During Spring Break each year my Grandma, who everyone calls Nanny would plan a trip and take all her grandkids to the farm. As the day approached for her to pick us up. I would be too excited to sleep and be packed and ready by the door waiting for her to pull in to our driveway. After what felt like hours we would hear the tires come to a stop on the pavement. In her big van she would pick us up with a honk of the horn three times beep beep beep we would hear that and know cousin camp had begun. The hour drive to the farm was filled with fun music and stories she loved to tell about our parents as they were growing up . The scenery would begin to change on Highway 80 going east into big pine trees clumped together with pastures, farm animals, and land as far as we could see. Nanny would honk the horn as she passed each farm to say hello to the animals. We would hear cows mooing and horses hooves move as we flew by the farms with the windows down. We would all laugh and beg her to honk the horn again at the next farm. She would keep us in joyous suspense on when she would honk again.
The air felt fresher and we knew the farm was getting close as we passed the small downtown of Ben Wheeler Texas that only had a Post Office, church, gas station, small country store, and black smith shop with the door open so we could see the black smith at work and smell the fire wood burning and see the glow as we passed.
The excitement in the van would build as we would make the turn at the big sign with the eagle on it and faded letters we could barely make out what it said. As we drove down the last stretch of road and into the entrance of the farm the road would turn to dirt and gravel. The van would shake and bump down the long winding drive way. We would feel the ruts in the dirt road and the crunch of the gravel under the tires. We would wave to my great grandparents as we pulled in and came to a stop. As we got out of the van we would smell the fresh biscuits waiting for us that grandpa would make. We would quickly pile out of the van and run inside to stop and grab a warm biscuit with butter and homemade jelly.
We would make our way across the yard by the trash burning barrel and old chicken coop while hearing the heard of cows mooing in the distant pastures. We would try to count how many new calfs we would see staying close to their mothers but hoping around clumsily as they were learning to use their long legs only a few days old. Once we had a few minutes to get our energy out it was time to unload the groceries for the week, pick our rooms, and places to sleep. Once settled in and unpacked, my cousins and I would run out and explore what was new on the farm. We would walk through the old barn, past the old patina rusted tractor that hadn't run in years, through the cattle coral we had to open manually to squeeze through and past the old cars under the trees that included cars my grandparents and great grandparents owned in the 1950's, 1960's , and 1970's. We had freedom to explore the pond, the East Texas fresh spring by the woods that was freezing cold on our feet as we walked through it, and a bit into the woods to see if we could get a peek of a deer. We had the freedom to explore most of the 75 acres of land my grandpa bought, developed and worked hard to create a cattle farm and place for his family to enjoy. We witnessed the spring time birth of cows daily and had stories of how each cow had a personality. We would always get a lecture to stay out of the pond or we would get bit by a snake.
Each night before bed we would have a sweet treat of Kroger brand ice cream with Big K Soda. My Nanny would read us our favorite story with silly voices titled Morris the Moose. She had a whole collection of these books and as she read would change her voice for each character to enhance the story for us. The voices sounded silly and dopy like Rocky and Bull Winkle. As we heard the sounds coming from the windows that were open to let in a cool spring breeze we would hear the howling of coyotes in the distance, crickets chirping, and the largest grasshoppers hitting the high weeds of the pastures close by. We would drift off to sleep with the spring night air coming through the windows and taking in every minute of cousin adventures before our spring break was over and we headed home to finish out our school year.
