Kicking around Keene

When I was really young I loved to listen to the stories my grandparents

Texas Bluebonnets and shadows

told about their lives in Texas. As I got older, I didn’t pay as much attention and time slipped away. Thinking back I wish I had listened more closely or had written down some of the things I was told. Looking at pictures in old albums, I wonder who some of the people were and if they were the ones who lived at Keene.

Hiding out in Cedar Hill

Cedar Hill meant nothing more to me than some hills and some cedar

Antennas, cedar trees, on a hill

(juniper) trees. It’s a pretty area near Joe Pool Lake, and it’s a bunch older than I had anticipated. Of course, the day did not cooperate – a slow drizzle that became a rather chilly rain, instead of bright sunshine. We did find a nice place for lunch, so that mitigated the gloom, somewhat; and I did get a look at Joe Pool Lake.

Coming into Coyote Flats

Getting from one place to another in rural Texas may mean that you see

Coyote Flats City Limit

lots of plains, or trees, or deserts, or shorelines, or mountains (Texas has every ecosystem except Arctic tundra and rainforests). You also may see little towns that may not be apparent on a normal scale road map – it’s amazing what Google Maps will show you when you zoom in. When we run across one of these small hamlets, with no obvious historical trail nor railroad siding, we wonder just how it came about. Coyote Flats is one such example.

Sanity in Sand Flat

Friday is our day to get out and about. And it was a beautiful day so we

Farm near Sand Flat

decided to take a road trip to some of the more rural areas. Sand Flat is a rural community that sits on Farm Road 4 about six miles southeast of Cleburne. It was also supposed to have a place to eat that had gotten some good reviews. What we didn’t know was that it is one of the oldest settlements in Johnson County.