeing their wares. In one nostalgic booth a Mexican dad proudly held up his infant son so we would make a picture of him. You'll find that picture with this story.

In another small town near the border we found a flea market in an old
supermarket building. They had built scores of tiny booths and there was a multitude of things there. The treat of the day was a pickle on a stick and we found three little Mexican boys enjoying theirs. I know one of them wondered why I wanted to make a picture of him eating a pickle ...everyone did it.

I chuckled to myself as I asked for directions from one of the men there.
He told me to leave the parking lot, get on the main street and head
straight up. I asked him "which way do I turn when I hit the main street
left or right?" He commented "you can only turn left, if you turned right
you would be on the bridge to Mexico!"

He was right, I just had not remembered that we were that close to the
border.

There is plenty to see and do in the small towns in the Rio Grande Valley in the southern part of Texas. That is why so many Canadian RVers winter there in places like McAllen, Mission, Alamo, Donna, Mercedes, Harlingen and Brownsville. The Winter Texans love the area!

It pays to get out and see the small towns and their people wherever you
camp.