Technical Difficulties

Dear Reader:

Due to technical difficulties -- the computer room at the Comfort Inn where we're staying in Boerne has been dismantled for remodeling -- I won't be able to do another post until I get home. I have today's blog written, but can't upload the photos via my iPad. We should arrive in Ashvillle late Tuesday, and I'll catch up Wednesday. Stand by.

COWBOY CANDY

Between the hats and hinies, the colorful ropes and the $567,000 payout, not to mention the King of Country Music himself, there was plenty of cowboy candy to go around at the San Antonio Rose Palace this weekend. If you're looking for a cowboy, a team roping event is the place to be.

It was the 35th annual George Strait Team Roping Classic (GSTRC), March 10-11 this year. Take 541 teams and multiply by two, because each team has a header and a heeler, and you'll have the number of cowboys in the roping. That doesn't count flag men, the announcers, the onlookers in the bleachers and the cowboys at the booths that served beer and margaritas. Even James Pickens Jr., the actor who played Dr. Richard Webber on TV's Grey's Anatomy, was spotted in the crowd. And every cowboy you spoke to said, "Yes m'am."

Friday was rather boring, but that allowed for a lot of shopping time in the vendor section. Today was much more exciting. The top 50 teams from yesterday's competition returned for three rotations. The winning team, Clay Cooper and Aaron Tsinigine, had a combined total of 14.47 seconds for their three, which enabled them to take home a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado dually and Bruton Strait X-Treme bumper-pull horse trailer each, plus $203,200 in cash between them.

What made Saturday so exciting was watching the last six or eight teams in the third rotation.  Each was faster than the one before it, with the announcer saying something like, "These guys need a 6.3 (or a 5.8, or whatever) to put them in first place." And each team kept beating

the necessary time.

The King of  Country Music

I had always thought of ropes as being a neutral color, like hay, but some of the GSTRC entrants used aqua, pink and even lavender ones to rope their steers. I never could find out why. Maybe the colors made them easier to see while in motion, but who would have thought cowboys could be as colorful as little girls' Easter dresses.

The camaraderie among fans grew as the hours passed. By the time today's finals were over around 2 p.m., those of us who had sat together for two days were old buddies. The jokes and puns were flying. One guy's girlfriend told him to fasten the snap on his shirt at his belly. I turned around and told him if he were going to undo a button, he should start at the top so I could see his chest. Later, as he was returning from lunch, he leaned over, unbuttoned his top two buttons to reveal some gray hairs, and said, "This is for you." We all had a great laugh over that, except for his girlfriend, who wasn't sure what all the commotion was about.

Steers in a holding pen

Another guy sitting next to me from Pflugerville, TX, near Austin, had a Nikon camera with an 80x zoom lens. He was getting some great photos of George and family, who were sitting in the glass-enclosed VIP box across the arena. He showed me those, along with some photos he had taken at his home. When I commented on the photo of a full moon, he quipped, "We have full moons in Pflugerville, too." Then I pretended to stand up, turned my backside his way, and announced, "I'll show you a full moon!" Everyone around us laughed hysterically, and his face turned beet red. "You got me," he said, good-naturedly.

Of course, most folks came to see George Strait. He doesn't perform at this event any more, unless you can call riding his horse around the arena at the opening the second day while thanking the sponsors a performance. Guess it was, because folks were hanging off the rails just to touch his hand as he rode by.

Ride 'em cowboy

One of the truck-dully teams awarded the winners

CROSS THE BRAZOS AT WACO

"Cross The Brazos at Waco, ride on and I make it by dawn; Cross the Brazos at Waco, I'm safe when I reach San Antone."

Those lyrics, recorded by Billy Walker and Marty Robbins, kept playing in my head as we approached Waco last night, and again when we got up this morning. We came here to see Magnolia Market, but it wasn't nearly as interesting to this old cowgirl as the sculptures of the wranglers and longhorns beside the Brazos River.

Magnolia Market is a group of buildings housing a home-decor market, small bakery and flower/ seed shop. Owned and operated by HGTV's Chip and Joanna Gaines, the compound includes a playground for children and two old grain silos that the couple has plans for later. The market didn't move me, because I'm not into decorating with silk flowers, cotton bolls and milk cans. It was a bit pricey, too, but folks were lined up at the door half an hour before it's 9 a.m. opening. They pawed over dinnerware and table linens, bought tee shirts and magnets, signs and magnolia-scented candles. I purchased a rectangular butter dish because I needed one, and a Magnolia Market magnet. It was just another upscale decorator's shop to me, because I like to fill my home with objects d'art that have special meaning to me. To each his own.

