 |
| - Longhorn Valley - |
The thing I like most about this little drive is that I'm never quite sure where I'm at or which way I'm supposed to go. At one point it looks like I'm driving through the middle of someone's pasture, but as long as I eventually come across my mile marker clues, I know I'm not about to run off a cliff.
We succeeded in our objective, which was to find the million dollar ranch house. We did not find it by looking over the valley with binoculars. From the backside, you wouldn't know it overlooks anything, it just looks like a house on the prairie. A 4-wheel drive vehicle is a must for anyone desiring to live in this home.
I was surprised and happy to see the road was open through the creek bed. Sometimes it is detoured and I can't even sneak across it because the road hasn't been graded and there are huge gulleys that are impassable. When it finally does rain, it really rips up those roads.
There's a lot of water in the creek under the old trestle bridge. I swear that before the gravel company came, we could walk for miles down the creek on sand, some of it quicksand, and there wasn't a bunch of foliage growing in the creek bed. We used to ride horses on it, too, and they sank quickly and deeply. It was very exciting, just like in a western movie.
I've been going down to the rough all my life, and I used to take my kids down there to walk around and play in the river, or river bed, depending on the season, just like my dad did me, just like his dad did him. It's a family tradition that I plan to continue.
We used to go out to Roberts Ranch, and it seems there was always a lot of wild life around. I never will forget the time we saw a mountain lion. It was just after sunset, and we were in a van and had stopped while someone got out to open a gate. I looked up a dirt road and there the mountain lion was, just standing and looking at us. Then it turned and slowly moved away.
ReplyDeleteOh, Edwin, you're perpetuating the myth! So I will, too. My kids swear up and down they saw one passing onto the Martin property across the road from our place when they were little. A reliable source who used to live at Sweetwater Lake spotted one skulking the shadows around the edge of her yard. I have a memory, that I don't know if it's dream or real, of a black panther crossing on the very tight curve right before Fireman's Point at Lake Sweetwater. People love talking about mountain lions. It's just like when a conversation about ghosts gets going. Sort of reverent, and a little bit of exaggeration to make a story better.
ReplyDeleteI can remember the evening at dusk when we saw the mountain lion. He's not making up this tale. Other varmints I have seen there include the usual coons, possums, jack rabbits, cottontails, rattlesnakes and one time a group of 5-6 javelina hogs. We have been known to have shot dead a few buzzards that liked to sit on the bridge over Rough Creek.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on this electronic world that can't go wrong, wrong... wrong. I wrote a long commentary on some of my experiences on Rough Creek, but it all disappeared ( I think ).
ReplyDeleteThe mountain lion tale of Snake's ( Edwin to you ) is true. I can remember the evening well. I seem to remember that it was more like the headlights of the car illuminated hi. Anyway, Rough Creek was full of all kinds of varmints including the following I have personally see there: coyotes, jack rabbits, cottontails, coons, possums and plenty of rattlesnakes.
We used to walk down the creek and fish in the deeper holes where you could catch some nice rock bass.
There were always plenty of birds ranging from the smaller ones to dove, quail and hawks and always plenty of buzzards.