Weekend drive…
A couple times a year we like to take a day and head out for a drive. We have no idea where we’re headed as we walk out the door. We fill the tank in the Mustang and point it in a random direction and go. This Saturday we headed north and east of Austin. It’s one of my favorite drives.
The first town we passed through was Andice. It’s a speck on the map with a population of 25. Then it was on to Florence to one of our favorite antique stores. It was closed and out of business. That happens a lot on our drives. We find a little place that’s fun to hang out and talk to locals and it’s gone a year later.
We next drove through Jarrell. It is semi infamous for a tornado that passed through it in 1997 that killed 27 people. We stopped at the memorial park at the spot where the worst of the damage occured. There are now a couple of storm shelters at the spot. My son had never seen one and wanted to look inside. It was quite sobering knowing that just a few years ago many people died in their homes even though they did what they were told to protect themselves. As you drive around the community these days you can see many new sotrm shelters in the ground around houses.
We next drove through Salado. It’s a very touristy small town. Lots of over priced antiques and boutiques. We stayed long enough to get some taffy, my son’s new favorite candy, and look in a couple of stores at art and such we couldn’t think of affording. We got back on the road and decided to head east.
We passed through Holland before turning south towards Bartlett.
Bartlett was once a thriving community. The downtown section is a few blocks long with nice turn of the century buildings. It was once a bustling little town. Now it’s nearly a ghost town. Of the several dozen store fronts only about 4 were open, all of them antique stores. We stopped in at all of them and talked for a while with a nicer older lady at one. You could tell she’s loves the town and hates to see it dead. She hopes one day it’ll come back alive. I doubt it’ll happen in her lifetime though. As it is it’s a very depressing town to drive through. You can tell it was once a happening town. It still has real brick streets, you can see the faded 75 year old billboards painted in the alleys for things like Coke and Wrigley’s gum. I’d have loved to see it in it’s hey-day.
We pushed on through Granger and Circleville before stopping in Taylor.
Taylor is starting to recover as it’s now becoming a bedroom community for Austin. It’s a bit of a drive from downtown but from places like Round Rock it’s within commuting distance. We hit a few antiques stores and noticed a beautiful old building we’d like to buy. We still have that dream of owning a coffee shop and this building was perfect. It was right in the middle of downtown. Looks like it’d get a lot of traffic. I had a decent ground floor plus area upstairs for living and offices. We’ll have to check it out a bit more soon.
It was starting to get late but we still had to make it to Elgin to pick up dinner. Nothing beats fresh Elgin sausage on the BBQ for an easy dinner. We picked up some sausage and headed home to dinner.
I love going through all the old towns even if it is a bit depressing. You can tell the folks there love their towns but are powerless to stop their decline. I’d love to be able to live in a small town away from all the BS that is daily life in the rat race.