When we left the market, we circled back to the banks of the Brazos River to see a group of bronze longhorn cattle and drovers by Texas sculptor Robert Summers called, "The Waco Chisholm Trail Heritage." The sculptures are on one side of the historic Waco Suspension Bridge, where cattlemen used to drive their herds across the river. It's a single-span suspension bridge that's now used by pedestrians and bicyclists, and naturally I had to walk across just to say I had crossed the Brazos at Waco. 

The sculptures were marvelous in their depiction of a vaquero, a black drover and a trail boss. Cowboys, their horses and the longhorns were caught in motion, as if the men really were driving the cattle across the river.

We took I-35 South down to Boerne, and again were rewarded by the wildflowers. Texas Bluebonnets, the state flower, are in bloom, and it was worth putting up with interstate traffic just to see them.

Tomorrow the George Strait Team Roping Classic starts, and we need to have the truck in line at the San Antonio Rose Palace by 7 a.m. I probably won't post again until Saturday night, so I can sum up the team roping. 

Along The Old Chisholm Trail

We rode, we shopped, we drove, then we stopped.

Annette came up with that summation of today's leg of our Texas Road Trip, and it's a pretty good one.

Elaine and Maggie

This time last year we came to Fort Worth expressly to ride horseback on the old Chisholm Trail.  But the recent rains had left the trail too muddy to ride. It was a great disappointment. So we came back this year to try again. Annette did a half-hour ride, while I did an hour. She went out first because there was only one guide on duty at that time. A second one showed up before she was finished, and the two of us passed Annette and her guide, Levi, as they were coming in and we were going out. Her mule tried to turn around and follow his buddies, but she managed to keep him pointed toward the stables.

Annette and Gracie

We rode alongside Cypress Creek, where a group of turtles were basking in the sun on top of a long rock. Southern Cypress trees lined our trail for a while, then clumps of mesquite, until we reached the Trinity River. Near the one-mile marker, right before we turned around and headed back, my guide, Trevor, pointed out the skyline of Fort Worth looming across the river.

A half hour was plenty for Annette, but I could have ridden another hour or two.

After our ride, we had lunch, shopped about an hour, then headed down to Waco. Taking the interstate to make better time, we were rewarded by the sight of Indian Paint Brush blooming along the highway. We stopped in West for some kolaches, a type of Czechoslovakian pastry, at the Czech Stop Bakery. We bought a dozen fruit-filled varieties, such as apricot and peach, and one chocolate, along with three sausage-filled kolaches that were sort of like pigs-in-a-blanket. We woofed down a piggy each and halved an apricot kolache in the truck. Then Annette went back in and bought another dozen of the fruity ones and two more chocolates for me. We plan to munch on them over the next few days.

Once in Waco, about 17 miles from West, we made a beeline for Magnolia Market, a group of home decor shops owned by Chip and Johanna Gaines of HGTV's "Fixer Uppers." We didn't go in, just wanted to find it see where it was so it would be easier to find it Thursday. If we find any  bargains, I'll let you know.

Now we're bedded down at the Courtyard Marriott, hoping to get a good night's sleep so we can be at the market when it opens tomorrow at 9 a.m. Nighty-night.

Press Buddies and Paintings in Denison

Who knew there was so much to see and do in Denison, Texas?

Our first stop was another quilt shop,  Home A La Mode. It was an eclectic place housed in an old hospital that later became a private residence. The upstairs rooms are now sleeping quarters for quilters who want to do a weekend  retreat. Downstairs there was some fabric mixed with old box fans, jewelry and Toy Story collectibles. In the back was a tea room where breakfast and lunch are served. Like I said, it was an eclectic place.

Eisenhower's birthplace in Denison.

My Texas Press Women (TPW) and NFPW buddy Kay Casey was a wonderful hostess and guide. She met us at the quilt shop and took us on a tour of the business and residential districts, including a drive-by of the old Katy railroad station (Denison was founded as a railroad town), before taking us to President Dwight D. Eisenhower's birthplace. 

