Tag Archives: county

The Adventure Begins …

Teardrop Trail Log: June 12, 2016. Red Power Roundup trip start.

Building, modifying, cleaning, planning and packing complete, the day of departure finally arrived. If we didn’t have it, we didn’t need it. We left midday, intending to reach Lake Bob Sandlin State Park in northeast Texas by early evening. Marilyn had a route, and it looked like a great day for travel.

All went well for the first hour or two and we joined I-35 at Round Rock. It was Sunday and I commented on how well traffic was moving. I must have jinxed it, because we encountered the first construction shortly after around Salado, and it continued all the way to Waco. What should have been an hour took more that two. Not a great start.

American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea)

To avoid further construction, we turned onto Highway 31 towards Corsicana, reasoning we would see the back country, and go through a few quaint, small towns. The scenery was beautiful, and we encountered a vast expanse of American Water Lilies in Henderson County between Trinidad and Malakoff. We pulled into the roadside park to make photos. The sky was threatening however, with consequences later in the day.

The sky threatened …

Turning north on Highway 19 at Athens, Texas, we were still making good time. Marilyn wanted to head northeast, more directly toward the state park. At Canton, we turned onto FM 17 (a two-lane “farm to market” road). More great scenery. Lush fields of hay with stands of tall pine trees dotted the landscape, set off by a dramatic sky. Although not Interstate speeds, we were sailing along when …

A fiery road-block near Fruitvale, Texas

We encountered a blazing car fire with traffic stopped in both directions. Sitting in the long line of cars for about 10 minutes, it was clear that it might be hours before the road opened. We had to go back. Now I had to turn our rig around on a narrow, two-lane road with no shoulders and no place to pull out — all with an audience of the several dozen.

Perfect.

Marshaling my best backing skills, I completed the U-turn in a few minutes. Thank goodness our rig is small. Anything larger and we would have been stuck. Retracing our steps back to Canton, we took I-20 West and re-joined Highway 19.

By now the light was fading, and we would have to set up in the dark. We’ve done it before, and it’s not so bad. Then it started to rain. Hard. Driving toward Sulphur Springs, the downpour worsened, with poor visibility as well. Perhaps a nice motel room would be best.

Reaching Sulphur Springs and I-30, we headed east toward Mount Pleasant. Marilyn called ahead and made a reservation. Arriving around 10, we loaded into the room in the pouring rain. Although low cost, a warm, dry room seems like a palace when compared with setting up in a dark, rainy campsite. Roughing it in a Motel 6 is still camping, right?

Mt. Pleasant Motel

On the Road to Fort Davis

Teardrop Trail Log: March 28, 2016

Our next stop was the town of Fort Davis. On the way, we passed several giant greenhouses. I had purchased cherry tomatoes a few weeks ago in Austin and the package said these tasty gems were from Village Farms in Marfa. Tomato farming in Marfa? Yes, hydroponic greenhouses on a huge scale. Who would have known? You just never know what you are likely to see on the teardrop trail.

Jeff Davis County Courthouse

Fort Davis was originally a frontier military post on the Old Overland Trail. This small community has 23 historic sites on the 1 1/2 mile walking tour that starts and ends in the town square which seems to have changed little since the early Twentieth Century. Jim enjoyed photographing the Jeff Davis County Courthouse that was completed in 1911. Unlike the courthouse in Marfa, this one was surrounded by a fence with turnstiles to keep out the donkeys that had been set free after wagons became more prevalent.

Hotel Limpia

Hotel Limpia, built in 1913, from locally quarried pink granite is named for a nearby creek. This 31 room, historic hotel has forty rocking chairs on the expansive porches that invite guests to relax after a day of hiking or visiting the McDonald Observatory. Next time we will make a reservation.

Fort Davis Drug Store

The Fort Davis Drug Store was built in 1913 inside the Hotel Limpia and became a gathering spot for locals to get newspapers, visit the doctor and fill a prescription. It was relocated across the street in 1950. It offered a step back in time with a traditional 22-foot soda fountain, much like the one in the West Texas town I grew up in – a true old fashioned Texas experience.

After looking at the guide to Fort Davis, we know a repeat visit is in our future, especially when the brochure promises that it’s cooler in the summer in the Davis Mountains than anywhere else in Texas. Our next stop was the town’s namesake, Fort Davis Historical Site.

Classic Soda Fountain

Marfa Texas — Architecture

Teardrop Trail Log: March 27, 2016

We had been camping for three nights in Study Butte, and decided to treat ourselves to a real bed and a shower. After checking into the hotel in Marfa, we turned our attention to the immediate problem: it was Easter Sunday; would anything be open for dinner? I also wanted a mocha if we could find one. It turned out that Jett’s Grill in the Hotel Paisano was open and accepting reservations. The prospect of a special dinner beckoned. We just had an hour or two to kill. After unhitching the Ambassador, we headed for the center of Marfa.

We found not one, but two coffeeshops in town, and we stopped at the first one: Frama. Mocha in hand, we decided to walk the area around the courthouse. The streets are very wide and flat and lay on a grid. In contrast to the other West Texas towns we had encountered so far, Marfa seemed very prosperous. There were many buildings that had been well restored, and more than a few that had been restored and modified to suite more modern purposes.

The Presidio County Courthouse, built in the Second Empire style at a cost of $60,000 in1886, is a stunning example of Texas public architecture. Directly across the street like so many other county seats, was the jail. Nearby were several churches — all beautifully maintained. St Paul’s Episcopal especially appealed to me with it’s river rock façade. Across the street was a small bungalow that had been completely renovated in a spare, mid-century modern style. It even had a Jesus Morales sculpture in the front yard. Marfa is clearly an artful place with the resources to show it.

On the other side of the courthouse, Highland Street stretched south into the distance. This is the main street of Marfa, and is lined with buildings that echo the town’s past. The Opera House, National Bank and Glascock buildings are but three examples. Most interesting to me however was the Hotel Paisano. Built in 1930 in the Spanish Revival style, and anticipating the oil boom that never came, it hosted area cattle ranchers who came to Marfa to buy and sell their herds. In June of 1955 however, Warner Bros. came to film the movie Giant. As the production’s headquarters, the Hotel Paisano hosted Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean and 150 other cast and crew.

What a surprising town to discover in West Texas. After just a cruel tease, we’ll have to go back.