After a full day of activities Christmas day, including dodging torrential downpours and tornado warnings, stuffing myself with the usual trappings of a holiday feast...turkey and warm rolls...I found myself laying in bed....counting the seconds...tic toc tic toc...till "go" time. As tired as I was from a full and wonderful day spent with family and friends, getting much needed sleep before the 3:30 a.m. alarm comes at me like a freight train seemed like an impossibility. It may sound crazy but the anticipation of knowing I'm going on a road trip feels about the same as a kid waking up Christmas morning knowing that something new is awaiting him under the tree. You know that feeling...think back to being 8 years old and when you wake up Christmas morning, you smile as you realize today is the day. Today is the day your life will change. You know there are new adventures waiting for you under the tree. Maybe it's something you always dreamed of...or maybe it's something you totally didn't expect...or maybe it's a pack of white ankle socks and some new underwear you get to open in front of your entire family. Either way, the feeling that takes over your body between the time you wake up to rounding the corner to see all those special gifts waiting for you to tear into...that's how I feel when I know I'm about to get on the road. Parked in my garage is my truck with all of my gear pre-loaded...like a tree with new adventures under it. It's difficult to sleep, but I try hard to clear my mind for the long drive ahead. Finally at some point I dozed off. Don't remember exactly when but I damn sure remember that alarm going off. As I get out of bed to do the usual wash up, brush teeth, and get dressed routine, I'm that 8 year old kid again anticipating what is under the tree. I can't get ready fast enough. After checking and double checking everything, I make sure everything is loaded and climb into the driver's seat, knowing that my butt would be here for quite awhile and my truck would be my home for 5 days. No way anything in the world can wipe the smile from my face. I open the garage door and the wheels start turning. I'm happy to be alive and feel absolutely blessed and thankful that I can get out and see the world. Happy that later this day I will be chugging down Hwy 287 on the same route (for the most part) I traveled down so many times since I was 6 years old. After a quick stop for some McDonald's breakfast I was headed west down I-12. I'm still happy, but I have to admit the first 8 hours of the trip are the worst part. Not that it's a bad ride, but between home and Dallas just feels like I'm still at home. I'm not exactly sure why...maybe it's because there is not much to see or just that east of Dallas and all of Louisiana looks pretty much the same...like home. But once I got about halfway between Shreveport and Dallas, the landscape was quite unfamiliar this time. Unlike I had ever seen in this area.
About 5 hours into the trip, I started coming across other vehicles that were covered in varying layers of snow. The temperature had now dipped below freezing, and little did I know it would be 3 more days before I would experience anything above 32 degrees. There was no snow on the ground, but I had known from watching the weather (as I talked about in my previous post - to try and see which way I would ultimately go) that this area had some snowfall. As I merged onto I-20 and pointed the Ram towards Texas, I ran across more and more vehicles covered in the cold white stuff. Finally about an hour west of Shreveport I started seeing some accumulation on the ground. This was anticipated, but I had no idea how much it would wind up being. Pushing west the landscape turned into a winter wonderland. It was beautiful. This helped cure the stigmatism I have about this part of the drive. I stopped to get gas and found the pumps covered in wet snow and the windshield washing stations completely frozen over and useless. As I'm cruising towards, and ultimately around Dallas, taking in the wonderment of what looked like an alien planet (I had just traveled through here in November and everything looked both freshly familiar and unfamiliar at the same time) a thought started creeping in the back of my mind and grew stronger by the second...you know kinda like when someone farts in an elevator...the smell comes on slow and eventually takes over. I started to worry about the road conditions as the accumulation grew deeper and deeper. Knowing full well I was headed north and then northwest, for a time I started to wonder if I would have to break off the path and just drop due south and maybe take I-10 or I-20 to New Mexico. But I kept on. After leaving I-20 for Hwy 80, then I-635 around Dallas to I-35E North I came to the exit where I would say goodbye to the interstate system for awhile (except for a small section of interstate around Wichita Falls). Hwy 380 in Denton is the spot where I mentally think of as the beginning of the trip. This highway shoots due west to Decatur and then onto Hwy 287. But here at this spot is the old familiar gas station where we always stopped on our way out west. I remember it fondly. Immediately next to it is the railroad underpass. This is the exact spot where my trip begins, and ultimately ends when I travel back this way heading home. It's always been this way. Back in the day this marked the boundary bewteen big cities and interstates and country highways and small towns. When I pass under that railroad I feel like I'm moving into a new dimension...a new