Saturday, 13 March 2021
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| today's route |
According to Google, today's route would normally take 5 to 6 hours, so I figured we'd need at least 8, and decided to get on the road at sunup. Today's official sunrise is 6:33, though I noticed it was well up by then. Still, we got on the road at 6:28, and that early hour made the first few hours of driving much easier, today being a Saturday and most folks slow to get out.
On the road
As I drove south through Pittsburg, I looked especially for signs saying it was the Hot Link Capital of Texas. They not only weren't there, you'd never know the town had heard of hot links based on the signs along US 271. Definitely missing a bet there.
The first part of the drive we passed several orchards, at least one of which was for peaches, according to their signs. The trees didn't even look leafed out, though, so it'll be a while before peaches appear.
We drove south through much of east Texas, passing farms and cows and horses and goats all day. I noticed quite a few young calves - very cute.
All day I saw flowering trees covered with flowers; in fact, as I got farther south I noticed some that were already past their flowering peak and beginning to leaf out. Other trees were starting to show hints of green on the branches, with those hints getting much stronger the farther south I went. I saw flowering daffodils and tulip magnolias and purple wildflowers. In the southern part of the drive, I saw redbuds showing that gorgeous magenta.
In the northern part of the drive, I saw pines and mixed woods forests - as well as an extensive pine tree farm. As I got south of Tyler, I started thinking the area must be beautiful when spring really hits, which it hadn't quite by today. Most non-pine trees were still bare from winter, but there was such a nice mix of types of trees I thought it would really look good in a month or so. As I got closer to central Texas, I noticed that the land had been pretty much cleared; there was a much more open view. No pines but more pecans and oaks and cedars.
Not far from Gilmer, I passed a business labeled Guardian Angels K9 Training, a name that intrigued me so I looked it up. It's owned by a couple who say they had to learn a lot about dog training when one of them needed a service dog. (I thought service dogs were already well-trained so don't quite understand why they had to "learn so much about training dogs," as their website says, but that's what they say.) They both now have lots of dog training certifications and offer a range of training, from pet dogs to police dogs to search-and-rescue dogs.
In Gilmer, pop. 4,905, I had a hard time finding the courthouse because Google's directions were 5 miles off, and Gilmer didn't provide much in the way of street signs to help me. But this 1933 building was taller than many in the area, which helped a lot.
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| Upshur County Courthouse in Gilmer |
South of Gilmer, I passed a small intersection with Blue Bird Road going off to the east and Tranquil Lane off to the west. Apparently a cheerful, peaceful area.
Halfway between Gilmer and Tyler, I passed through the City of Gladewater, according to their sign (as if "City" were part of their name). I mention it because I've never heard of this town, but apparently I should have because it's been here since 1873. It now has 6,441 residents, which is almost as many as it had as an oil boom town in the 1920s and '30s. It claims a designation in 1995 by the state legislature as the Antique Capital of East Texas, which is some claim considering the number of antique shops and flea markets held all over this part of the state. These days, it looks like an ordinary, old East Texas town.
I was in Tyler, pop. about 107,000, a few months ago, but this time I went into downtown to see the county courthouse.
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| Smith County Courthouse in Tyler |
I was lucky that it was early on a Saturday morning, so I had no trouble parking beside the courthouse. The dogs and I walked around the block, though there was little grass here. The grassy area was in the block across the street, where merchants were setting up for what was clearly going to be an active Farmer's Market type event. I'm sorry to say that the majority of stores around the courthouse 2-square area were vacant; but Tyler has 96,900 residents so, presumably, the commercial business has moved out to malls?
The town of Tyler, established in 1846, has done its best to develop any charm it can find, being well known for its roses and azaleas. In fact, I passed several signs directing people to Azalea Trails, though I didn't see any azaleas around when I was there.
