Just north of the great King Ranch in South Texas, there is a small community called Sarita. This seemingly innocuous place is actually the location of the Kenedy Ranch Museum, a detailing trip back in time that takes you through the great ranching history that is Texas. The structure itself is beautiful, designed by a Texas architect, telling its story and history through murals. These murals could be thought of as a visual education – something like an Orozco piece. Outside of the museum you see the grasslands that it portrayed inside, reinforcing its history in reality as much in its murals.

Go north on Highway 87 and you enter Kingsville. Kingsville represents the gateway to the King Ranch (just like its namesake) but has changed from its nationally renowned reputation as the birthplace of the ranching industry in the United States into a vibrant college community, Texas A&M Kingsville. This town represents the combination of two aspects of Texas: the rural history it is legendary for and the technologically modern place it has become in the early 21^st century. A good place to get barbecue, see some of the rural sights of ranching Texas, and then maybe catch a glimpse of U.S. Navy aircraft flying overhead (Naval Air Station Kingsville is located here).

Heading north on 87, you pass through Robstown, enjoying the same brush country that is this part of Texas. Head northwest on 37 and you’re on the road to San Antonio. Passing through Mathis, you are close to Lake Corpus Christi, a great place to enjoy fishing and boating. Just southwest of Mathis is Sandia, and located there is the Welder Wildlife Refuge, a nature research facility that attracts biology and zoology students from across the nation. If there ever was a place to research native flora and fauna, this place is it. You could continue to San Antonio if you wish, but this trip takes a short stop in George West. It is amazing that many of these small communities in the interior have such a nature tourism aspect to them. What appears like overgrown truck stops actually serve as regional hubs for ranchers, hunters and followers of native flora and fauna from far away locations. And the flat plains that were evident when closer to Kingsville begin to give away to rolling hills – precursor of hill country of Central Texas further north.

Turn on to Highway 59 North and you’re on your way to Beeville. Beeville is, in many ways, similar to Kingsville, with a strong ranching tradition and a regional education hub, Bee County College. As you progress through Beeville and east on road 202, you have to appreciate just how big the countryside is out here. I’m talking about pulling off the road at night, and on a clear night, see a sky full of stars. This is why Texas license plates have a cowboy riding under the stars with a space shuttle high overhead on them.

You approach Refugio and notice just how beautiful these smaller rural communities are. There is a small bridge that you would cross if you’re going northbound on 77 and would see a church and the courthouse and some of the old housing that has been here for nearly a century (in some cases, more than). There is a sense of antiquity here. That’s why it’s important to pull off the main streets of these smaller communities, away from the gas stations, and take it all in.

On up 59, Goliad awaits. This community has its historic roots in the Texas Revolutionary War of 1836, and is represented by the Presidio La Bahia and monument to the Fannin Massacre, one of the seminal events of the war that helped inspire the well-known events at the Alamo in San Antonio and the victory at San Jacinto near Houston. Like all of the communities in the Texas interior, Goliad is rural in nature and naturally rural with its small town charm.

As mentioned earlier, many of these small communities offer nature tourism and lodging for hunters. And away from the hotels and motels that line the highways that run through these towns, there are bed and breakfasts, on ranch and farm land that truly gives someone the country experience of being in the great outside.

Going north from here, you head to Victoria….

Next time: The interior on the northern side