world. Today, this road is succumbing to urban sprawl. It's much more built up than it used to be. Back in the day this was sparsley populated ranches where cows ruled the landscape. Today, while there are still a few ranches hanging on, there are huge houses in subdivisions and the old 2-lane blacktop is being replaced by a 4 lane divided highway. A casualty of this expansion was the old picnic area along the creek we used to stop at and eat lunch so many years ago and so many times. When I traveled this way in 2008 (which turned out to be the last vacation with my Dad) we kept the family tradition alive and stopped here for a picnic lunch among the creek and usual giant ass bumble bees. It warmed my heart to stop and eat at the same place I remember from so long ago. And it looked like a time capsule...same picnic tables and awnings over them...same little creek...and same awesome feeling of being out and about. I wrote about this place in my 2010 blogs. As I passed along I tried to find where this place had been and I think I saw the area...having since been obliterated to pretty much non-existence. My heart was heavy. I wish I would have known beforehand they would wipe it off the face of the earth because I would have tried to buy one of the picnic tables to put in my backyard as a relic. My nostalgia for things like this may be hard for people to understand, but it really does hurt me to know I will never again be able to stop there and enjoy a sandwich while trying to keep from getting pelted by a pack of angry bumble bees trying to take my cold turkey on white. Just a quick note before I move on...I stopped for gas in Decatur and the entire parking lot was iced over...cars and people trying to traverse the parking lot without falling and slamming other cars was quite amusing and worrying at the same time...and this scene would repeat itself a couple more times before I got out of Texas. This was the first time I put my truck in 4-wheel drive but it wouldn't be the last.
So after passing the "starting point" of my trip and seeing all the new development taking over the landcape of Hwy 380 to Decatur, I reached the golden passage of Hwy 287 with 400+ miles of this road ahead of me. I feel like I'm visiting an old friend as I merge onto the familar blacktop. While the route still goes smack through some of the old towns of the Texas plains, more and more it seems as though they are being bypassed for speedier travel. I love going through the quaint little downtowns of these places with familiar names like Goodnight, Chillicothe, and Clarendon. I remember each and every little town. I also remember that I've probably eaten at every Dairy Queen along this stretch of highway. As the road takes me northwest, the snow accumlation varies from time to time. But as I get close to Wichita Falls, it alarms me at how much I'm seeing on the road, and even moreso at the ice patches. Since just before exiting I-35 at Denton I began seeing cars that have slid off the road. I wasn't too concerned until now. More and more tire tracks in the median (that's "neutral ground" to you and me) where people had gone off and some still there, waiting on a tow. I'm sure some tow truck drivers had a hell of a day. At this point I'm now in 4-wheel drive and slowing down so I don't wind up ruining my trip by having to be put on a waiting list to be dragged from a soggy, snowy trap. But over time things got better. The snow didn't go away, but the road conditions improved and thoughts were concentrated on my first little side trip to the ghost town of Medicine Mound. I love little side trips. It's Christmas morning again.
Leaving Hwy 287 and turning onto Avenue H (FM91) in Chillicothe was exhillerating. I love exploring new territory. I had read about and seen pictures of the ghost town of Medicine Mound and I was excited to finally see it for myself. I was also happy that I had planned my leaving time just right for me to get here before the sun went down. Matter of fact I got there right about the time the sun was starting to cast long shadows and things began to glow a warm yellow...also known as the "golden hour"...as opposed to the warm yellow "golden shower"...but this is NOT that kind of blog so I'll steer clear of that. Didn't take but about 20 seconds to leave the confines of the small town and be out on the vast plains along a tiny two-lane road again. A sharp left, then sharp right, then sharp left again and then I'm finally here. At the intersection of FM91 and FM1167 sits the nearly abandoned town I've wanted to visit for quite awhile. I immediately found the old W.W. Cole building (old gas station with rusted-out gas pumps) and the Hicks & Cobbs building (was the old general store and now is a museum). I stopped for some pics, being careful not to slip in the snow, and just enjoyed the fact that I was finally here. I get giddy I'm tellin ya...can't help it. Yes I'm weird but I don't care. I love this stuff. I took some pics of the historical markers for later reading and walked between the two historic buildings. They date back to the 30's and replaced 1800's era buildings that had burned down in the late 20's. The old general store operates as a musem, but it was closed at the time I was there. Being that winter is not much of a travel season I imagine that it only operated during the summer. After spending some time taking pics and just imagining how this place was full of life some 100 years ago, I was planning to drive out...satisfied that I had acheived one of my goals, when I noticed some large