Texas - Day 18 - to Weatherford

Weatherford KOA, Weatherford
Friday, 20 November 2020

today's route

Choosing Weatherford for tonight's campground was mostly a matter of finding someplace both affordable and where I can have a campsite that isn't buried in the middle of the campground (bad for the dogs).  After that choice, I based my route on which towns between San Angelo and Weatherford I definitely wanted to take a look at.

On the road

On my way out of town, I passed a facility labeled Goodyear Proving Grounds.  It was Goodyear's largest when it was established in 1944, and they recently expanded these testing grounds.  They have 58 miles of track there and test about 20,000 tires every year.

I passed through the town of Bronte, pop. 999, "Where Living Is A Pleasure."  The town was founded in the late 1880s and named for Charlotte Bronte - unusual choice for a west Texas town in that era - or any era.

A short distance down the road I passed Oak Creek Reservoir, a big lake with houses all around it.  It looked very pleasant.

The town of Blackwell has 311 residents and looks much bigger than that for some reason.

Mostly grazing land around here.  I saw a few cows, mesquite, juniper and some cropland, but all that was in the serious minority; it was mostly grazing land (don't know where the grazers were, though).

I found lots of hills driving north between San Angelo and Sweetwater.

Sweetwater

Sweetwater, pop. 10,906, has a name I've heard for years, which is why I took the side road to get here.  During WWII, it hosted the training for Women Airforce Service Pilots.

They had a sign saying "Prohibited: Texting, Emailing, Using Apps While Driving."  That's the most specific of those signs I've ever seen.  Speaking of signs, the Evangelical Methodist Church there had one saying "Give Thanks, Count Your Blessings."  A very generous idea.  

I was startled to pass a sculpture of the most aggressive cougar I've ever seen in art.  I couldn't find a photo of it online, but this link includes a photo.   https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/Cougar-Sweetwater-TX  I sure wouldn't want to be whatever it was looking at over that stump.

There was a motel there painted entirely in vibrant shades of orange and rust, with touches of French's mustard yellow.  It was very strange looking and I don't think I'd have felt comfortable staying there, for some reason.

Back on the road

As soon as I turned east on I-20, I got whopped with some very strong wind gusts.  Not easy to drive in.

I passed the turn for Noodle Dome Road and of course had to look it up.  I'm still not sure but can tell you that the town of Noodle, which still exists, was named for nearby Noodle Creek.  Back in the 1880s when the area was being settled, "noodle" meant "nothing" - i.e. a dry creekbed.  Interestingly, oil was discovered in the area in 1926 and the field was named Noodle Dome Oil Field.  Presumably the owners weren't intending to say it was a dry oil field, so it must have been named for the creek or town.

I passed what seemed like a small forest of oil wells, pumping away.

I passed a huge billboard that read:

   Business          Jobs

              TRUMP

           Opportunity

Paid for by the Abilene People

By the time I got to Merkel, pop. 2,637, west of Abilene, the land had gotten much flatter and I saw a lot of cotton.

Abilene

Coming into town I passed the Dyess Air Force Base, the SPCA (a brilliant French's mustard yellow) and the Ponca Motel, which looked like it should be sitting on Historic Route 66.

Ponca Motel

Looks like the old motor hotels from the '30s and '40s, and it's obviously still being used.  (This photo is an old one from the internet.)

We took a rest stop in the parking lot of a Baptist church, and I saw across the street an unexpected museum.

12th Armored Division
Memorial Museum

I didn't want to go in because of the virus, but I did look this Army unit up online and found it was extremely active in the 3 years it was active during WWII.  Among many other events, it fought at the Battle of the Bulge, was first to enter Manila in 1945, and captured Adolf Eichmann and Wernher von Braun, among others.  They were busy little boys.  Here's the Wikipedia page if you're interested.   https://en.wikipedia.org/12th-Armored-Division

Abilene's got a Santa Calls Lane.