What I did see was Earl Campbell Parkway, which told me the great Earl Campbell must be a local. And he is. And in 1981 he was only the 4th person to be named by the Texas Legislature as an Official State Hero of Texas - the other 3 being Stephen F. Austin, Davy Crockett and Sam Houston, which gives you an idea of how important he was. I found a 2001 interview of him by Texas Monthly - more than 20 years old now but it gives an idea of what kind of man he is - a toughness on the inside that matches that on the outside. https://www.texasmonthly.com/earl-campbell
South of Tyler, I passed through the town of Noonday, which I'd also never heard of. The highway department acted like it was unincorporated, but apparently it's just small - 777 people as of 2010. It claims to be famous for the "Noonday Onion," which it says is one of the sweetest of the onions. Every May they have a Noonday Onion Festival, which is probably a hoot to attend.
I also saw more bodies of water in the north than as I got farther south. Lake Palestine is about halfway between Tyler and Palestine and seems absolutely enormous. The internet says it has a surface area of nearly 40 square miles, is 18 miles long, and has 135 miles of shoreline. I crossed it in 3 different places and each time it seemed the part I could see stretched on forever.
Throughout the day we passed chicken farms (long closed buildings with hug ventilation fans). Somewhere around Palestine I saw a Sanderson Farms facility - the people who produce chickens. From the road I just got a glimpse of the chicken buildings, but what caught my eye were a number of very large silos, presumably with chicken feed in them?
I passed through the town of Palestine (pronounced "-steen"); with 18,512 residents, it's a big city for this part of the state. They post signs for the Dogwood Trails Bike Route, which sounds very pleasant. I'm only sorry the dogwoods aren't blooming right now.
Farther down the road I came to Long Lake. South of there, though, instead of lakes what I found were rivers: the Trinity River, with a greatly lowered water level, though still clearly a river; the Navasota River; the Brazos River, with a water level that looked much higher than the Trinity's.
Doggy digression
From the beginning of our travels, Dexter has claimed the passenger seat as his, leaving the dog bed between the 2 seats for Gracie. Lately, Dexter's started joining Gracie on the dog bed much of the time we're driving. He really likes contact with others when he sleeps - he'll drape himself heavily across my feet if they're available - so he really likes cramming himself into the small between-seat space with Gracie. She, on the other hand, prefers room to herself and doesn't much like this new idea.
When we stop somewhere, Gracie instantly moves into the driver's seat, and I have to make her move when we get back on the road. She refuses to get in the passenger seat for some reason, so if Dext is already on the dog bed, Gracie leaps over him into the cabin while I clamber over him (much less gracefully) into my seat, and then Gracie tries to find somewhere to go. The bed under the table has become Lily's territory while we're driving so she can't go there. I just do not understand why she can't go into the passenger seat, but she almost never does. Then on the rare occasions that she sits in the seat and looks out the window, Dext wakes up and figures she's looking at something important and comes up on the seat with her.
When Dext sleeps in the passenger seat, instead of curling into a ball as he usually does, he's started spreading out across the seat. Since that's not big enough, his head drops down off the seat and onto whatever part of Gracie happens to be under him. Which wakes Gracie up. Dext will ride for a very long time draped like this across the seat and Gracie. I'd think having the blood run into his head would be a problem, but he doesn't seem to notice.
Other digressions
I counted 11 Trump signs/flags today. Certainly this area would be heavily in favor of the former president but I was disappointed to see so many folks still haven't taken down their signs of support 4 months after the election, 2 months after the inauguration. One sign not included in that total was one I saw at a commercial dirt pit: "Making 'Dirt' Great Again." I'd have thought it might just be a joke, but it also said, "Trump 2020."
For much of the day I battled strong wind gusts and crosswinds. Many times I had a lot of trouble staying on the road, particularly when the lanes were narrow and the road surface was broken.
Actually, I encountered a wide variety of road types today, and they didn't seem to have any correlation to their designation as a US highway or a Texas highway or a farm-to-market road. There was a nice stretch where we had 2 lanes on each side plus a turn lane, and a few times there was actually a grass median. But much of the way we had 1 or 2 lanes on each side with a wide shoulder, which were a relief because there were also a lot of roads with only 1 lane on each side and little or no shoulder, and the lanes were so narrow I could barely stay in them, even without the wind. But of course I did have the wind and those areas were the scariest to drive in, being so narrow with the wind shoving me around.
