Exploring Bandera

 Exploring Bandera

Bandera City Park and Medina River

Bandera is a small, historic town in the Texas Hill Country, located north-west of San Antonio.  A few months ago, Pat and I drove through it on our return home from Big Bend, and realized that we had never actually spent any time exploring the area.  I remembered that some of our friends and family had visited dude ranches there when we were young and had interesting, romantic stories to tell.  Anyway, we vowed to return to consume a smattering of its history, culture and chuck wagon fare.  So, we did.

Cowboy Capital of the World?

Since Bandera is the County Seat of Bandera County, it seemed reasonable to begin our investigations at the courthouse.  That's where we found this "Cowboy Capital" marker and directions to the old Frontier Times Museum.  Unfortunately, we arrived at the museum on Sunday morning when it was closed.  But, the Baptist Church across the street was doing a thriving business. 

Frontier Times Museum

I Googled this museum, and found that it contains a safe that thieves took from a Bandera bank.  Apparently, dynamite was used to blow the top off -- leaving a hole and a single dollar inside.  The robbers were never caught.  Some speculate that the robbers moved to Washington DC where they helped invent the Income Tax -- so that theft like this could be done legally.

Mayan Dude Ranch

Honor Jesse Chisholm

Bandera even honors Jesse Chisholm -- the father of the Chisholm Trail to Kansas.  The "Great Western" portion of the trail began near Bandera.  Chisholm was also known as the "Peacemaker of the Plains" because he was frequently called upon as an interpreter during treaty negotiations with various Indian tribes.  He was half Cherokee, grew up on a reservation and could speak several Indian languages, so was particularly suited for the job.

Old Spanish Trail Restaurant

One of the highlights of our visit to Bandera was breakfast at the downtown Spanish Trail Restaurant.  Named after the nearby "Old Spanish Trail" where the Interstate Highway 10 is now found.

Old Spanish Trail Highway

Arriving early in the morning, we found the restaurant occupied primarily by locals attired in dusty cowboy boots and sweaty, western hats.   The saddles at the bar (see photo) were not occupied but presented a fairly unique "bar stool" scene.  Conversations about the weather and the price of beef flowed between tables.

Wrangler's Breakfast

 When deciding which meal on the menu to choose, the "Wrangler's Breakfast" caught my attention.  The re-fried beans, biscuit, scrambled eggs and salsa seemed authentic in the sense of being served from a chuck wagon, but it seemed that a beef steak from a butchered calf was more likely than a pork chop.  Oh well!  With the price of beef these days, serving pork instead of beef might make economic sense.

A man, woman and two teenage girls were seated at a neighboring table.  In a brief conversation we found out that one daughter had broken her leg -- not from a rodeo accident -- but from playing soccer.  So much for romantic tales of the dangers of ranch-life. 

As most of you may know, the Spanish word "Bandera" means "flag" in English.  One version of the local history is that a treaty between an Apache Tribe and local Polish immigrants established that a flag planted in a local Pass would mark a line separating the hunting grounds of the two cultures.  Since then, the pass has been known as Bandera Pass and the town took the name.

Bandera was initially populated by Polish migrants who worked at the local cypress, shingle mill.  Mill workers harvested many of the huge Bald Cypress trees that were growing along the Medina River, but a flood in 1900, destroyed the mill.  After that time, Cypress trees were no longer harvested so intensely and new trees were allowed to grow to become the huge, beautiful trees we find there today. 

Medina River Rock Bed

While exploring the town, we happened upon this Medina River rock bottom on the north side of town.  It looked like a European Roman rock road because it was so flat.  Apparently it is a totally natural rock strata that formed millions of years ago when this area was covered by seas. 
 

Medina River Valley and Bandera in Background

Bandera is nestled in this valley and surrounded by hills which make it an attractive location.  But, the hills are being overrun with housing developments.  Seems like the world is moving to the Texas Hill Country.

Anyway, it was a long drive to Bandera and back to Bryan, but it was worth the trip -- even though when passing through Lampasas, I noticed a large, electric cable dragging on the highway under the motorhome.  The end of the cable was very frayed and appeared to be dangerous.  But the electrical system in our motorhome still seemed to be working OK.  So, I wrapped the exposed wires in electrical tape, tied it up, and kept driving.  When I plugged the landline into the 30 amp socket at the RV park that night, nothing appeared to be wrong, so I can only conclude that this cable was some sort of surplus, non-functional, element that comes standard in our Winnebago View.  But, it was very scary.  Since this is our fifth motorhome, we have had lots of emergencies on the road, so I have come to expect them -- but they are never fun!