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June 11, 2019
Growing Up In Bandera
By Glenn Clark
The Great Western Trail is what history will say was at least partly responsible for Bandera's claim to being The Cowboy Capital of the World. Can't argue that point. It's not unusual for me to recall traveling some trails around this part of Texas on foot or on my bike. Or even when I'm in my truck while trying to imagine how it must have looked to the drovers on cattle drives and wagon trains of early pioneers. Take a look at some undeveloped land while you are traveling in isolated areas on paved highways and try to envision what a perilous journey they endured.
The perils we faced as kids back in the day were more like hopping on a man-made wooden cart we had assembled and pushed off the Mayan Ranch Road hill knowing we had no brakes and very little steering control. The old rough gravel road along with the 90-degree turn at the bottom of the hill made a miracle the only thing we could count on to prevent a huge crash or a trip ending launch into the Medina River.
Bicycles with no brakes didn't fare any better. I guess the tragedies we faced back then could best be compared to modern kids finding out there is no cell phone service available.
I have owned some cows over the years but the only place I drove them was to the market in a trailer. If I needed to move them across the road to the other pasture a bucket of cubes made me the Pied Piper as they followed without resistance. They on the other hand drove me crazy with fences that seemed to need constant repair along with feed and vet bills that can drive a man to the poor house at times.
Some of the events I have witnessed over the years starting with the Stompede Days bring visions of what a town might have looked like when the cattle drive ended and the drovers were paid and turned loose. In current times I figure the modern day cowboy has a job to go back to the next week to earn a living after a weekend shindig in Bandera. Back in the time of the great cattle drives the drovers left a good deal of their earnings in places like Dodge City before heading back to South Texas to wait for the next cattle drive.
Something I truly enjoy today as I continue Growing Up In Bandera are the trails we have available in the parks we are blessed with in our county. They provide areas for riding a horse, nature photo opportunities as well as a place for just letting my mind take me back in time.
#181 2019
The perils we faced as kids back in the day were more like hopping on a man-made wooden cart we had assembled and pushed off the Mayan Ranch Road hill knowing we had no brakes and very little steering control. The old rough gravel road along with the 90-degree turn at the bottom of the hill made a miracle the only thing we could count on to prevent a huge crash or a trip ending launch into the Medina River.
Bicycles with no brakes didn't fare any better. I guess the tragedies we faced back then could best be compared to modern kids finding out there is no cell phone service available.
I have owned some cows over the years but the only place I drove them was to the market in a trailer. If I needed to move them across the road to the other pasture a bucket of cubes made me the Pied Piper as they followed without resistance. They on the other hand drove me crazy with fences that seemed to need constant repair along with feed and vet bills that can drive a man to the poor house at times.
Some of the events I have witnessed over the years starting with the Stompede Days bring visions of what a town might have looked like when the cattle drive ended and the drovers were paid and turned loose. In current times I figure the modern day cowboy has a job to go back to the next week to earn a living after a weekend shindig in Bandera. Back in the time of the great cattle drives the drovers left a good deal of their earnings in places like Dodge City before heading back to South Texas to wait for the next cattle drive.
Something I truly enjoy today as I continue Growing Up In Bandera are the trails we have available in the parks we are blessed with in our county. They provide areas for riding a horse, nature photo opportunities as well as a place for just letting my mind take me back in time.
#181 2019