brick ruins about 50 yards off the highway. I also noticed that there was a small, snow covered dirt passage way...wouldn't really call it a road...leading back to it. No way was I leaving without exploring. Back in 4-wheel drive, I headed to see what was waiting for me there. I parked and started walking around and realized this had been quite a large building. The brickwork on what was the front wall had some intricacies to it...kinda like an old school or perhaps a courthouse. There were some pieces of other walls standing, but the ground inside and off to one side and the rear was covered in broken timber and tons of bricks...just a victim of time and neglect. I sent some pictures and an e-mail to the website where I found out about the town in the first place to see if they, or any of their readers, knew anything about it. My e-mail to them and my pics can be seen here:
http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasTowns/Medicine-Mound-Texas.htm
I'm hoping someone replies as I'm interested to see what it may have been. After spending some additional time here, I pulled onto FM1167 and headed back towards Hwy 287. After a couple more sharp turns, something up ahead on the right caught my eye and again, that Christmas feeling took over me. I love finding old abandoned farm houses and barns on my backroad trips. This particular house was larger than I usually find on my adventures. It was a rather big abaondoned farmhouse being overcome by nature and time. I stopped to get some pics and explore, hoping that I don't have that same luck that seems to follow me wherever I go...a wild, crazed dog will come from out of nowhere and give me 9 kinds of hell just for being in the same zip code and breathing the same oxygen as him. With a weary eye I start snapping pics and walking closer and closer to the house. Making my way through the thick grass, calf deep snow, and knocked down barbed wire fence (wasn't me I SWEAR), I couldn't help but get close enough to get a good look inside. I could see the tattered walls and an old sofa turned upside down. Just a mess. And as I stare I cannot help but think back to a time when this was someones pride and joy. Someone put a lot of blood, sweat and tears building this place. Kids may have run up and down these stairs thousands of times. Maybe there was lots of love here, and maybe lots of tears. Either way here it sits on this cold winter evening, exposed to the elements and dying a slow, slow death that will ultimatley come. The sound of silence is deafening. It's a sad sad sight. I love stumbling upon these places but it also breaks my heart. I question what happened...why is this once grand place left to die? Why is there no more life here? As a sign in the window just a few miles up the road at Medicine Mound asks, "Where did all the people go?". I mean it when I say these old abandoned places make me think all these things and more. My curiosity runs amuck. At times when I see places like this I have to collect myself and get my head back in the game. I know that one day this place will be long gone and forgotten, but for today it is alive and well in my imagination...kids running and playing...and perhaps walking down stairs in their pajamas with anticipation to see what is waiting for them under that Christmas tree...I know how they feel.
Getting back on the road, the sun is now barely above the western horizon and my visit with the old town is over. Knowing that I was not going to stop anywhere else for pics today and wanting to be as far west as I could to set up my travels for day two, I pushed on westward on 287. I ate dinner at Pizza Hut (big surprise there!) in Childress, Texas. I've visited this same establishment many many times over the years. Last time I was here (on that same trip in 2008) we stopped to eat here and it had been a week since a tornado had come through the town. There was still lots of damage everywhere and even this building was undergoing repairs. There were only a few other people trying to eat there but things were a mess. They were out of some things and, after having only receive a part of our meal for the 6 of us on the trip, we ultimately left and ate dinner at the Sonic up the street. Ironically when I stopped here for dinner tonight, the place was undergoing renovations and was quite torn up. At least this time I was able to eat my delicious pizza and not have to go find food elsewhere. Have I ever mentioned how much I love pizza? Yum!
I pushed on and finally around 9pm, after 15 hours of driving and 829 miles, I pulled into a rest area for the night. I do this on occassion when taking these types of trips so that I don't have to haul my stuff in and out of a hotel every night. I can go clean up in the restrooms so I don't stink too bad. I pulled into a parking spot and with temperatures now hovering in the low 20s, get settled in, and drop a movie in the DVD to help me relax. I didn't make it all the way through before I was eventually attacked and overcome by the sandman. I went to sleep happy. Happy about where I had been and happy about where I was going tomorrow. Happy and blessed with my life. Happy that I wasn't drinking too much Diet Coke or water because I surely didn't want to have to get up and pee in the middle of the night as the temperature continued to drop. I was safe, warm, happy, and fulfilled. Luckily for me the anticipation of tomorrow was not man enough to keep the sandman away. Goodnight Texas and more on the way soon...
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