King Ranch

Our friend Jan organized a trip to visit the King Ranch and King Ranch Museum in Kingsville, TX. That's about 120 miles from Mission and just south of Corpus Christi. Over the years I've heard a lot about the legendary King Ranch, but I really didn't know much about it.

We started our Sunday as usual at breakfast with friends, but this time we were joined by some extras: John and Sandy and Jim and Pat and Hal and Dorothy. They joined Hardy and Judy, Jean, Steve and Sandy, and us on the trip to Kingsville. Our group of 15 carpooled and arrived at the King Ranch Visitor Center in plenty of time for our 12:30 p.m. tour. We were on a tour bus that held 25 passengers, so our group took up most of the bus. Our tour guide, Miguel, was an interesting character and kept up a lively stream of information and anecdotes.

We learned a lot about the history of the ranch and got to see some of the cattle, horses, birds, and other wildlife. The ranch keeps a few longhorns as exhibits, but actually raises Santa Gertrudis cattle, a breed developed on the ranch. The ranch also profits from royalties on the King Ranch Ford pickups, sales of pecans and grains they raise, the sale of thoroughbred horses, and mineral leases. Their brand is the famous running W.

After the tour we went to the museum in town. The museum is rather small but did include a few highlights, like the customized 1949 Buick hunting car with built in rifle holders and lots of saddles from around the world.

By the time we left the museum, everyone was hungry. Our first choices of restaurants were closed, so we ended up at the Sirloin Stockade, a small buffet restaurant. After the meal, Jan and Steve brought out an anniversary cake to celebrate Hal and Dorothy's 52nd anniversary, and Sandy presented a card she had designed that all of us had signed.

When we got home, Jean joined Ken and me for a walk around the park. We stopped at the park library, where Jean found several Stuart Woods books to borrow.

Chris is in Chicago on a business trip. He had his laptop and iPad stolen from his hotel room at the Hyatt. You would think the Hyatt would have better security than that.