I got honked at for the first time in a while, and I was not only surprised but peeved because I was going slowly to navigate the zillion orange cones highway construction crews had set out.  I mean, the guy was behind me so surely he noticed I wasn't driving a Miata.

I saw a business called Jerry's Smoke Shop, but the "J" was replaced with a Sherlock Holmes-type pipe, like this.  

erry's Smoke Shop.  (Well, something like that.)

I passed Abilene Christian University, and remember the days it was called Abilene Christian College.

And I passed a Coca-Cola bottling plant.

But the main thing Abilene bills itself as is the Storybook Capital of Texas, so named by the Texas Legislature in 2015.  It has something called the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature and, a few blocks away, the Children's Sculpture Garden.  Here's a couple of links to some explanations.   https://www.austinchronicle.com/day-trips-storybook-capital-of-texas   https://storybookcapitalofamerica.com  I drove by both places, wanting to see some of these sculptures, but the only ones I could see, aside from one of the 3 Little Pigs, weren't about any storybooks I've ever read.  From what I could find online, they had some of the Dr. Seuss characters, but mostly they referred to books that must have been written since my time as a child (admittedly a very long time ago).  I still remember well visiting the Dr. Seuss Statuary Garden in Springfield, MA, several years ago, so I didn't feel the need to find a place to park to see more Seuss statues plus some I wouldn't recognize, let alone feel fondness for.  But these and many others scattered around town are there if you're interested.

Back on the road

I saw lots of Trump flags in this area.

I found myself in the middle of a huge wind farm and was surprised to see there was rust on many of the turbine blades.  So much so that, until I got a good look at them, I thought I'd run into non-white wind turbines for the first time.  I wondered if this was old equipment or maybe just a tough environment on machinery.  Probably both, but I've seen plenty of wind turbines in all kinds of harsh weather conditions, and this is the first time I've seen rust on them.

I barely left that wind farm when another one appeared on the horizon.  This one was the usual white.

Albany

Albany, pop. 1,983, is "A Link With The Frontier," they say.  They also say they have a historic downtown, which is probable, since the town was founded in 1874.

Shackleford
County Courthouse

The courthouse has 1883 carved into its stone.  I thought it was pretty.  (This is my photo.)

Albany's slogan since the 1920s is "Home of the Hereford."  I found 2 explanations for this name contained within the same source with no apparent awareness of the contradiction.  One is that Albany (named for Albany, GA) had been a supply resource for cowhands taking cows - mostly Herefords - north to Dodge City and, when the railroad came through in 1881, it also became a shipping point for cattle and other goods.

The other is that in its early years, Albany's primary economic drivers were the farming and ranching industries.  And when Hereford cattle were introduced to local ranchers, they adopted the slogan.

I passed an establishment named Icehouse Restaurant, and it looked exactly like an old but restored icehouse would look.  So it may be exactly that.

I thought this seemed like a pleasant little town.

I also passed the Fort Griffin State Historical Site and am sorry I didn't have time to stop and visit.  This fort operated from 1867 until 1881 for cavalry who were kept busy protecting settlers and fighting in the Red River War of 1874.  To relax, the soldiers went to the nearby town of Ft. Griffin, which was one of the West's wildest spots and attracted such visitors as Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson.  Today, it's the home of the Official State of Texas Longhorn Herd.  If you're interested, here's a link.   https://www.thc.texas.gov/fort-griffin-history

Apparently there's also a state campground there and, because of very low levels of light pollution, it's a great place for looking at stars.

Breckenridge

Stephens County
Courthouse

This town, pop. 5,780, has been home to the county courthouse since 1883.  (I think Fort Picketville was the first county seat in 1876.)  The latest version (at left) was built in 1926.

I didn't take a photo of my own, and I can't find one online that shows those columns very clearly, but they looked like Corinthian columns, which surprised me.  I mean, this isn't now - and likely never was - a major cultural mecca, and Corinthian columns are far less common that Doric or Ionic columns on government buildings.  

