Another hobby and a bt of Texas history
May 2, 2017 22:58:59 GMT -5
garock, captbob, and 8 more like this
Post by Sabre52 on May 2, 2017 22:58:59 GMT -5
Howdy folks,
Today the wife and I did one of our favorite things, a Texas driveabout. Wildflowers are pretty this time of year, birding is good etc but the wind was blowing a gale so not great weather for nature pics. So instead, we took a 400 mile drive along obscure Texas back roads north of where we live. We love to look at all the ghost towns and semi ghost towns, old buildings etc. These driveabouts give one a real idea of just how freaking huge Texas is. All that distance and we covered one small circle with parts of maybe six counties. Texas has 254 large counties! Only one flat tire too. Oddly, so much open space and I get more flats here in six months than back n Commiefornia in years and years.
An interesting Texas factoid few non Texans know, is all Texas is covered by a grid work of towns all located about 25 miles apart. Why 25 miles? That was about the maximum distance a wagon team or horseman could comfortably cover in one day when going for supplies or help. Between these towns is still a whole lot of nothing as Texas is a place of vast open lands. The sad fact one discovers on driveabout is how, with the advent of the auto, almost all these little towns are dead or dying. The railroads dried up and all the farm and ranch kids of course, don't want to stay on the farm, but want to go to the hippy dippy party towns like Austin or Dallas. Me, I'm just the opposite and like the big beyond full of empty and open spaces. Love to visit all the tiny towns with neat names reflective of Texas life. Towns like Grit and Spur, and Gun Barrel City named for cowboy ways. Towns named for people like Hilda, Eckhart, Dickens. Towns reflective of hope where conditions were harsh, like Eden, Heaven and Divine. And of course, Texas towns named for how the weather really is like Mercury and Venus. Heck, there used to be a Hot, Texas and still is a Cool. etc. Cool as a town name, was probably more one of the names reflective of hope *L*
Anyway, as an opening here let me admit I go by Mel but my full first name is of course the family curse name of Melvin. Every first born male in the family got it as a first or middle name etc along with a lot of other stupid names. Only reason why, is I figure it's one of them "Boy Named Sue" get tough or die things. I can promise you, if you name your kid Melvin ( especially during my time period where there was even a "Melvin the Monster" comic, sort of a Dennis the Menace ripoff) your kid is gonna get a lot of ass whuppings, his Twinkies stolen by the jocks, and generally not have a fun time in school or get a lot of girlfriends. Thanks a whole heck of a lot mom and pop!
Anyway, I digress. On our defunct town wanderings today, what should we come across, after getting well lost on dirt roads, but the glorious town of, you guessed it, Melvin, Texas. I guess poor Melvin was also cursed as all the kiddies have gone away and it's almost dead, just a tiny PO and a few old homes and abandoned buildings. Anyway here are a couple of the old buildings we love so much.
The hotel. Love the floral lattice on the posts.
And of course, every Texas town has some kind of church. Melvin in front of the Melvin sign *L*
Now the down side of visiting this town was having to listen to my wife say, " Where's Melvin?" "Dang, that Melvin is old and broken down!" " What the heck happened to Melvin anyway?" "Melvin is really a mess!" and so on and on. Wow, Like school all over again *L*.
Thanks for coming with....Melvin
Today the wife and I did one of our favorite things, a Texas driveabout. Wildflowers are pretty this time of year, birding is good etc but the wind was blowing a gale so not great weather for nature pics. So instead, we took a 400 mile drive along obscure Texas back roads north of where we live. We love to look at all the ghost towns and semi ghost towns, old buildings etc. These driveabouts give one a real idea of just how freaking huge Texas is. All that distance and we covered one small circle with parts of maybe six counties. Texas has 254 large counties! Only one flat tire too. Oddly, so much open space and I get more flats here in six months than back n Commiefornia in years and years.
An interesting Texas factoid few non Texans know, is all Texas is covered by a grid work of towns all located about 25 miles apart. Why 25 miles? That was about the maximum distance a wagon team or horseman could comfortably cover in one day when going for supplies or help. Between these towns is still a whole lot of nothing as Texas is a place of vast open lands. The sad fact one discovers on driveabout is how, with the advent of the auto, almost all these little towns are dead or dying. The railroads dried up and all the farm and ranch kids of course, don't want to stay on the farm, but want to go to the hippy dippy party towns like Austin or Dallas. Me, I'm just the opposite and like the big beyond full of empty and open spaces. Love to visit all the tiny towns with neat names reflective of Texas life. Towns like Grit and Spur, and Gun Barrel City named for cowboy ways. Towns named for people like Hilda, Eckhart, Dickens. Towns reflective of hope where conditions were harsh, like Eden, Heaven and Divine. And of course, Texas towns named for how the weather really is like Mercury and Venus. Heck, there used to be a Hot, Texas and still is a Cool. etc. Cool as a town name, was probably more one of the names reflective of hope *L*
Anyway, as an opening here let me admit I go by Mel but my full first name is of course the family curse name of Melvin. Every first born male in the family got it as a first or middle name etc along with a lot of other stupid names. Only reason why, is I figure it's one of them "Boy Named Sue" get tough or die things. I can promise you, if you name your kid Melvin ( especially during my time period where there was even a "Melvin the Monster" comic, sort of a Dennis the Menace ripoff) your kid is gonna get a lot of ass whuppings, his Twinkies stolen by the jocks, and generally not have a fun time in school or get a lot of girlfriends. Thanks a whole heck of a lot mom and pop!
Anyway, I digress. On our defunct town wanderings today, what should we come across, after getting well lost on dirt roads, but the glorious town of, you guessed it, Melvin, Texas. I guess poor Melvin was also cursed as all the kiddies have gone away and it's almost dead, just a tiny PO and a few old homes and abandoned buildings. Anyway here are a couple of the old buildings we love so much.
The hotel. Love the floral lattice on the posts.
And of course, every Texas town has some kind of church. Melvin in front of the Melvin sign *L*
Now the down side of visiting this town was having to listen to my wife say, " Where's Melvin?" "Dang, that Melvin is old and broken down!" " What the heck happened to Melvin anyway?" "Melvin is really a mess!" and so on and on. Wow, Like school all over again *L*.
Thanks for coming with....Melvin
