hills for the next couple days, 700 foot climb is the biggest challenge... I have mail at Camp Woods Texas, approximately 110 miles... Post office opens on Monday morning so that is my goal... Should i have issues with the bike, the store pointed out one issue i should watch, then i will be stopping in Kerrville for a part this photo was taken by a lady who was helping her husband complete the 2nd half of the southern tier, she had stopped to fix him lunch... He had completed the eastern half last fall and just started the western half... two houses on the same property, one has been maintained and had an addition, both sit on a knoll with a beautiful view... Talked to Jim the owner of the maintained one, said the place has been in his wifes family for years and years... The tracts were 240 acres, owns 40 now (divided amongst family members over the tears) and that the tracts were long and narrow to give all the land owners access to the river... Said they just added on the the original house and moved back in a week ago looks like a fix it upper!!!! Morris Ranch hotel In 1856, New York broker Francis Morris bought 23,000 acres (93.08 km2; 35.94 sq mi) of land in Gillespie and Kerr counties for twenty-five cents an acre. He eventually sold off all but 16,000 acres (64.75 km2; 25.00 sq mi), and hired his nephew Charles Morris to manage the acreage for horse breeding. Charles was ranch manager until 1910.[7] Francis Morris died in 1886. The land was inherited by his son John A. Morris, who spent $500,000 on capital improvements and converted the property into a community dedicated to the business of raising thoroughbred horses. The improvements included a hotel for entertaining influential and important individuals, a general store and post office, a school, a cotton gin, and a flour mill. Approximately 200 mares and ten stallions were at the ranch, with yearling colts either being sold or boarded at the Morris stables in Winchester Park, Maryland. Adjacent to the ranch was a racetrack and living quarters for the jockeys, where Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainerMax Hirsch got his start.[8] Anti-gambling legislation passed in New Jersey and New York around the turn of the 20th Century caused the horse racing industry to go into decline, and Morris Ranch along with it. The ranch was inherited by John's sons Alfred and David Morris and eventually by Alfred's son Captain John A. Morris.[9] Morris Ranch hotel, to the right is a building that looks like a bunk house, that isa speculation... No historical markings around these building, behind the former hotel is a nice swimming pool... part of Morris Ranch part of Morris Ranch the number of goat farms is increasing as i move west took this for Bailey and Gabe :-) first cattle roaming free... I was suppose to turn off of this road about a mile from where i took this photo, when i arrived at the turn the road was shut down, appears it is on private property, the owners shut it down once a year, for how long i do not know, was a ten mile detour... What is ten miles starting to get rocky, can notgrow to much here i look at my total for the day and just wonder how it can be so... Started out 110 miles from camp wood... Still have 84 miles to camp wood... Yet when i add the numbers up on this map i traveled way over 26 miles.... I know the route does not travel the main highways, if so it would be around 2000 coast to coast, pick up an additional 1000 meandering down the highway... The ride was a good ride, pretty country, numerous old homesteads... Plenty of wildlife and hills oh does Texas have some hills!!!! I am a few miles from Hunt which was my destination, had i not purchasedgirl scout cookies i just very well might have made it... vanderpool is about 45 miles from here, may attempt to make it to a state camp ground on this side of it tomorrow, possibility of some rain so i will see what happens Sandy Texas!!! I visited Sandy Texas two days ago, having had time to research Sandy Texas i wanted to add this bit in.... I google towns at times to see what is availiable... Can i get water, carbohydrates and more importantly coffee... Well i googled Sandy Texas and got a list of what was in the town, came up more bars than anything but i thought one store could potentially have coffee... So i am riding my bike, gps telling me Sandy Texas is a mile away, then 1/2 mile then i see the sign SANDY... A farm road comes in from the left to join the road i am traveling on, like a y... My gps says "you have arrived at your destination... Texas likes to make their towns bigger than what they are by putting the city limits a mile or two before the city sometimes, i thought maybe this was the case... I traveled a mile down the road, checked my gps and it tells me to turn around snd go back one mile... I arrived at the y again, gps "you have arrived at your destination" so i take the other branch of the y and this time i get to peddle up a hill, going up the hill i pass a cemetary, SANDY CEMETARY sign points left, i look down the gravel road thinking i am getting closer to SANDY pedal up the hill, look around nothing... Check my gps "turn around and go one mile to your destination" so i google SANDY TEXAS, and finally figure out it USE to be a town, the sign sits in the middle of the y and reads SANDY but nothing is there, i would not even consider it a ghost town... But below you can read about SANDY Texas... I have found these towns are common in Texas.. MORRIS RANCH is another one, it is on the map, you get there and nothing... I can say Morris Ranch did not have a sign but it does have a hotel... Pictured above..
SANDY TEXAS History in a Pecan shell Sandy suffered frequent attacks by Indians, but the land was nonetheless settled and the townfolk were granted a post office in 1872. Sandy became the consolidated school for the neighboring communities of Hickory, Spring Creek and White Oak, but like larger fish eat the smaller - the Johnson City school "ate" the one at Sandy. Sandy's population never went over 30 according to the Handbook of Texas. A Visit to Sandy, TexasPhotographer's Note: Sandy Texas is located at the intersection of FM 1323 & FM 1320 in Blanco County and about 8 Miles NW of Johnson City. The old store at the intersection is about the only visible evidence remaining of Sandy TX. Most of the few residences are off the road and very scattered. The old secluded cemetery is located a couple miles south and a short drive off of FM 1320. - William Beauchamp, June, 2009 Sandy Cemetery Photo courtesy William Beauchamp, 2009 Sandy Cemetery Photo courtesy William Beauchamp, 2009 More Texas Cemeteries Post Office in Sandy TE photo, 2001Cactus in Sandy, Texas TE photo, 2001
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