Texas Highways Magazine March 2021

This month’s cover is an homage to the well-known Lady Bird Johnson quote, “Where wildflowers bloom, so does hope.” This spring, perhaps more than any in recent memory, we are in need of the hope and optimism of the season. Throughout this magazine’s 48-year history, hundreds of pages have been devoted to wildflowers—from where to find them, to how to identify and grow them, to photo spreads splashed with their beauty. But heading into a wildflower season knowing more than 36,000 of our fellow Texans have died from a pandemic over the past year called for something different. And who better to write authentically and eloquently about loss and rebirth, grief and hope, than a poet? While Austin-based poet ire’ne lara silva has written about mortality and grief throughout her career,…

As a child, Roberto José Andrade Franco spent summers in the El Paso-Juárez borderland where he would accompany his family to lucha libre matches. He wrote about the sport in “The Good, the Bad, and the Exótico” (Page 52). “It was one of my early goals and dreams to be a luchador in Juárez,” says Franco, now an Arlington-based writer. “I think that was more of an 8-year-old’s dream.” That aspiration was partly inspired by his uncle’s career as a luchador and his grandmother’s love of the sport. “My grandmother’s a big sports fan and a lucha libre fan,” he says. “One of the things that distinguishes lucha libre from wrestling in the U.S. is audience involvement. It’s like a Greek chorus.” Franco, who will join the Texas Highways staff…

Lara Prescott For the essay “At Home on the Road” (Page 16), Prescott wrote about the challenges—and triumphs—of traveling in an RV with a baby in tow. “Writing about our first cross-country trip with my infant son in a restored 1967 Yellowstone Cavalier was not only a joy to work on, but also something I’ll put in his baby book,” the Austin-based writer says. Prescott is the New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets We Kept, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick set to be adapted for television. Lisa Bubert Bubert is a librarian and writer born and raised in the Wendish area, near Giddings and Serbin, settled in 1854 by immigrants from near present-day Germany and Poland. She wrote about her search for her grandma’s Wendish coffee cake recipe in “Wendish…

Not only are trucks useful and reliable—they are timeless. Not only do I use mine to haul my horse trailer, but I’ve found that I feel safer on the highway in my truck. Glad to see Sarah is a convert! Amber Parker, Oak Leaf Rich History Very cool [“My Hometown: Palestine,” January]. Historical driving tours have become a new hobby during the pandemic, and I’ll check this one out soon. Heidi Vance, Austin Nonalcoholic Options I don’t drink, but I hang out at a craft brewery in Brownwood called Teddy’s Brewhaus [“The Toppling of the Tipple,” January]. They give me the most awesome root beer ever made! Michael Evans, Brownwood Sea Shell Shoppe Back in the ’50s my grandmother made shell jewelry [“See Shells,” January]. She bought her supplies here. Good memories. Sue Emmite, Dickinson Beauty in All Corners This morning…

Photographer Theresa DiMenno discovered this bluebonnet field near Whitehall during an April 2009 scouting trip for spring wildflowers. She has since returned to Grimes County during wildflower season and ventured to other Blackland Prairie areas known for blooms, including Brenham and Chappell Hill. Despite the lack of fall rain, which could mean fewer blooms this year, DiMenno plans to hit the road again this spring. “I don’t need an immense blooming field to tell the story of a wildflower,” says DiMenno, who lives in Austin. “I also love the chase of searching for peak blooms while driving endless country roads.”…

Perched on top of the Edwards Plateau, Rocksprings dates to the 1880s, when natural springs lured ranchers to the area. As the town grew, so did the prevalence of sheep and angora goats, which are suited to the region’s semi-dry climate. In the 20th century, Rocksprings became known for producing wool and mohair, fibers valued for their quality and durability. The sheep and goat industry has declined from its peak in the mid-1960s, but Rocksprings remains a popular destination for tourists visiting the Devil’s Sinkhole cavern; hunters of deer, quail, and turkey; and bikers and cyclists riding the Three Sisters Loop. The winding route along state highways 335, 336, and 337 offers canyon vistas and fields of wildflowers in the spring. Many visitors stay at the 105-year-old Historic Rocksprings Hotel,…