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