Geographically challenged Times drives 281 where 281 doesn't go

This Sunday's Travel section of the New York Times will feature a story by Jim Atkinson about U.S. Highway 281, which, Atkinson writes, "runs from the arid plains of Wichita Falls at the Oklahoma border to the humid confines of Brownsville at the mouth of the Rio Grande."

Right there I have a problem. I have never thought of Wichita Falls as being "at the Oklahoma border," but then my visits to Wichita Falls have usually been drive-throughs on the way to Amarillo and then points west on I-40. I would say Burkburnett, also on 281, is at the border, but not Wichita Falls.

But here's the paragraph that gets me:

"But for a 300-mile stretch through its Texas midsection — from, say Glen Rose (about 60 miles southwest of Dallas) in the north to San Antonio in the south — U.S. 281 makes for a beautiful and intriguing road trip, especially in spring, when its scrubby flora turns a spectrum of bright greens, and red, blue and yellow wildflowers speckle its medians and shoulders."

Atkinson claims he's been driving this stretch since he was a teenager. If that's true, or even if he drove it just once, he should know that 281 does not go through Glen Rose. I know this route very well from my many trips to the Kerrville Folk Festival. I would take 1-35 to the U.S. 67 split, in South Dallas, 67 to Chalk Mountain west of Glen Rose, then State Highway 220 to Hico, where I would join up with U.S. 281, and take that through the lovely town of Hamilton, Evant, the not-so-lovely Lampassas, Burnet, Marble Falls, until I went west on 290 at Johnson City to Fredericksburg and then south on Texas 16 through Kerrville to the Quiet Valley Ranch. I could almost make that drive in my sleep (and often I had to imbibe in certain substances to make sure I didn't) and, trust me, U.S. 281 does not go through Glen Rose.

Atkinson spends much of his time in this story talking about Fossil Rim and "Fossil Rim State Park, where regional scientists have uncovered some pretty convincing dinosaur footprints." Gee, I always thought that place was called "Dinosaur Valley State Park." Regardless of its name, you'll never get there if you stay on U.S. 281.

Reminds me of the story of the CBS newsman who said "The media are always 100 percent accurate ... except in those instances in which you have some personal knowledge."