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In Search of The Texas Long-Horn |
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Written by Susan Hollingshead
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Saturday, 27 March 2004 00:00 |
 Ever since we arrived in Texas, I have been hoping to come across a field of Texas Long-Horn cattle. I figured, here I am in Texas; there should be an abundance of them! They were the cattle being driven in the daily cattle drive in Fort Worth, but I wanted to seem the grazing in a field. Only once did we see them on our way back to Dallas from San Antonio, but there was nowhere to pull over to photograph them. Yesterday, I scanned the plains looking for them again to no avail.
Today, we decided to take our time leaving the campground, partly because it was overcast and windy and also because we knew we weren't in any hurry. As we progressed on our trek, the skies cleared and the temperature rose to 32C (89F) with a strong wind blowing from the southeast. The landscape was varied; red soil, rocks, cacti in abundance, green fields, brown fields, low, barren trees with barely visible buds, all kinds of cattle, but NO Texas Long-Horns! We drove through the town of Albany, a historic Texan town with covered, wooden sidewalks and old buildings. It was exactly like a scene one would expect to see in the "Old West"; very pretty. I kept imagining how it must have been in these parts 150 - 200 years ago.
We decided to stay outside of Snyder, Texas about a two and a half hour drive from the state line into New Mexico at The Wagon Wheel Ranch (I can't find a link to it, sorry!). It is close to a mile off of Highway 84 but well worth the drive. What a neat place! They have a few guesthouses, a dance hall, a large dining room called "The Rusty Spur Café", some ponds, a playground, an outdoor stage for shows and it is situated on 3000 acres! There is even a "beefalo", some white Australian deer, an African long horned (huge long horns) steer, several peacocks, chickens, roosters, turkeys and ducks. We have also seen gophers and jack rabbits and lo and behold in one of the fields... Texas Long Horn Cattle! Finally, my mission has been accomplished! 
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