Echoes of Texas - by Clay Gill

It is said that Texas is a place where everything is larger. Big, - much bigger than life, and the people loud, proud and tall. The windmills scrape the sky. Texas is a place where you could be from Muleshoe, Wink, or live near Woman Hollering Creek. You could live in a swamp or on a mountaintop, and everything in-between. And naturally the fish are gigantic. The size is only proportionate to the ability to tell tall Texas tales. It is unnecessary to keep the legend and lore of Texas alive. Texas stands tall. It does that for you.

Some of the metroplexes are so large that it is possible someone may never have wandered out of town to see roads that go on forever, where the horizon is so much further away. Those cities have more people than the whole state of Montana. They would miss things like the Santa Anna Winds of West Texas, which can rip your hat into the next county. And there is the panhandle, bigger than some states, - with its own miniature Grand Canyon. We even have islands where you could run out of gas driving to the other end.

And the stars at night-as the song goes are so much bigger than anywhere else. If you are over the endless waters in Texas, the sky is even bigger. I swear the moon is three times larger over the swamps of Caddo Lake. The swamp tales go on forever under the tall pines in that red sand.

And what about these tall tales? It would take a lifetime of campfires to tell all the stories like the living legend, Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson, and his adventures. Or the ghost tracks in south Bexar County, and the mysterious winged beast that flies by night snatching ranch goats-the Chupacabra. True to tradition, as these stories are retold -Texas style, the embellishments refine these legends with each campfire session.

Sometimes at night, you swear you can hear a steamboat whistle in deep East Texas, or maybe a rebel yell. Then as you fall off to sleep you hear the faint howl of coon dogs in the heat of pursuit-hot on the trail. Or in the fall, migrating Geese and Sandhill Cranes drift high overhead in a vee as they return to their winter haven on the coastal plains. A thousand feet up, the calls sound as if overhead, a signal of the fall season arrival. They become part-time Texans, smart enough to migrate here. Who could blame them?

The Texas food is unforgettable! How can you live without it? It is hot and spicy, and covers A to Z. From legendary Mi Tierra Mexican food, to spicy-hot Cajun cuisine. Then you have the sausages and chili's. Oh-come on lets go! I'm gonna get a chicken fried steak!

Up in the Hill Country, you see a wisp of cabin smoke up from the hills, across the treetops, in the calm on the second day after a blue norther. Down south, back in the brush, countless coyote’s yodel a dinnertime victory yelp as the full yellow moon rises. And then all you will hear is the clang of an old windmill, always on the job. At the end of the roads, the silence is amazing. Standing in muddy water, waiting for the sun to shine, you still love this place. It is a combination of the land and its people.

If you are lucky enough to hail from Texas, you probably know all these things. All other poor souls go a-wishing, as my Grand maw would say. Its like you had to be there to know. Our bumper stickers tell the rest of the world as someone strays out of our boundary to other parts. Those Texans become the ambassadors of tall tales and South Texas traditions. But watch em come a runnin back. It won’t be long.

As we fish this month, on days warm enough to enjoy the great outdoors here in Texas, I wonder about those poor soles up in the frozen north. They drill holes in the ice to pull out near frozen fish. You don't need a two by four to get my attention. The bass are about to spawn and the whole cycle is about to repeat itself here again. Don't you just love it? Somebody stir the tortilla soup on the campfire, and throw on another log.

Please remember to always leave the places we visit here in Texas better than we found them. The luck of the Irish to all, and Happy New Year.