And Texas is the place I really love to be...

Not all my ex's live in Texas, but Sarah almost divorced me this weekend.

Well, not really. Perhaps that's a bit of an hyperbole. I’m sure she would have preferred I'd spent more time trying to fulfill her idea of a Garner family vacation than spending as much time as I did with the fish.

Yeah, I went a little overboard with the fly fishing this weekend – I took every chance I got. But it was a family weekend nevertheless…From teaching the kids how to use a rope swing to catching bream (perch) and catfish, Garner State Park in April is to become a family tradition.

Thanks to your prayers, our trip was idyllic. I wasn’t so time sensitive, a stress case, and that simple fact made for a truly relaxing and enjoyable Texas trip.

Driving through some of the most scenic sights of the Texas hill country, I was reminded of the terrain and landscapes seldom associated with this great state of ours. Perhaps I was more aware this time around, readily willing to appreciate the great outdoors…However, it hit me: too few see the real Texas. The Texas illusion, my next book I suppose, my first book that is, is one of deserts and dust-bowl type Hollywood scenes, depicting the harsh plight of a cowboy...and his horse. If you’re not indoctrinated by that truly west Texas view, there is certainly the story of crowded, boundary-less cities with sixteen-lane, HOV highways and hideously high humidity, heat indexes reaching record highs and tales of failing air-conditioning units. Of course, neither view is entirely the true Texas, just aspects of certain regions and seasons, depicting the eclectic life of those who call Texas home.

So what Texas did I see?

Passing through Utopia, no kidding, and Bandera, apparently the cowboy capital of the world, on our way to Austin, we came into contact with little towns echoing the refrains from songs long forgotten, small towns that nod their heads when Alan Jackson sings the Little Man.

The kids, when they were paying attention, got a glimpse of some of the greatest yet neglected Texas treasures: general stores, courthouses and jail houses, savings and loans (like those in It’s a Wonderful Life), barber shops, post offices, family-owned grocers, and of course, my favorite, the bait and feed shops.

No Walmart or mall for miles…Who’d a think?

“How do these people live?”

“They must buy in bulk when they go into town”

As though where they live doesn’t constitute or deserve to be considered town. It amazes me how the city cripples our thinking, limiting our view of the simplicity of life.

Apart from appreciating the numerous "historic districts", I am always immediately taken with our hill-country rivers, emerald-green waters, fed by the cool underground currents of the Edward’s aquifer, rushing right through the heart of Texas. The Frio, Guadalupe, and Blanco, just to name a few, don’t only instantaneously motivate one to go swimming or canoeing; these central Texas rivers are the pride and joy of the Texas fly fisherman.

Concealed amidst the rolling hills and rugged terrain south of the Edward’s plateau, one can only imagine cowboys stooping down to satiate their parched lips with the clear and refreshing water from the rivers that nourish the land of cattle ranchers…

This was surely a vacation to remember. Our trip wrought memories of a Texas which lies hidden from the world, only to be experience by those willing to make the drive deep in the heart of Texas…