Then she dropped me off at the local library to post photos on my Monday blog and took Annette back downtown for some shopping. An hour later, she picked me up and we had lunch at the tea room in Home A La Mode, joined by another TPW/NFPW member, Donna Hunt. Donna writes a twice-weekly local newspaper column and said Annette and I would be her next subjects. I guess we'll be famous in Denison, huh?

Kay and Donna have lived in Denison so long they know just about everyone there, and everyone knows them. Kay is a retired high school journalism teacher, while Donna is a former newspaper reporter who later helped turn Eisenhower's birthplace into a tourist site, then ran it for six years. Everywhere we went, Kay called shop owners by their first names, and everyone knew Donna from her popular columns. Annette and I just basked in their glow.

Elaine, Donna & Kay

While I was at the library, Annette went shopping at a local artisans' shop called Kaboodles and an antique mall. After lunch, she took a siesta in my truck while I went to Kaboodles. I never got to the antique mall because I bought two original, western water color paintings by local artist Ron Speed, and had to visit an ATM for some cash. I got a better price that way. I was hoping to meet the artist, but he had stepped out and wasn't due to return for a while. So I had my paintings packed up and stuffed them into my truck. The store manager promised to take a photo of Speed and email it to me.

It was almost 3 p.m. by the time we left Denison, headed for Fort Worth. Traffic was heavy approaching the city, so we didn't arrive until 7 p.m. We decided to splurge and stay at the Stockyards Hotel. We splurged again and had dinner in the adjoining H3 Restaurant, where we had eaten lunch last year. (See last March's Texas blogs for details about the hotel.)

Be sure to check out my Monday blog, posted this morning, even if you have already read it. I did manage to get some pictures posted while on the library computer.

Wednesday, I hope to do a horseback ride along the Chisolm Trail, while Annette rests and does some more retail therapy. Then we'll head south to West and Waco.

Talk to you Wednesday night.

Miles and Miles of Miles and Miles

Monday was one of those serendipitous days full of out-of-the way adventures, most of them related to shopping. Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined a quilt shop that served wine.

First, though, we had to leave Marshall, Texas. Before we could get out of the parking lot of the EconoLodge, we spied our first shopping mecca. It was Texas Gates, just across the street. With its wrought-iron gates, fire pits, Texas stars, cedar swings and metal replicas of bluebonnets, it called to us like the voice of sirens. Or maybe the yodel of singing cowboys. So instead of getting back on the interstate, we whipped across the street to take a gander. Believe it or not, we got out without spending a dime.

After a few short miles on I-20 West, we finally hit the backroads at Longview. We took U.S. Highway 80 West via the 281 Loop. We passed a veterinary sign proclaiming the Best Little Hound House in Texas, metal-work shops with gaily-painted roosters, and rusty oil derricks, many of them pumping away. Wisteria hung from roadside trees and the redbuds were in bloom, right alongside dilapidated houses with yards piled
with old cars and other assorted junk. Many businesses and homeowners displayed their pride in their state by flying the Texas flag or sporting a Texas star on a wall. We passed a sign for a washateria, a word Ethyl hasn't seen in years, and one that said, "Jesus welcomes you to Hawkins." When I spotted a sign in Gladewater pointing to an antique district, Ethyl had to hold onto the steering wheel to keep me from making a detour.

We were bound for Mineola, where she wanted to visit a quilt shop called Stitchin' Heaven. She had joined its block-of-the-month club after discovering the shop on the internet, and wanted to see it in person. As soon as she opened the front door, a friendly sales clerk welcomed her and offered to give her a tour. There were thousands of bolts of beautiful fabric, and just about that many quilt and runner kits and notions. Ethyl spent almost $200 there, most of it using a gift card, while I managed to get away for $12. I bought a pattern for a boot-shaped wine bottle tote and a magnetic book marker.

The most fascinating aspect of the store to me, however, was its beverage center. I wanted a cup of coffee, but a small sign said bottled water, soda and a glass of wine were available. Betcha can't guess what I had! Actually, I only had a few sips of the white zin, which came pre-packaged in a small plastic "glass," then capped it to save for dinner. After all, I was driving.

Here's to quilt shops!

