The story never changes. Much. Almost forty years ago, a group of intrepid vacationers went south for the summer, discovering Leakey, Texas, River Haven, the Frio River and the very paradigm of shack-living-bliss. They invited some friends, and the friends invited friends, and so on and so forth, and these days a huge exodus takes place heading to Leakey about the Fourth of July every year. Since the Founders were generally church-going folk, most of their friends happened to belong to a calm, sweet, very well-behaved little congregation called Highland Park that many of us still call home.

There are a limited number of cabins, so we do have people waiting to get in; that’s why it’s not an official church activity. You can’t really consider us exclusive though (look who’s coming)!

The dates of the exodus are based on the World-Renowned Leakey Fourth of July parade, which takes place on the Saturday closest to the Fourth of July. So we go to Leakey the week before the Saturday closest to the Fourth.

Some people go for half the week (cleverly called the ‘First Half’ and the ‘Second Half’) and some go all week long.

What do we do? Very little. As little as possible. Some intrepid souls jog, fish, bike, or bird-watch and others of us laze around watching them. It is a time of relaxation, renewal and that old favorite – food.