On the Road Again: Announcing the Texas Rural Reporter Dirt Road Tour

By Suzanne Bellsnyder, Texas Rural Reporter

This January, I’m packing up my little camper, grabbing my notebook and camera, and hitting the road for a 12-week storytelling tour across rural Texas. I’m calling it the Texas Rural Reporter Winter Tour — a rolling newsroom on wheels, dedicated to shining a light on the communities that rarely get the attention they deserve.

From the Hill Country to the High Plains, the Rolling Plains to the Big Bend, I’ll be visiting the places where policy meets real life: our schools, hospitals, water districts, ranches, Main Streets, coffee shops, and rural newspapers. I’ll be meeting with the people who make rural Texas work — superintendents, small-business owners, nurses, ranchers, mayors, water managers, and the neighbors who keep their towns going day after day.

This tour isn’t about speeches or stages.
It’s about listening.

For too long, rural voices have been pushed to the edges of the conversation. Laws are passed in Austin that shape our lives, but the lived experience of rural Texans rarely makes it into the room. Local newspapers are closing. Our school districts are stretching every dollar. Water is becoming the new frontier of both conflict and cooperation. Hospitals are hanging on by thread. And yet, in small towns across Texas, people are still fighting to build something better — together.

That’s what I want to capture.

Support the Dirt Road Tour

Where I’m Going

The tour launches December 1 in Abilene before rolling west through the Hill Country, then north through the South Plains, Hereford, Canyon, and Borger.  From there, the road continues all winter: the Big Bend, Rolling Plains, Mineral Wells, Olney, Whitesboro, Comanche, Comfort, the High Plains, back to the Panhandle, and even a swing through Mexia.

If it’s rural, it’s on the list.

What I’ll Be Doing

Everywhere I go, I’ll be:

• Meeting with rural hospitals about workforce shortages and ER pressures

• Sitting down with superintendents to talk enrollment, budgets, and teacher pipelines

• Interviewing water experts on drought, aquifers, and the future of rural supply

• Working with local newspapers that fight every day to keep their communities informed

• Hosting Coffee Shop Office Hours where anyone can stop by and visit

• Recording podcast episodes on the road

• Taking photos and gathering stories for The Texas Rural Reporter newsletter

• Publishing reporting from every stop, from ranch gates to courthouse steps

This is journalism in its purest form: on the ground, eye to eye, one town at a time.

A Tour Powered by Rural Texas

I’m not charging for speaking events on this tour — that’s not the heart of this mission.

Instead, we are accepting sponsorships from people and organizations that believe in rural Texas and want these stories told. Electric co-ops, chambers, hospitals, community banks, ag groups, water districts, small businesses — these are the folks who keep rural communities running.

Your support helps cover fuel, RV parks (I'm travelling in my Scamp), production costs, and the time spent reporting on the road. I’m deeply grateful to each sponsor who joins this effort.

If you would like to sponsor any part of this tour, you can donate here.

How You Can Get Involved

You don’t have to buy an ad or host an event to take part in this tour.

Here’s how you can help:

• Invite me to your town — I’m building out the last pieces of the route

• Send me your story tips (issues, concerns, people I should meet)

• Introduce me to your local chamber, hospital, school, or newspaper

• Become a sponsor for a leg of the tour

• Share the Texas Rural Reporter with friends and neighbors

And if you see my little camper parked at a coffee shop or state park near you — come say hi. I’ll probably have a cup of coffee, a camera around my neck, and a stack of notes I’m sorting through.

Stay Connected

You can follow the journey through:

• Daily posts on Facebook

• Regular dispatches on Substack

• Podcast interviews with rural leaders

• Photo essays from each town

• Community conversations from across small-town Texas

This tour is for all of us — for rural Texans who want their stories told, for readers who care about the future of their hometowns, and for anyone who believes rural America still matters.

Because it does.
It always has.
And in 2026, we’re going to prove it.