Kicker
The waterways in the Bluebonnet region are ideal for both beginners and seasoned veterans.
Pam LeBlanc and Jimmy Harvey paddle their boats on the Colorado River at Fisherman’s Park in Bastrop. (Sarah Beal photo)

GET GOING - With Pam Leblanc 

One in a series of stories on fitness, recreation and outdoor adventure in the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative region.

Title
A passion for paddling

A group of young men, ages 17-22, who took part in the The Luling Foundation's training school established in March of 1934. The one-year program taught hands-on classes in poultry, dairy, livestock and general farming. Historic photos courtesy of the Luling Foundation

BY CLAYTON STROMBERGER

As you drive down quiet, tree-lined Mulberry Avenue out on the southwestern edge of Luling, just past the high school football stadium, you come to an unadorned metal archway that reads, “The Luling Foundation,” and below that, “Est. 1927.” Passing under the arch, you’re simultaneously going backward and forward in time.

Title
The Luling Foundation

Bluebonnet line workers in the 1940s take a break from their hazardous and backbreaking work in Giddings, original home to the co-op’s headquarters. From left, William Proske, Walter Urban and Winslow Zwerneman.

By Clayton Stromberger and Denise Gamino

If you were born at least fourscore and seven or so years ago, and grew up in these parts, you may remember what it was like in 1939.

No one was in a huge rush back then. The highway speed limit was 45 mph — lower for trucks. More than half the state was rural. Kids in the country rode a horse to confirmation class. Air conditioning meant opening a window or sitting on the front porch with a hand-held fan from church. Screen time was for when the mosquitoes came back. 

Title
The way we lived

Kicker
Printing a better building at Camp Swift
The largest 3D-printed building in North America is a 3,800-square-foot barracks that can house 72 military personnel at Bastrop County’s Camp Swift. The computer-guided machine that built the barracks was developed by Austin-based company ICON. (Laura Skelding photo)

Story by Ed Crowell

Military troops learn to live and sleep in unusual spots — from inside a desert foxhole to wedged between a rock and a hard place.

Now, some Texas soldiers will have an opportunity to rest, comfortably, in a revolutionary new barracks in Bastrop County.

At Camp Swift — the National Guard’s main training facility in Texas — some troops will sleep in the largest structure in North America built by a giant robotic 3D printer.

Title
3D barracks houses troops at Camp Swift