High Adventure in Gatesville

High Adventure in Gatesville, TX

September 5, 2017

When my wife Pat and I wish for "high adventure," we go for a drive in the country. On one such drive, we packed enough clothing for several days and then decided which direction we might wish to go -- with no destination in mind. Since Houston was under water, the easy choice was west of our home in Bryan, TX. We got away bright and early -- at about 10:30 AM -- drove slowly on country roads, stopped frequently for coffee, lunch, naps or whatever. As we approached Gatesville, we decided that we were tired and checked in to the Holiday Inn Express.

We were told that the Coryell County Courthouse in Gatesville is the second most beautiful in Texas -- second only to the one in Waxahachie. But, the locals in Coryell County know full well that their own courthouse is best.

Well, London, Paris and Rome may be great tourist attractions -- but Gatesville is the Spur Capital of Texas, if not the world.

The centerpiece of the museum is the Spur Collection.

A fellow named Lloyd Mitchell started his collection of spurs and established a reputation as a collector of historic spurs, so other folks began to send him spurs to add to his collection.

He even collected spurs from some well-known, the famous Mexican bandit Pancho Villa and Jackie Kennedy.

 

A little fine Texas art doesn't hurt the museum's reputation.

A few of spurs in Mitchell's collection -- that he donated to the museum.

One of our major finds in the Museum sales area, was this map of a couple of tours that can be taken in Coryell County.

Having nothing planned for the next couple of days, we bought this two-CD set of driving instructions and local history that we could play while we drove the recommended routes.

Much of the route was on small, country roads where we crossed through some rough cedar breaks, then open, green prairie pastures containing cattle, horses, deer and exotic animals. We found many small towns like Pancake, Turnersville, Coryell City, Oglesby, Leon Junction, Ireland, Evant, Bee House, Pearl, King and Pidcoke. Many of these towns were in some stage of decline and Fort Gates and Grove were ghost towns. 

To stay fresh, we parked our car and took a nap. The photo below depicts our napping spot under a shady walnut tree by the St. John's Lutheran Church near Coryell City. This area was settled by German immigrants and grew lots of cotton back in the 1920's or so.

Grove city ghost town. 

  

We drove through Mother Neff State Park that has suffered badly from floods of the Leon River in recent years. The have solved the flooding problem by building a new office, roads and camping areas on higher ground. 

This tour took two full days and we ended at Copperas Cove.  OK, maybe the tour was not really "high excitement," but it was fun and about enough excitement for us codgers.
 

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