Road trips are the equivalent of human wings. Ask me to go on one, anywhere. We’ll stop in every small town and learn the history and stories, feel the ground and capture the spirit. Then, we’ll turn it into our own story that will live inside our history to carry with us always. Because stories are more important than things. -Victoria Erickson

March 19, 2021

Ordinarily I don’t start blogging so early in a trip but the past two days have been so out of the ordinary, I wanted to write before the details escaped me. Also, I promised our friends that we’d stay in touch and, since I’m not on social media much anymore (only to post a daily update on the Facebook ‘Gratitude 365’ group page), this blog will be the bridge that keeps us connected.

We left Bandera Wednesday (3/17/21) after having spent our fourth winter there. This year was different compared to years past. Many regulars chose not to come (or, in the case of our Canadian friends, were prohibited by their government to come) because of Covid, the holidays were unusually low-key and uneventful, and then, of course, there was the week of unprecedented frigid temperatures and snow. All in all, a very weird winter, but a good one nevertheless.

If truth be told, I was anxious to get back on the road again. Don’t get me wrong–I love Bandera. But there are just so many places I want to see and experience before we park Felix for good. And since our workamping job in Branson won’t start until May, we didn’t want to waste precious time. That is something I truly cherish as I get older.

Our short-term destination is Kentucky, where we want to spend some time with family and friends and see some of our grandson’s baseball games. But since the season doesn’t officially begin until the last day of March, we have a couple of weeks to meander. When I plan our trips, I initially refer to Harvest Hosts to see if there’s somewhere interesting we can visit that has enough room for our big rig. We hit the jackpot on the first day when we moseyed east on Highway 290 to Elgin, Texas (pop. 10, 314), just a few miles on the other side of Austin. (By the way, Hwy. 290 is a wonderful alternative to I-10!)

Here we discovered Dell’s Favorite Texas Olive Ranch. As per the instructions on the Harvest Host app, I’d been in continual contact for several days with Renee, who owns the ranch along with her husband, Frank. Even before we arrived, I could sense their warmth and hospitality, and we couldn’t wait to get there. When we were about 30 minutes out, we texted them our ETA, and Frank was there at the gate to welcome us and guide us to our spot for the night. When it comes to a Harvest Host, we’re always a little anxious about whether there’ll be enough room for us, but here we had plenty!

We quickly settled in and took Biscuit and Victor for a short walk before meeting up with Frank to begin our personalized tour of the ranch. He began by telling us how he and Renee met, and that after dating a little while, she wanted him to meet her grandmother, Dell, which he did. He grinned broadly when he related that after meeting him, Dell told Renee that he was her favorite, and that he was ‘the One.’ And that’s how the ranch became known as “Dell’s Favorite Texas Olive Ranch.”

The tour began with Frank relating how the ranch came to be. We immediately could identify when he said that he and Renee had lived in every major U.S. city (it’s not often that we meet people who have moved around as much as we have.) I asked if it was because of his job, and he said yes, that he’d been an executive chef at Hyatt Hotels and had retired a year ago after 43 years. No wonder he grew olive trees–he knew his olive oil!

One of the best things about Harvest Hosts is that we meet the most interesting people, and Frank certainly is one of them. He told us about taking Renee on a business trip to Europe a few years ago, and that after his business concluded how they traipsed all around from one country to another in search of the perfect olives to grow. They found exactly what they were looking for in Madrid, Spain: Arbequina and Arbosana olive trees, which are pest-resistant and drought tolerant, two aspects critically important in Texas. They planted 1,200 olive trees in 2011, and Dell’s Favorite Texas Olive Ranch was officially born.

Being a city-girl, I never really gave any thought to olives. I was only aware that they came in a jar and that olive oil came in bottles. What an eye-opening experience it was to learn about the olive oil-making process from harvesting the olives to the extraction of the oil from the paste. Frank explained how the harvest of the entire ranch happens in just one weekend in early fall when the olives are half green and half black. Renee posts on Facebook that pickers are needed for that one weekend, and the volunteers that come are as unique as the task. Frank related how last fall, a trio of friends in their 70’s arrived, and that one of the ladies happened to be in a reggae band which was performing nearby that very same weekend. Everyone went to the club in full support, adding one more story to the already-memorable weekend.

After the tour of the ranch we got to taste the fruit of Frank and Renee’s labor which was a first for me, since I’d never had a shot of straight EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) before. The taste was smooth and buttery and had a slight peppery kick–very good! I’ll never look at an olive the same way again, and I’ll certainly not take a bottle of olive oil for granted, now that I know it takes 380 olives to make one 8.5 fl. oz. of olive oil. Maybe we can come back and help them harvest in the fall; I think that would be an incredible experience to write about.

That night, out in the middle of nowhere, the night sky glistened with millions of stars and it was so dark and quiet, we slept like babies. The next morning, I mapped out our route and checked Trip Advisor to see if there was anything worth stopping for. My eyes grew big as I saw what was in Brenham (pop. 15,716), just 65 miles away: the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream! It was Divine Providence that it just happened to be on our way.

With plenty of parking available, even the biggest of rigs are welcome to stop. We arrived right around lunch time, and I can’t think of a better lunch than ice cream, especially when the generous scoops are only $1.

The Visitors Center is filled with all sorts of memorabilia depicting the history of the company, from its beginning in 1907 as the Brenham Creamery Company, where butter was made from excess cream brought in by area farmers, to 1911 when ice cream began being churned, to the present.

Brenham is The Baseball Capital of Texas, where baseball has been a tradition since the mid-1800’s. Fireman’s Park was built in 1884 and is the home field of the Brenham Cubs, who’ve won numerous district and state championships over the years. Since 1967, 32 Cubs have played professional baseball. Prominently displayed on the wall is a photograph of some local players used in Blue Bell’s 2017 advertising campaign. I thought it was extremely cool that all the names of the baseball players are listed, as they are in all the photographs in the Visitors Center. What a thrill for those residents of Brenham who are part of Blue Bell’s history!

The grand finale, of course, is the ice cream parlor, where 16 flavors of Blue Bell ice cream are offered. Scoops are HUGE, and it was the best lunch ever!

So now we are in Livingston, home of Escapees RV Club, for a week. That will give us a chance to explore east Texas, which is all new to us. I’ll write more as opportunities present themselves. Until then, take care, be safe, and remember to wash your hands!

Love, hugs, and peace. –Maria

Miles traveled: Bandera –> Elgin: 159. Elgin–>Livingston: 193. Total so far: 352 (and I drove at least half of it!)