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Drive, we said.

Article Excerpt
TEXANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE CALL OF THE OPEN ROAD, AND NOWADAYS THAT CALL IS STRONGER THAN EVER. NOT ONLY DO CAR TRIPS CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE, THEY ALSO EMBRACE THE ZEN-LIKE NOTION THAT THE JOURNEY ITSELF, NOT THE DESTINATION, IS THE THING. AND JOURNEY WE DID, OVER THE HILLS AND ACROSS THE PLAINS. ALONG THE WAY WE DISCOVERED THE RICHES OF A WILDLY DIVERSE ROUTE, FROM INVITING RESTAURANTS AND INNS TO ODDBALL POINTS OF INTEREST AND SITES STEEPED IN HISTORY. FROM WICHITA FALLS TO BROWNSVILLE ON U.S. 281 YOU'LL FIND RARE BOOKS, BLUEBERRY PIE, A FAITH HEALER'S SHRINE--AND ONE DEEP HOLE. SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

With the terrain of a pulled hairpin--flat on the ends, bumpy in the middle--U.S. 281 changes little in landscape but a lot in personality over eight degrees of latitude. Beginning in Wichita Falls, I pointed my car south, with traffic whizzing by. And although more than 130 years have passed since cattlemen made this trek from the opposite direction, I spotted two teenage boys on horseback on the feeder road, anachronistic remnants of the route's history, peeking through as if no amount of construction could suppress the city's original purpose.

I blew into Windthorst across the bright green pastureland. Like many of the places along 281, the center of the town says much about its flavor: This German Catholic community's main attraction is the artful, stone-lined St. Mary's Grotto, which houses the Franciscan church's Virgin Mary statue (although the old-fashioned Windthorst General Store, with its wood-and-glass case of display items, is also worth a stop). When I visited, much of the talk revolved around high school sports. Apparently the Windthorst Trojans and Trojanettes, grown tall and calcium-strong from consumption of the area's dairy products, pack a wallop unmatched by teams from the larger surrounding towns.

When I got back on the road, I took a short detour on Texas Highway 25 to Archer City, where I used the rest of the day spending my monetary, limit at that town's main draw. Larry McMurtry's four-storefront book empire Booked Up. I had just been to Powell's Books...

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