Eagle Pass, Texas (pop. 28,130 - seems like ten times that!!)
We planned on a overnight stay at Walmart. I missed the turn in. Needed to be in the left hand lane and I was in the right. Claire (my GPS girl who likes to mess with me) told me Walmart would be on my right. So I turned into a shopping mall area to get turned around and discovered a huge vacant parking area off from the Planet Fitness gym. Well this looks better and quieter than Walmart so there we stayed.
All the exercise people like to park near the door so they don’t have to walk as far.
Seems about right if you are a fitness buff.
It is going to take us several says to reach our destination.
That is just how it is going anywhere in Texas and there are not many opportunities for places to stay.
We stopped north of Laredo in a rest area built back in the 1930’s.
Why we didn’t go on into Laredo is because Laredo isn’t tourist friendly.
Overnight parking is prohibited including at their four Walmarts.
There are very few of these rest areas left in the country that are still in their original fashion.
I only recall one other we visited near the Kansas/Nebraska border.
Most all have been rebuilt, modernized or torn down.
Imagine how many roadside lunches this table has seen in nearly a hundred years.
The other table was interesting that it had only one bench figuring the traveler would want to sit facing out onto the highway while eating his picnic lunch.
This one too had a little bit more styling to it.
This long empty expanse of the rest area could have had at least three more covered picnic tables yet no sign of them remains, not even the cement slabs.
This roadside rest didn’t even have a trash can.
Texas has long neglected it and now uses it as a dumping ground for highway construction materials.
3 comments:
Do you ever get scared camping out like that?
Those little roadside rests are sweet. I love the little details that catch your eye. Thank you for bringing them to our attention. Strange to think of them as being nearly 100 years old!
I used to watch a show called, "If Walls Could Talk". In your case,if tables could talk. We don't live in a very "restful" society. No more sitting and rocking on the front porch. No more Blue Laws on Sunday. We search for noise rather than quiet. We value TIME rather than living so run into gyms and run out and run and run and run. We're taught to do this by those that profit from our restlessness. There's a proverb about a man who cuts down a tree, uses part of it for a fire to keep warm, part to bake his bread and part to carve out an idol to worship. The Author urges, "Look what you have in your hand. Is it not a lie?" Thanks for making us think, John.
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