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Old 11-21-2010, 10:13 AM
 
10,239 posts, read 19,608,184 times
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Greetings fellow Texans!

This is just one of those old Texas Sunday Post threads I start on Sunday Texas mornings/afternoons, just because it occurs to me to start them. No logical reason at all...

In this instance, I was just thinking the West Texas highways. West Texas seems to be a part of the state that, parodoxically, while the most -- in common imagery -- quintensential TEXAS, doesn't always get its proper due in terms of scenery and beauty. Hell, there are even disagreements about where West Texas begins, anyway! LOL

My hometown is "west Texas" in the sense it grew up after the WBTS. That is, the frontier era. But I never considered it true West Texas. IMHO, West Texas begins along and west of Vernon/Abilene axis.

Now. Break here. THIS is the song I hadn't heard in years, that got me going on this subject. Y'all remember it? Classic Country Gold.

West Texas Highways, by George Hamilton IV. I will resume my post (a second one) after the song is finished:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHsF57vMpgE


An oldie but a goodie, from KTEX radio...the best of West Dixie!
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Old 11-21-2010, 10:21 AM
 
10,239 posts, read 19,608,184 times
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Ok...now to resume! LOL

West Texas highways can be long and nothing "pretty" -- scenery wise -- to look at. BUT? Gawd knows there is just something about it.

When I was a kid, we used to take the Hwy 82 route to go visit my grandparents in Lubbock. Long stretches between towns. I will always remember a "rest stop" somewhere around...was it Dickens?...that had a natural spring. It was just after the caprock, as I recall...

And those little tiny town cafe's where the best of Texas country cookin' was the feature. And miles and miles of cotton-fields and Texas...

So any of y'all got any good un's to share about West Texas?

Last edited by TexasReb; 11-21-2010 at 10:35 AM..
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Old 11-21-2010, 10:47 AM
 
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Tumbleweeds and lots and lots of road!
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Old 11-21-2010, 10:50 AM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,876,431 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
Ok...now to resume! LOL

West Texas highways can be long and nothing "pretty" -- scenery wise -- to look at. BUT? Gawd knows there is just something about it.

When I was a kid, we used to take the Hwy 82 route to go visit my grandparents in Lubbock. Long stretches between towns. I will always remember a "rest stop" somewhere around...was it Dickens?...that had a natural spring. It was just after the caprock, as I recall...

And those little tiny town cafe's where the best of Texas country cookin' was the feature. And miles and miles of cotton-fields and Texas...

So any of y'all got any good un's to share about West Texas?
Funny...I don't remember ever hearing that song before!

LOL!! You're correct in that West Texas highways can be long, but I think that they seem longer because of the isolation and the endless horizon stretching out before you, where you can see forever!

But the utter flatness of parts of it--namely Lubbock and Midland--took some getting used to, as my part of West Texas (just east of the Pecos river, which forms the entire western boundary of my home county) is more hilly/canyonlands type country!

I also had to get used to the endless cotton fields when I'd drive home from Lubbock for the holidays. Lubbock is a great city, and I loved living there, but the country around it is just BLEAK.

But there are a couple of drives in West Texas that remain among my favorites. The first is the river road drive down in Big Bend country, US170, which runs along the Rio Grande.....some of the most stunning scenery in that rough, isolated area that I love so well. Especially wonderful is the stretch from Presidio to Lajitas.

The second drive is far less scenic, but I love it anyway--from NM US 54 in Alamogordo to I-10 a little to the west of Fort Stockton--you see several mountain ranges all along the drive, and it was fantastic last winter when the Davis Mountains had snow on them.
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Old 11-21-2010, 11:12 AM
 
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Oh yeah, almost forgot. Lots and lots of Wolfman Jack and for cryin' out loud I cannot remember the call letters of that radio station that you could always get to come in so loud and clear all over the area. I never thought I would forget that! Cathy, I bet you know it.
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Old 11-21-2010, 03:31 PM
 
Location: Abilene, Texas
8,746 posts, read 9,032,916 times
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I've lived in West Texas most of my life. I've lived in Midland, Lubbock, San Angelo, and here in Abilene. I've driven all over West Texas many times over the years and yeah, there is very little scenery to be found out here...lol. My favorite spots to drive through would be the Davis mountains area, the Bend Bend National Park area, and the Marfa area. All of those areas are scenic. Palo Duro canyon was nice too, but I guess that's technically in the Panhandle.
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Old 11-21-2010, 05:48 PM
 
Location: DFW
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You know you are on a West TX road when you can stop in the middle of the road, see in 5-10 miles in both directions and relieve yourself without a car in sight or stepping to the side of the road.

When you leave a town like Ozona headed west toward Iraan drive 50 miles and maybe pass 1 old pickup truck, that's a West TX Road.

It's not a place you want to have your car breakdown.
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Old 11-21-2010, 07:17 PM
 
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I always thought the drive between Abilene and San Angelo was very nice......very "Texas".
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Old 11-21-2010, 07:37 PM
 
Location: Abilene, Texas
8,746 posts, read 9,032,916 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rr2005 View Post
I always thought the drive between Abilene and San Angelo was very nice......very "Texas".
Yeah, it's not bad at all compared to most drives in West Texas...lol. There's some fairly nice scenery with various mesas and hills and variations in vegetation along the way between the two cities, especially on Hwy 277. When driving through those hills about 15 miles southwest of Abilene on 277 it looks very similar to the Texas Hill Country for several miles.
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Old 11-21-2010, 08:26 PM
 
Location: DFW
40,951 posts, read 49,189,517 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rr2005 View Post
I always thought the drive between Abilene and San Angelo was very nice......very "Texas".
We made that drive for the 1st time back in 83. We were moving from Ft Worth and it just so happened to be a dry windy March day. My wife started crying when all the tumbleweeds started crossing the road with the high wind.
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