FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF TEXAS

In which, Bob and Camille Haul all their belongings 800 miles south to Denton, Texas - despite coming down with a nasty case of the flu a few days prior to departure.  Most of these impressions were taken through the passenger window of a moving truck, between coughing fits.

April 5, 2007

 

LOAD 'EM UP - MOVE 'EM OUT

Bob puts everything back together before leaving Amarillo, our halfway stopping point.

 

THE ENDLESS PANHANDLE

  

Everybody who has driven across Texas knows how big it is.  We saw a lot of red dirt in the panhandle.

 

EAT HERE, GET GAS

 

The monotony was alleviated by places to eat and places to buy fuel.  Signs with missing letters were common.  This dilapidated Conoco sign confirmed that the Texas oil boom has bombed.

 

MAIN STREET

This traditional American town, like many, is long dead.

 

CUTE TEXAS STUFF

Y'all park yer 'Arr Vee' and come on in to buy it here!

 

GRAIN ELEVATORS

We saw a lot of these, standing strong and tall alongside the railroad tracks.  They speak of 

 

HUB CAP HEAVEN

The business plan for this operation probably goes like this:  You get up and look for hubcaps alongside the road, shine them up, put them in piles and wait for people to come buy them.  Meanwhile, you sit on various boards, lobbying for more speed bumps.  If inventory gets low, you make a trip to the city and harvest some of the bigger seller.

 

JUNK ACRES

Surely something was going on in these people's minds as they decorated their home.  It almost made us want to stop and find out what.

 

QUANAH SHELL STATION 

Quanah rhymes with wanna as in "I don't wanna help you."  This is the gas station  Bob and Steve stopped at when their Biodiesel truck broke down during a previous trip.  The surly station attendant refused to help them.  Notice their sign is also one letter shy of a full word.

 

NORTH TEXAS

So green, it hurt our eyes.  "North Texas" is actually east Texas, sort of.  It's a little confusing.  Notice the idle oil pump on the left.

 

HEY!

With all this hay, there must be some horses around here somewhere.  (THAT old joke, you're thinking.  You know, the one about the pony and the manure pile.)

 

AHHHHHHH!

The sight of these beautiful animals grazing lush pasture made Camille forget how sick she was for a moment.

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