Lets take a look at the Road so while we are stuck in it we an appreciate what we travel through and by. First let start in the south side Beyond 1604 you have T-2 TexanIIs and T-38s Buzzing. Guitar Town…..( 29°35'23.52"N, 98°17'46.54"W)Steve Earle who had gone to Holms High and Samuel Clements in this general area. No doubt you are driving on road the dreamer drove. By the way that traffic pattern that airbase you can see between 410( 29°32'9.43"N, 98°16'57.36"W) and 1604 wrote itself into Japanese history the Pilot of the Enola Gay got his wings here. His story is about of Maverick Did you know he taught two women to fly the B-29! Hey, it is something to think about when you are stuck in that traffic near FM 3009!

As you drive north, you are heading on what pilots took for weekend Pass to that strange German town. You are also along around that saw conjunto born and you are coming up on a pair landmarks that have written their name into history. That thing that was once a Power plant( 29°42'22.88"N, 98° 7'56.35"W) well it drew what became Randolph AFB there. That little German Town was felt in Hiroshima and Nagasaki due to that building. Electricity from the brick building do doubt handled espionage curing the Cold war. No doubt you see that Guard Armory and maybe your kids can see a Park and what looks like a school not too far from the highway. Put in Some Six Pence None The Richer. In that, Building Leigh Nash (29°41'6.45"N, 98° 8'36.70"W)had southern belle as a first grade teacher. Her music teacher was…..this would surprise you an African American. Wonder how many Naglins Cinnamon Rolls were consumed, Comal County Parades, how many times did she hear Myron Floren Play at the Wursthalle. You can spit a luggy out the top of that Power Plant and hit her elementary school( 29°42'30.57"N, 98° 8'21.10"W).

There off Hunter Road a few miles way from the interstate but you can see it in a distance tragedy struck his family. So Look the west when cross that county line pay respect for Troubadour had grief south of northwest of the Outlet Mall.  Its dark moment in the life of the man whose voice means Texas. 

There is a flip side as well San Marcos has ironic touches The Original Piranha was filmed at now what is the Aquarena Center. That University on the hill well think of the Loud Mouth from Stonewall.  Let historians debate LBJ he went to school at ( 29°53'21.56"N, 97°56'19.86"W)

As you approach Austin, you are approaching. Steve Earle filmed a lot of Guitar Town video. Rock The Cashbah had footage filmed of Bergstrom Based F-4 Phantoms( 30°11'43.95"N, 97°39'56.70"W) back when Bergstrom was an Air Force Base. Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Janis Joplin. You are no doubt passed the Ben White exit and you are bogging down to the Colorado River you got lots to think about. Now beyond the Colorado Near 51^st Street you got wildly ironic Texas History. You see 4 pilots National Guard used to fly out of what used to be Robert Mueller airport.( 30°17'51.13"N, 97°41'34.15"W) One of them was born in Germany his eldest brother fought the Soviets in some of the fiercest battles in WWII that same brother may have been held as a POW in a base the US team trained at for the last USA v USSR competition before the Berlin Wall Fell! September 1989.. You had men who beat the draft by joining the Army wind flying in the Guard during the 1980s and West Pointers the amount execs from aviation firms Sikorsky, Boeing Phds in Aeronautical engineering. The War stories of Vietnam vets who beyond 30 onto 60 kept an edge in thought spirit of their youth mingling formally schooled. Tibbets would have loved to fly with this outfit and gladly would have called them brothers had he flown with them.

Keep truckin you are on the road that families out of South Texas drove into the white, white North Texas lands with little cash big dreams. You see what you did not realize is that New Spain had been fading since San Antonio. New Spain’s footprint fades near San Marcos and through Austin now near Georgetown, as you coming up on Temple and Belton those fields Little Joe worked you are in his backyard. His story and his place is the story of the first generation many came further south their relationship with the heritage would be told it would impact a mostly Lilly white corridor. As you roll out of Temple, realize Steve Earle drove this along with many others that TV tower is one of many like sign post to airplanes. Sadly on one of those towers a Black Hawk it some of the guide wires collided and America lost heroes that day.

Waco is the home of Dr. Pepper the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, Baylor University, El Chico and Health Camp El Chico when it was placed there in the sixties was bold statement. The infamous circle was a landmark thing two young Hispanic women making their way Norte to Texas Women’s University. Think about countless other family’s dreams and hopes high as they made the journey. Around that, circle countless meals eaten by those families going to Dallas then later making stops heading to their homes in South Texas. As you go North you go near TSTC what used to be Connally AFB navigators of SAC were trained there. The ruins of the base housing once had a thriving community of military brats. The area has gotten more hospital the migration Norte continues leaving its mark. The transformation has been subtle but it has occurred. More brown has been noticed since the late 1970s. You keep traveling. Can you imagine a young Willie Nelson playing gigs drawing a following in this area? Can you imagine a tour bus or vehicle coming north? Or perhaps imagine a bright eyed woman heading Southwest to hometown flush with fame? Hey you are stuck in traffic might as well.  Steve Earle went up and down this road a time or to the guitar town.

Beyond West, you hit that point Abbott: Willie Nelson’s hometown. He played venues up and down along this road. Go north to Hillsboro and hang a right I-35E notice how the sprawl is going further out that is the story Texas. KATY and MOPAC would both run trains on two lines one has gone the way of history beyond Austn. The Turkey restaurant is a fixture. Look at the vast fields around food is produced here. While the interstate is busy you can imagine a time when it was not and vast Texas Plains sprawled out and with imagination you can see the wide open spaces that are played in Blue Eyes Crying In The Wind.  It takes a bit imagination while are you are stuck in traffic.   

Could you be on the road that when traveled spawned the following line from David Allen Coe “and Joplin would Die for the Future and Dylan would write for a Tree” Yeah the traffic has gotten that bad but keep in mind the scenery and length of this trip would make most folks that batty. Enjoy the calm between Hillsboro and Dallas you got lots of company you hang a right in Dallas and head to Nashville as many TX dreamers did. The story is Texas perhaps something lost wild frontiers the space the sprawl not the myth of Giant, HUD, you drove it many others have. You are in reality the heart of Texas. There are restaurants with their own stories I have told just a few the highlights. You are stuck on a road that frankly much of what we know of Texas would simply be not!  No not the complete story of Texas can be told from DFW to SAT.  If you follow the threads though that converge in this corridor from their sources you wind up covering Texas.  Austin is where the men came from high plains to share their music, The oil story and cattle kingdoms are found near San Antonio and DFW, while Cotton was grown off this band as well.  Pretty neat to think about when you are stuck in traffic and trying not to stress out!