About a month ago I received my July copy of Texas Highways Magazine. This monthly publication showcases things to see and do in Texas, and usually uncovers a bit of history about the people and places they are reviewing. I think it provides those people who have moved to Texas from other places a sense of history of their new home. Anyway, its a great little magazine and kind of like Playboy, I’d buy it for the pictures alone.

The July issue arrived and on the cover was a photograph of what I thought was a Bahamian Island. Beautiful turquoise waters lapping against a white sand beach, with some care-free kids swimming in it. I put my glasses on and noticed a couple of things. One, it wasn’t white sand beaches, it was limestone, there were trees in the background, and the people swimming were not Bahamian. And, of course, the Title of the piece was planted across the front “Secret Rivers”. I get it now. Wear your glasses!

Over the next couple of weeks I read the whole thing cover to cover. There were five swimming holes showcased, but the one that I kept coming back to was named ” Quince”, which in Spanish means fifteen. The article went on to explain that the name came from the fact that the water depth was in fact fifteen feet, at least on the day it was named. In the article they attached a map showing the swimming hole just north of Uvalde and some brief directions on how to get there if you wanted to go. You had me at “Secret Swimming…”.

It took a week or so to wait until Penny was bored enough that she thought taking a day trip to Uvalde was a good idea. I didn’t realize it until we were two and 1/2 hours into the trip when she mentioned that Uvalde was close to Big Bend State Park some 650 miles away. I assured her it was not that far. She countered that it was. We didn’t speak much for the next hour, but eventually Siri set our course and the pure joy of seeing something besides our own four walls was enough to overcome any small disagreements, and by the time we found the Dairy Queen in Dunvale for Dipped Cones, we were good friends again.

The original scope of the trip involved taking the motorhome, parking it on the bank of the river, setting out the roll up canopy, grilling burgers and hotdogs, and spending the whole day on the river. We’d “camp” that night in the motorhome and watch the beautiful West Texas sunsets fade into the twinkling nighttime sky. Maybe have an adult beverage or two as we identify the Milky Way and Orion. Rise late the next morning and maybe take a quick plunge into the chilly waters one more time before we start the 4 1/2 hour trip home.

The Amended Plan called for Penny and I to drive out in the Toyota to scout the place out before we loaded Meredith and her kids and all of us in the motorhome, so we drove out this weekend just to see.

There are actually two swimming locations within a couple of miles of each other, both just off a convenient bridge. We came upon the first bridge and noticed there was a well worn, but not paved set of tracks going down to the river from the highway. We followed that down and discovered a deep pool, partially shaded by the bridge above that was plenty deep enough to swim in, or lounge in a inner tube, or float. We walked into the water maybe thigh high just to check its temperature, and it was perfect. Cool, but not cold. We checked that off the list and drove on. About 7 or 8 miles further on we came to the town of Camp Wood, Texas. Its a wide spot in the road and that wide spot is the Nueces River. Its probably 150-200 feet across depending on water levels, and it has a small dam upriver which makes for an interesting waterfall. There’s a ledge running out from underneath the bridge about thirty feet. I’d guess that was part of the original bridge construction but what it is now is a one foot deep submerged ledge that will hold pop-up shelters and beach chairs. From there you have an area about half as long as a football field and nearly that wide with varying depths of that same clear water that you can wade, swim, float, or fish in until its time to grill burgers and have a beer. If you are looking for nightlife on this adventure, you are out of luck. There are two establishments in Camp Wood. One is a Bar B Que stand which as you’d expect does a brisk business on weekends, not so much during the week. I’m a bit confused about the other store. It has a sign up out front that says “Feed….Food….Fuel”, but no other name like “Bob’s Place”, or “Dew Drive-In”, or even “Camp Woods Other Store”. I figure the same guy that named the swimming spot “Quince” because it was 15 feet deep, also named this store.

We had lunch at the BarBQue stand because, well, just because. I actually ordered one of everything on the menu so that we could try them all. All three sandwiches, and a bag of chips. We drove back down to the river and had a very pleasant picnic of Camp Wood Barbecue while we watched people swimming, fishing, and floating on the Nueces River. It was getting on in the afternoon by now so we u-turned on Sate Hiway 55 and headed back.

In Uvalde we picked up Hiway 90 and returned via towns that most Texans have heard of, but would be hard pressed to find on a map. Towns like Sabinal, Hondo,and Castroville. The history of the whole region dates back to Land Grants given to one Henri Castro of France. Over the course of his life he secured about 2000 Alsatians to move to Texas. He founded Castroville and at least three other communities, devoting his life and fortune to promoting Europeans moving to Texas. You can still see his stamp on much of the German craftsmanship of the buildings of that era. Castroville is named in his honor.

One of the most interesting communities is also the most overlooked. Between Hondo and Sabinal there’s a small unincorporated town called D’Hanis. Hiway 90 bisects the town along an obvious timeline. The buildings on the south side of the tracks are newer, metal buildings housing a Fab Shop, A mechanic, and a gas station. On the North side, across the railroad tracks, is the old town. On the central square you’ll see the General Store selling everything anybody would really, really need in a small town. Chicken Feed, wash pots, post hole diggers. hammer, nails, and barbed wire. You can get it there. You can also get ice cold drinks, and ice cream, just so you know. Next door is an accountant, why I have no idea. Then a Steakhouse/Bar, and finally a bank. Off the square is the residential areas and unlike most of the housing of that era in Texas which was made of native stone, these houses were brick. Really nice, fired brick. As we drove around we noticed that most of the houses were brick and of a scale that suggested at some point there must have been some wealth in this town. Well, sure enough we turned the corner and there was a very old, but still in service, brick kiln. Three of them actually busy making bricks to this day. There was a lot next door that was used to cool the bricks when they came out of the kilns and pallets of bricks were still smoking. There was a couple of guys in the lot loading a truck with clay roofing tiles, but also stacked was fireplace brick, roofing tiles, and just plain building bricks. Who would have known? These kinds of things are the reason to go exploring old, small towns. Unless you ask, you’ll never know the rest of the story.

We made it through San Antonio and picked up I-10 on the other side. Id love to recount the adventures we found along the Interstate, but we didn’t. The Interstates greatest contribution to a road trip is to shorten the time it takes to get to your destination, not provide an interesting roadmap. We got back in the early evening, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. We’ve checked in with Meredith whose heart tells her to go, but its getting close to back-to-school. Currently this trip is listed as a definite “Maybe” , but with temperatures forecast in the 100’s in the next couple of weeks, I’d bet we’re going.