The speed limit was 70 mph most of the way, but naturally I didn't go above 65. That's why I was very surprised when I got to tonight's campground and found I'd only been on the road for 7 hours. We stopped several times so the dogs could have short walks, and we stopped once for lunch so I had figured we'd need all of those 8 hours I'd planned for. Maybe the difference is that we were mostly on back roads and never on interstates with their speed limits of 75 mph. That's when Google's estimates are really off my actual times.
Back on the road
I passed the S. S. Minnow up on blocks, and it took me a minute to think of Gilligan's Island. This version was too small for more than about 2 thin people.
In Oakwood, pop. 510, the Methodist church is, unusually, named The Methodist Church. I never saw one that wasn't named after someone or after something religious.
Speaking of names, just outside of Oakwood I passed the Riley Fuzzel Farm and very nearly missed the curve I was driving on because of being startled by the name. I suppose it's the name of the owner, and the farm seems to be a prosperous place. But where would that name have come from?
I passed the Four Feathers Farm - a more conventional name - where they have brown-and-white horses with unusually thick hocks, like a Clydesdale though these horses were fairly small.
We took a rest break in Buffalo, pop. 1,856, at the First Baptist Church. Their motto: "Called to Care," which sounded odd to me for some reason, though I'm sure they mean well. Buffalo has a livestock show on Saturdays, and it was in full swing (based on the filled parking lot) while we were there.
All along the highway all day long I saw signs advertising crawfish. I hadn't realized there was a crawfish season, but this is apparently it.
The building has "1881" carved into it, though online it says the courthouse was built in 1882 in the Second Empire style with a Mansard roof. I can attest that the clock works, because it chimed while the dogs and I were walking around the grounds.
The town of Jewett, pop. 1,164, calls itself the Sculpture Capital of Texas, and as I was driving into town I was startled by a lifesize and lifelike statue of a charging rhinoceros. That's the only sculpture I saw, though online I found that the local Eagle Scout Park has an art trail and an annual Sculpture Festival that includes artworks placed in front of local businesses. I thought it was really odd, though, with this heavy emphasis on sculpture, that I couldn't find a single photo of one online, even on the city's website. TripAdvisor had a number of posts extolling these artworks, but I didn't see any photos. The park must be buried in town somewhere, and I'm sorry the town hasn't done anything to draw in visitors with art samples along the road.
I saw a sign that said "El Camino Real - Original Route - Next 26 Miles."
I passed the turns for Jack Corn Road and Hoxie Chapel Road. With those names there must be some stories, but I couldn't easily find them online.
I had 2 drivers blink their lights to thank me for moving over to let them pass. Few drivers bother, so the ones that do really make me feel good.
The third county courthouse I found today was in Franklin, with a population of 1,564.
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| Robertson County Courthouse in Franklin |
I came to Hearne, pop. 4,459, elev. 311' (according to a sign on the old train depot building), and here I noticed that the high school was undergoing a disinfecting process. I only recognized it because I'd seen it on the news while I was in Cedar Hill - enormous hoses funneling into the entrance to clear out the air, I think. First time I've seen that other than on TV.
By midmorning the wind had really picked up and I started having trouble keeping the RV on the road. South of Hearne I came to a sign that said, "Gusty Winds Area," and by then my only thought was "no kidding they're gusty."
I've been seeing a lot of dead skunks and am wondering if their population has been exploding this year to account for there being so very many of them wandering across the roadways.
Outside Rockdale, pop. 5,579, I passed a ranch labeled SKRHAK over the entrance. I'm guessing that's the name of the owner and can't help wondering how they pronounce it and what language originated it.
In Forest Grove (so small it's not even on the AAA map), a church sign read: "Puzzled? Jesus is Your Missing Peace."
At Paige (pop. about 275 20 years ago) in another of Google's little trick shortcuts, I turned as directed down Gonzales St., only to see a sign warning "No Thru Truck Traffic." That's because it was a very narrow road, not quite 2 lanes wide, and it went on for half a mile. Even if I thought I could find an alternative route on my own, I couldn't turn around and go back because there wasn't enough room.
From there it was only another 15 miles to Buescher State Park. Because we've stayed there before, I knew not to expect internet or TV reception. There was a big dog next door to us, but I managed to time our walks so we didn't run into it, and it was a peaceful stay.
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