We spent more than an hour in the quilt shop, then headed up U.S. 69 North toward Denison. I have two NFPW (media organization) buddies there that I had planned to visit. We managed to get as far as Emory before spotting a batch of windmills at the Potts Feed Store. They looked like a field of exotic flowers fluttering in the wind. They were pricey, ranging from $269 for the shortest to $500 for the largest. I could have gotten just the windmill section and hired my handyman to build the wooden tower, but wasn't sure where to get a pattern. However, I understand you can find windmills all over Texas, so I may get one before leaving the state.

Annette, Kay & Elaine

Once we hit the road again, we passed cows and horses grazing in pastures on ranches with names like The Double R, the CF, the WW Rock and Willow Creek. It was after 2 p.m. by the time we rolled into Denison, where my friend Kay Casey was waiting for us at CJ's Cafe. Even though Ethyl and Lucy had snacked a little bit, we were starved. Kay and I split a bacon and cheese panini, along with a huge piece of Chocolate Heath Bar Cake, which Kay kept insisting was a Health Bar Cake. That name assuaged her guilt.

Although we had hoped to reach Fort Worth by sundown, we decided there was so much to see in Denison that we'd spend the night there and do some moseying around town on Tuesday. We had a mechanical problem to solve first, however. My air conditioner wasn't blowing cool air, so I asked Kay to help me find a reputable mechanic. We wound up at A-A Tire & Auto Sales, where Tony Owens replenished my freon for a fair price and had me on my way in less than half an hour. We went to the Denison Dam to watch the sun set over Texoma Lake, and ventured on into Oklahoma across the dam just because we could. It was Ethyl's first time in the Sooner State.

Tuesday we hope my other NFPW buddy from Denison, Donna Hunt, will join us for lunch. We also plan to see a railroad museum, Dwight D. Eisenhower's birthplace and you'll never guess what else -- another quilt shop.

(Note: I may be switching to WordPress if I keep having trouble posting pictures with this blog on my iPad!!)

"T" for TEXAS

Lucy and Ethel, a..k.a. The Back-Roads Babes, hit the highways again this morning (Sunday) for our third annual Texas or Bust Road Trip. Our excuse, as usual, is the George Strait Team Roping Classic in San Antonio, but we like to leave the interstates and meander a bit going and coming back.

We got off to a late start, and having to go back for my earrings three miles down the road didn't help any. It wasn't a very exciting day, unless you call finding a man in a woman's bathroom exciting. No, he wasn't transgender, he just wasn't paying attention. Annette slipped past him to the stall next door and stayed as quiet as she could until he left. I was entering as he emerged, and he was as surprised as I was. Looking up at the sign over the door, he laughed and shook his head.

That was at the Kewanee 1 Truck Stop in Toomsuba, Mississippi, our first pit and fuel stop. But diesel was $2.89 a gallon there, so we just got 10 gallons. We had brought along a cooler filled with baked chicken, potato salad, cole slaw, water, apple juice, cheese, cherry tomatoes, summer sausage and fruit. We also had a sack full of snacks and some bowls and plastic cutlery.  It was about 2 p.m. by then, and we were starved, so we picnicked in the truck before leaving the truck stop.

About 100 miles later, we saw a sign for diesel at $2.27 at the Clinton exit, so we stopped and filled up the dually. We were six miles down the road before Annette happened to see a sign saying, "I-20 East." We had been gabbing so much we didn't realize we had gotten back on the interstate going the wrong way. We do like to talk.

It started raining shortly after we headed west again, but that didn't slow us down much. We made one more potty stop, and the cashier didn't understand, much less appreciate, my comment about giving her the tail-end of our business. By the time darkness fell, I was getting tired and my back was hurting, so we decided to stop for the night on the eastern side of Shreveport so we would miss the Monday-morning rush-hour traffic. As Bossier City melted into Shreveport, we decided to try to hit Texas before bedding down for the night. After all, the state line was but 19 miles away. About 8 p.m. we made it into Marshall, Texas,  where we dragged our butts and our suitcases into an Econolodge. Dinner was another picnic, but in our room this time.

We hope to have some adventures tomorrow, because we're going to leave I-20 behind at Longview and hit U.S. Highway 69. Then it's own to Mineola and a quilt shop, then Denison to visit some NFPW friends. With luck, we might make it to Fort Worth by tomorrow night.

If I'm not too tired, I'll update this post daily. Maybe I can figure out how to add photos to this blog via my iPad and Blogger. It just doesn't work the same as on my MacBook Pro.

Stay tuned.