Texas is big enough that a single drive can cross desert, Hill Country and piney woods. The deck follows that spread: the Alamo and the River Walk in San Antonio, the Rio Grande and Big Bend in the far west, Mission Control in Houston, and ten Cadillacs sticking out of a field on the old Route 66 near Amarillo.
Where the questions come from on the road
I-40 across the Panhandle. This is old Route 66 country. Cadillac Ranch sits right off the interstate west of Amarillo, and people bring spray paint to add their own layer to the cars. Ask the Cadillac Ranch question before you get there, then stop and check.
I-10 from San Antonio west. Past the Hill Country, the towns thin out and the sky gets big. Big Bend National Park is a long drive south of the interstate, and Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas, is a detour north from Van Horn. Save the Rio Grande and Big Bend questions for this stretch.
Spring on any highway. From about March to April, bluebonnets cover the medians and shoulders across Central Texas. TxDOT seeds wildflowers along the roads, so the state flower question comes with its own evidence.
A route idea: the Hill Country loop
Start in San Antonio at the Alamo, drive north to Fredericksburg, then east through Johnson City to Austin. That’s LBJ country: the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is near Johnson City, and his presidential library is in Austin. Two deck questions (the German settlers of Fredericksburg and the LBJ Library) turn into stops on the same afternoon.
Three Texas facts that aren’t in the deck
- Up to about 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats live under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin. On warm evenings from spring to fall, they pour out at dusk, and people gather on the bridge to watch.
- Dr Pepper was created in Waco in 1885, at a drugstore soda fountain. Waco now has a Dr Pepper Museum.
- The armadillo is the state small mammal, and the Texas longhorn is the state large mammal.
A house rule for Texas trips
Make “Don’t Mess with Texas” a scoring rule. Anyone who spots litter can call it out, and the next question is worth double. It keeps eyes out the window, which is the whole point of the slogan.