As the Summer of 2019 began to heat up, the opportunities for productive day drives were dwindling. Over three weekends in a row in June-July, I took day drives to reach a few of those courthouses that lie within a 300 mile round trip from home.
On June 22, I went north and east to Marlin (Falls County), Waco (McLennan County), and Gatesville (Coryell County). I encountered a little rain heading into Marlin, just enough to cool things down a little.
The grandeur of the McLennan County courthouse in Waco isn’t quite captured from this ground-level angle.
I ate lunch at Barnett’s Public House in Waco. I rode about 236 miles on this day.
On June 30, I rode east for about 280 miles round trip to see Brenham (Washington County), Bellville (Austin County), Hempstead (Waller County), Anderson (Grimes County), Bryan (Brazos County), and Caldwell (Burleson County).
On July 6, I rode northwest. 264 miles was what it took to reach two more counties. I saw the beautiful Bosque County courthouse in Meridian, and another in Hamilton (Hamilton County).
It’s a beautiful drive between Meridian and Hamilton. About halfway between them is the hamlet of Cranfills Gap. I snapped this photo of St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church there, because the Norwegian immigrants who settled here did so about the same time that my Norwegian ancestors came to America. Mine settled in Illinois before moving on to South Dakota, where I was born.
I ate lunch at Storm’s Hamburgers in Hamilton before heading home.
Two Wheels Across Texas 