Random pavement

"Hold nothing back. Pour your living soul into it. Make the damn thing absolutely resonate with emotion and authenticity. Make it real. Get personal. Hang it all out there. All of it." Kay Thomas

Normally, I come up with interesting anecdotes about forgotten or unusual places, road alignments or people I have encountered. Nonetheless, I am going to stray away from the script, as all good writers must do (I consider myself an up-and-coming, writer, not great, but not at level one, either).

Yesterday, riding home from a nowhere-to-go-why-did-I-get-in-the-truck-and-go-anywhere journey where I found some beautiful scenery,

 

(Farm Road 1201 outside Moss Lake, TX) I began to wander like Jimmy Stewart after his angelic buddy altered his existence.

Where the heck am I going? Was I trying to find a secret portal to Oklahoma? Other than I -35 in the Gainesville area, there is hardly any spot to cross the Red River, unless I went west to US 81 or east on US 377 (closest routes to me).

After coming back on Farm Road 1201, I took a left onto FM 1202. Minutes later, I crossed over to Gainesville, which was the home of Camp Howze,  the Great Hanging , and prior to that, saw wagons cross along the California Trail (along modern day FM 51) seeking glory and gold out west.

 

Signs of I-35 slowly appeared, do I go north, south, east, anywhere? The wheels glided south as it caressed the asphalt before hitting the rugged, every-person-for-yourself, interstate. When I got to Valley View, which evolved in 1873, but grew thanks to the Colorado, Gulf and Santa Fe Railway,

 

I headed left onto Farm Road 922. For the next several miles, I went through a myriad of twists-and-turns causing my stomach to issue warnings to the driver. After 20 minutes, the truck reached US 377, issued a right and in Tioga, which is Gene Autry's hometown, found my haven, or heaven...a conveyor belt of VINTAGE SIGNS. (Unfortunately, this antique shop, which also offers customers items made up of cedar tree bark, was closed)

I felt like a kid opening up his first pack of baseball cards unsure what he will find or Steve McQueen in his Ford Mustang seeking out the adversary, what kind of twists and turns will come up next?

 

A car speaker from a drive-in!!! (though for $225, it helped the camera more than it would the wallet)

 

Oh yea...one more thing...one more stop...Pilot Point, just a few miles down the road, has a town square with an array of red brick and plaster builders, including a café where Bonnie and Clyde stopped by while pursuing their ultimate thrill. Two legendary historical figures used to stand on the same concrete steps I was on. Goosebumps!

 

The spirit is invigorated. Now, where do I go from here?