When I think of Christmas images of people spending time with their families and opening Santa’s gifts comes to mind. For me, however, today was a chance to spend time with the one I love, the road. Despite the fact that I knew most places would be closed, I endeavored on a journey and this time did not plan the route. Beginning on Texas State Highway 288 I ventured north onto Interstate 45 heading towards Dallas. For a while, I was tempted to head over to the Stockyards in Fort Worth to see if I can catch a country and western act. However, when I got to Huntsville, I decided to venture east on U.S. Highway 190 or the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway. (The route runs from near Bakersfield, TX to the west and ends in Slidell, Louisiana to the east.) I hit the exit at 11:20 A.M. The traffic down 190 was light. The sky was light grey with heavy winds causing the tall omnipotent trees to rotate in circles giving the driver a sense of nervousness and adventure. After about 35 minutes, I reached the town of Point Blank (formerly Blanc Point). William Least Heat-Moon would be proud of my interest in such a name. As I drove through taking notes, I noticed that the town of 559 seemed very empty with the exception of a couple churches, a gas station, icehouse and two constable patrol cars looking to provide their town with some added income.
A few minutes later I crossed a bridge that traverses Lake Livingston, which led me into another town with a unique name, Onalaska. The 170 year old town evolved from farming, grew with the saw mills and is currently back to being a haven due to its proximity to the lake. For anyone who enjoys fishing, the roadbed off old Highway 190 is a great place to catch fish.
As I continued to truck down the route, I passed through the town of Soda, formerly known as Bluff Creek. The first thing that I thought was this is an ironic name. In Texas people call their soft drinks “Cokes” and yet the town is named Soda. In actuality, however, the name was derived from the first letter each of the four names submitted to the postal authorizes by local residents. Like Onalaska, Soda was a huge sawmill community over seven decades ago. One can see remnants of the old mills today along with a church and a couple of stores.
The final place that caught my eye on my short excursion on 190 was the town of Indian Springs, which is home to a camp and RV park. The settlers who came to this part of Texas, whether they were Spanish, French or Anglo were Christians, while the Natives, in this area mainly from the Alabama-Coushatta nation , believed in their own customs. Driving through and looking at a teepee on an Assemblies of God (Pentecostal) sign seemed very interesting perhaps bordering on sacrilegious.
As I hit the town of Woodville, I reached a crossroad. I had the choice of heading north or south on US Highways 287 and 69 or continuing heading east towards Jasper and perhaps Louisiana on 190. Thinking about food and adventure were catalysts in my decision to head south on 287/69. While politics is never an easy issue for most people to deal with, at spots off 287 and 69 one can see remnants of the conservative ideology that was prevalent in this region for over a century. For example, a couple of mechanical businesses featured flags of the Stars and Bars or the Confederacy. While it did not bother me per se, as everyone has a right to express themselves, it nevertheless struck a chord. As I hit Beaumont I had a choice of either going to Port Arthur by staying on 69 and 287 South, heading towards Lake Charles, LA by heading east on I-10 or come on back to H-town by taking the quicker route, I-10 west, which I did.
The drive was very relaxing, informative and enabled me to see why this country is great and that by driving down its highways one can get a glimpse into life of America.
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