Jenn Boo-lari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

What's neat about D'Hanis is that there is a very large brick company just outside of the town, and you can find D'Hanis bright red brick all over the Hill Country and this part of the "coastal plains." I love seeing how everything in "New D'Hanis" is bright red.

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Our next stop was Old and New D'Hanis. A tiny town founded in 1847, and 175 years later is slightly less tiny, mostly because the townsite moved a mile over when the railroad bypassed the old town, and the old town never went away.

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Hondo, Texas - not a ghost town but a pretty thriving little place. But I get the feeling that Radio Shack is probably a ghost town. And my dad's dentist was on this hotel back in the day.

A lot of these trips aren't actually in the Hill Country, but in my dad's and his brothers' stomping grounds, on the southern edge of the Hill Country.

Get a load of that sign. It caused a lot of commotion when it went up in the 40s. They added a "please" and that made everyone happier.

The 1881 ghost town of Dunlay. It was part of the railroad. Not much else to it, honestly. Oh wait, my uncle walked home seventeen miles from here after his truck broke down. So there was a little more to tell.

Where I am now. Also feeling 100% better!

An actual image of my blood pressure at the end of Tuesday's Very Busy Day.

Speed Limits in Texas are nuts. It was 70 on this not-a-freeway up to this sign....

Since 1981, we planned to live here. Since 1992, I planned to retire here. We fought to take our thirteen mile view and make it home.

Forty two years later that dream is over. We signed the sale paperwork yesterday. This loss hurt.

Dreams are for other people.

The ruins of a very old lake house.

Today's Texas Adventure

In 1854, Lyman Wight and a small group of Mormons settled in a bend of the Medina River roughly on the Castroville/Bandera road. They were they for just four years before moving on.

They must have made an impression because many of my old maps and newspaper articles mention the "Old Mormon Camp." There wasn't anything left of the camp when Medina Lake inundated it nearly 60 years later

With Medina Lake nearly empty because of the drought, Dad wanted to see the town site. I did warn him there was nothing left of the town, and that even looking at the town site may not be possible because it can't be seen from the road, but we went anyway. What we did catch glimpse of were the Mormon Bluffs, which were directly above the town site.

Either a graphic designer thought this was a good idea, or was forced to use it by the client.

Twenty eight years ago, when this was a small dirt county road in the middle of the woods, I committed to my transition.

There are still a few clues that this was the place. And I felt it was important I come here before it completely disappeared.

Today's Texas Food: Bill Miller's BBQ.

Only in Texas can you get fast food BBQ.

Also, before you Texans complain about the quality of Bill Miller's, "the worst BBQ in Texas is better than the best BBQ in Seattle."

Today's Texas Food: Bill Miller's BBQ.

Only in Texas can you get fast food BBQ.

Also, before you Texans complain about the quality of Bill Miller's, "the worst BBQ in Texas is better than the best BBQ in Seattle."

I originally was gong to post this because the juxtaposition of an Austin School in San Antonio, the "We taught a burrito to drive, people are easy" is WAY funnier.

(Day Before Yesterday's) Adventures in Texas, Parte the Finale

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(Day Before Yesterday's) Adventures in Texas, Parte the Finale

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(Day Before Yesterday's) Adventures in Texas, Parte the Finale

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(Day Before Yesterday's) Adventures in Texas, Parte the Finale

After the skirmish site, we had a lot more time than we expected, so we headed out to do the Three Sisters Tour.

If you find yourself in the western Hill Country, you owe it to yourself to do the tour. While I tend to focus my Hill Country trips to the Austin/San Antonio/Fredericksburg triangle, it's 60% history, 40% beauty. The Three Sisters Tour is 90% beauty. I consider it the most beautiful part of the Texas Hill Country.

From Leakey, take Ranch To Market Road 337 (Sister #1) to Camp Wood, from there north on Texas 55 to Ranch to Market Road 336 (Sister #2). Turn right at Texas 41 and again on Ranch to Market 336 (Sister #3).

Fill up in Leakey, cause once you leave Barksdale, you're not seeing any towns for a LONG time.

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I prefer Mayonessa. Mayonnaise if that's not available. I can tolerate Miracle Whip. Then there's this abomination....