I found this link that not only demonstrates the differences between the 3 types of columns but also includes information about how the Greeks curved their columns slightly so they'd look straight (cognitive dissonance, anyone?).   https://www.dummies.com/greek-architecture-columns

I passed an old stone building that I'm guessing was originally a YMCA because over one door was carved "Boys" and over another door was carved "Men."

We stopped in the city park for a walk and I found this sign about the name of the the town that surprised me.

for enlargements, see below

part 1 - detail from the sign

part 2 - detail from the sign

I don't know when this sign was put up, though it hasn't been at all recently, based on its appearance.  But it very much appears this town is proud of having been named for someone who fought to tear apart our country in defense of the right to enslave people.  And I suppose they still are, since the sign's still there.

Back on the road

I passed the turn to Lake Possum Kingdom.  Like Balmorea, this is another state park I've wanted to visit for a long time.  But Possum Kingdom is very much open and perennially popular, apparently, because so far I haven't been able to get a reservation there.  The lake's fan club says it's "The Great Lake of Texas.  More than 18,000 acres of crystal clear water, a Texas oasis surrounded by beautiful cliffs and rolling hillsides."  Well, someday I'll get there.

I've been passing lots of cropland - both plowed and replanted - and grazing land, complete with cows and a few horses.  Farms and ranches.  This land reminded me of the Hill Country which, coincidentally, is due south of here about 200 miles or so.  I continue to see mesquite and juniper as in West Texas, but now I'm also seeing plenty of oaks and other more Central Texas-y trees.

Palo Pinto

I hadn't realized this is the name of a town, a county and a lake.  The town is unincorporated and had a population of 333 in 2010.  It looked like a dusty small town when I was there.  Despite these facts, Palo Pinto is the county seat.  Somehow I missed seeing the courthouse, but apparently it's there.

It's a small town as in a dog was out wandering around, and when I saw him he was wandering around in my lane, so I got really lucky and a complete lack of oncoming traffic let me swerve to the other side of the road to avoid him, because if I'd tried to stop, I'd have certainly hit him.  And despite me maneuvering around him, it didn't scare him enough to make him budge from his spot.  Hope someone helped him get out of that spot alive.

Back on the road

I passed prickly pear cactus that was blooming bright yellow flowers - despite its blooming season being in summer, which it isn't any more.

I crossed the Brazos River and noticed the level was way down, but it's still recognizably a great river (11th longest in the US).

Mineral Wells

Thanks to the local source of mineral water, Mineral Wells was known as the South's Greatest Health Resort, the city "where America drinks its way to health."  Established in 1904, the Famous Mineral Water Company is still in operation.  

Mineral Wells, pop. 16,946, is home of Natty Flat Smokehouse: "Natty Flat is where it's at."

Baker Hotel and Spa

I passed a huge old hotel, obviously built back in the heyday of mineral water cures, and looked it up.  New owners of the Baker Hotel and Spa have begun a 3-year renovation to restore its former glory.

I passed a campaign sign for Trump in someone's yard that had a handwritten note on it: "Please Do Not Remove!!"  Sounds like there's been a problem.

I also passed a sign that read: "US Army Primary Helicopter Center" and "National Vietnam War Memorial."  I was curious and learned that the 1st is in the past and the 2nd is in the future.  In 17 years of operation, 41,000 helicopter pilots were trained here to survive in the deadly conditions of the Vietnam War.  And not just survive but to rescue others as well.  These pilots ended up flying the famous Hueys and other helicopters that were so important to soldiers there.  The museum is just in the beginning stages, with work being done mostly by volunteers and veterans, I think.  There's a fascinating story about all this at this link.   https://www.airspacemag.com/heroes-fort-wolters

Back on the road

Not far from Mineral Wells is the tiny town of Cool, pop. 157.  I didn't see it, though, because it sits off the main road; I saw the turn for it.  I was curious, with a name like that, which Wikipedia says is of "obscure" origin.

And from there I drove about 10 more miles to the Weatherford KOA, where I was booked for the weekend.