Miles and Miles of Texas
Writer-at-large Suzy Banks, executive editor S.C. Gwynne, senior editor Michael Hall, and new-media director Charlie Llewellin talk about hitting the road for this month’s cover story.
In a world where there aren’t enough hours in the day and in a state where an arterial highway means setting your cruise at seventy, it’s rare that people slow down long enough to explore Texas’s many roads. But Texas Monthly writers Suzy Banks, S.C. Gwynne, Michael Hall, and Charlie Llewellin did just that. Here, the four seasoned travelers talk about the best parts of the unbeaten path, the intersection of people and place, and the advantage of driving without an agenda.
texasmonthly.com: Did you get to pick the region you explored or was it assigned? How did you map out your exact route?
Suzy Banks: The Hill Country was assigned to me, but even if I’d gotten to choose, it would have still been the Hill Country, not only because I’m lazy (I live in Dripping Springs, the self-proclaimed Gateway to the Hill Country) but also because it is, hands down, the dreamiest chunk of real estate in Texas. Unlike some areas, which will remain nameless in case I have to go there again in the future, the Hill Country doesn’t have to be spun; I mean, I don’t have to write disclaimers like how “one has to learn to appreciate its subtle beauty.”
S.C. Gwynne: I heard that we were doing a section on interesting drives, and I volunteered to do the Panhandle. I have driven through it several times. I find it to be an extraordinary place. With the help of an intern, I researched the subject as well as I could, and came up with three or four likely routes. Then I drove all of them and chose the best.
Michael Hall: I chose the route, which I’ve driven several times. It’s one of my favorites in the state.
Charlie Llewellin: I’m not sure how I ended up with East Texas. I usually get the West Texas routes, but I guess Mike Hall is the Marfa guy. I’ve done the drive he did many times and it is beautiful; I was glad to get a new area to explore. As for the route, we were going to start from Houston, but it would have taken too long to get anywhere, so we picked Lufkin as a suitably cosmopolitan place to begin and end the trip.
texasmonthly.com: Did you travel solo? If so, was it helpful to be alone with your thoughts? If not, what did your companion think of the trip?
SB: I did my drive solo. I’m not sure if it was exactly helpful to be alone with my thoughts—we’re alone together perhaps too much of the time as it is and always find each other tedious—but I’ve found that when I travel with other people when I’m on assignment, I waste a lot of energy worrying about whether my buddy is enjoying the trip.
SG: Yes. No. I would have preferred company.
MH: Yeah, I went alone, which is probably best for the nuts and bolts of focused reporting but probably not as good in the long run. My wife loves this part of the country too, and she’s smarter and more observant than I am. It’s good to bounce observations off of each other.
CL: I did, and I’m used to that. I can detour where I want to, stop where I like, and as you say, be alone with my thoughts. I generally speak my unedited impressions into a tape recorder, and you really have to be alone to do that, I think.
texasmonthly.com: Was this your first time exploring the area? If so, what kind of research did you do on the area before loading up the car? If not, were you able to look at these drives with fresh eyes or did they seem old hat?
SB: This wasn’t my first time in the Hill Country by a long shot. I’ve done several articles about the area, and I’m always looking for an excuse to take off for the hills. Still, the scenery on the route I picked changes so much according to season, weather, varmint activity, the rise and fall of the creeks, and such that I don’t think it would ever seem stale.
SG: Yes. I had been through it before on my way to Colorado or New Mexico, but I had never stopped to explore the Panhandle. By far, the best research I did was at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, in Canyon, south of Amarillo. I went there before I started driving. The exhibits told me everything I needed to know about the things I saw over the next three days.
MH: I read up on some of the places I’d be passing through, such as Shafter and Presidio, but I was pretty familiar with the towns already. I took more care to try and figure out the terrain, which down around Study Butte and Terlingua can never be fully comprehended. All you can do is stare.
CL: It was my first time going into Deep East Texas, and I had wanted to travel there for a while. I read up a lot on the Web—about the area, recreational opportunities, and some historical background. I didn’t have a lot of time to do the route, so I wanted to make sure I went to some good places. But pretty much every little town out there has a great history, and every road was scenic, even US Hwy 59, which is a busy road.
texasmonthly.com: What was the most surprising thing you encountered on your trip?
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