March 20, 1993: HemisFair Park and the Trip to Leakey
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We awoke, as Frank and Joe usually do, quite early, after a comfortable night spent in the guest room of their farmhouse north of Leakey.

Frank and Joe have a small farmhouse about three miles north of the very small town of Leakey, Texas. That town is in the area of Texas called the Hill Country- a twenty-five county region of Central Texas and South Texas featuring karst topography and tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite dome in the United States, Enchanted Rock. The Hill Country reaches into portions of the two major metropolitan areas, especially in San Antonio's northern suburbs and the western half of Travis County, ending southwest of Downtown Austin.

The region is the eastern portion of the Edwards Plateau and is bound by the Balcones Fault on the east and the Llano Uplift to the west and north. The terrain is punctuated by a large number of limestone or granite rocks and boulders and a thin layer of topsoil, which makes the region very dry and prone to flash flooding. The Texas Hill Country is also home to several native types of vegetation, such as various yucca, prickly pear cactus, cedar scrub, and the dry Southwestern tree known as the Texas live oak.

The Hill Country has something of a mystique in Texas, being an area so different from the flatness of East Texas, the swampy areas of South Texas and the unrelenting desolation of most of West Texas. It is an area that lures retirees and the wealthy who can make their own schedules and who don't need to have constant and quick access to population centers. It attracts naturalists and people like Frank and Joe; Joe manages his family's ranch and Frank is a Park Ranger at Garner State Park about fifteen miles south.

The weather had turned a bit cooler and more cloudy today. After breakfast, we went out to look around the ranch. At left is my first picture of two longtime friends, Fred and Frank, here on the farm that Frank and Joe share. In that picture are some of the turkeys and chickens that Frank and Joe raise. We had just been to the barn to see their litter of puppies. Well, when you live on a ranch you can do these things- have puppies and kittens and so on. Just ask my sister.

On the aerial view above, I have marked the highway that comes north from Leakey. About three miles north of Leakey, Frank and Joe's farm is off to the right. I would like to have zoomed in to show you the ranch house that Frank and Joe used to live in, but it is no longer there. Frank and Joe had long wanted to build their own house (the house they occupied actually part of Joe's family's ranch). Some years after this visit, they were able to begin that process, and they eventually moved to their new house up on the hillside above a branch of the Frio River. The small ranch house passed to another member of the family who did not share Frank and Joe's love of the ranch and desire to take care of and improve it. Eventually, it had to be torn down.

For now, though, Frank and Joe have the house, fenced fields, a barn and other outbuildings. They don't raise crops, but they do have a number of different kinds of livestock, and they both indulge their interest on horticulture with the gardens around that house.

At left is Joe Wells coming through the side yard at their ranch. Frank started out going for a degree in Horticulture, but he didn't finish at A & M. But he and Joe are still very interested in plants, and especially cactus, and so the two of them share those interests with Fred. The two times I have been down here, the conversation has turned to the latest varieties of plants that one or the other of them has acquired very frequently. The yard at the ranch looks like an exhibition of cactus and odd plants. It is really very interesting, even for someone like me.

At right is my picture of one of the barns and one of the pastures at Frank and Joe's ranch. As I found out on my first visit, they raise sheep and goats, they have some horses and pigs, and there are chickens and turkeys, too, in addition to the pets (dogs and cats).

It is an environment that, frankly, I am unused to, having spent all my life in cities. But that doesn't mean that I don't find it an attractive lifestyle. It goes without saying that life in cities can be stressful, unhealthy and dangerous; certainly a slower-paced life such as the one that Frank and Joe lead is almost the exact opposite. But I see the attractions and value of both lifestyles, and while I am more used to life in cities, life in the country- at least in the United States- doesn't mean that one has to give up any of the conveniences.

I found my first visit here last year to be very enjoyable (although I felt a bit "on approval" then); this visit is turning out to be even better. Joe had some chores to do and really didn't feel like getting out that morning, so Frank took Fred and I on a drive around the area near the ranch.

We took a road into some private land (the owner of which Frank knew well) to this picturesque spot where the owner had built a small dam on a tiny creek fed by a spring further up the hill. Below the dam and the pool that it creates, there is another dam and then a larger creek. If Fred had his way, this would be the kind of water feature that he would have in his acreage.

At left is the picture Fred took of Frank and I standing on the second dam. As you can see, the owner has taken some pains to build these dams. I think that Frank said it was more for appearances than for any practical purpose, and that the owner at some point intends to build a house right beside this water feature. For now, it is in an out-of-the-way area.

Next, Frank took the truck down a narrow gravel road to a stream bed, and then drove right up the stream bed to an area where there were a number of springs, and where he and Fred could examine some of the foliage that Frank knew was there.

Here, you can see one of the springs (a pipe has been put in to make it easy to get a drink) and some of the ferns that grow in this very moist area. I clambered around on the rocks helping the two of them locate some particular ferns and plants, and I was constantly asking one of them "What is this?"

From another point near the springs, we got this view of the Nueces River valley. The picture would have been prettier had the weather been more cooperative.

We drove around a bit more and then returned to the ranch house in late morning where Joe was feeling better and had gotten most of his chores done. We sat around talking, and the four of us wandered around the little gardens Frank and Joe had looking at the plants and flowers.

At right are some of the Spring flowers in bloom at Frank and Joe's house. While I can certainly appreciate the beauty of plants and flowers, Frank, Fred and Joe have a deeper interest; in Fred's case, being a horticulturist makes his own interest obvious. But Joe and Frank hold their own as well.

At right is one more picture of some of the blooms around Frank and Joe's ranch house.

We spent a very pleasant lunch with them, talking and catching up, and then departed about three in the afternoon. We drove back to Dallas through San Antonio, since Frank and Joe said that it was faster.

We got back to Dallas just in time to go out for something to eat, and then we relaxed at home some. Fred stayed over, as he usually does, and then headed off to work very early the next morning.

This trip through South Texas was another very interesting one. Considering this trip with the others Fred and I have taken is certainly influencing me towards the distinct feeling, now more than ever, that running into Fred over a year ago was certainly going to be one of the fortunate occurrences of my life- right up there with literally running over Grant. We have a good time together, and I like Fred a lot in many ways and for many reasons, and I can only assume that he likes me or he wouldn't be visiting or wanting me to go on trips with him. But each of us is established in his own way, and so there is no talk of combining households or anything like that. I am not at all sure that is what either of us wants, since things seem to be going along OK as they are. Time will tell.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page for our South Texas trip or return to the trip index from where you can continue through the photo album.

	March 20, 1993: HemisFair Park and the Trip to Leakey
	Return to the South Texas Trip Index