Good Things in Old Towns

Well, it didn’t take long for me to blow my schedule. You see, I was on the road traveling IH35 to go to Northern Louisiana for a funeral and along the way I made a stop at the Czech bakery in West, Texas to get a sugar fix. I had intended on it being just a quick stop, but sure enough, along the access road to get back to the hiway, this is what I found. Too good to pass up.

　

As I was taking these shots, I saw an old water tower, way in the distance with its peeling paint and rusted frame, and putting my camera away, and even though I wanted to go check it out, I resolved to just get back to my travel and come back some other time.

Well, that resolve lasted about 14 seconds, because on my way back to the entrance ramp to IH35, I made the mistake of looking down that lonely road. What the heck, just a quick trip up there to see if there is anything interesting, right?

Making a U-turn, I kept telling myself " just a quick stop". Another 3 minutes had me in a different world, as I entered the sleepy town of Abbott Texas, which looked like it could have been the set for that TV series, Friday Night Lights. Over the train tracks and past the general store/post office and then to the town’s major intersection, all of which are within 200 feet of each other, I found my first "mark", an old "townward" facing Methodist church from the 1800's. Right across the street, and likewise facing "townward," in a religious pissing contest, was the other side of the coin, a Baptist Church.


After taking some photos, I ambled down to get some shots of the general store, and went inside to introduce myself. I was greeted by an older man sitting in the back who looked as if he had been there all day just waiting for me, a first customer. No one else was in the store, and indeed, it appeared to me that the store gets maybe 2-3 customers a day.

We got to talking, and I told him who I was and what I did, and he let me take a few pictures. Remarking on how his place reminded me of the country store along the route of the country school bus that my brothers and I used to ride, he told me that the town was still like that and that it was the birthplace of Willie Nelson.

Shut Up! I had earlier seen some county music tee shirts and some Willie Nelson CD’s laid up on the shelves, but I just figured that he liked country music. We talked a bit more and then he told me that Willie Nelson owned the very store that we were standing in, and that the house the Willie grew up in was over there down the street.

I later went to "over there down the street" and sure enough, and just as he described it there was the house, and unassuming white wood screened porch affair much as in any on Americas small forgotten towns.

I have not previously listened to much Willie Nelson music, however, next time I do, I will listen to see if in the music I can hear chords that have sprung from Abbot Texas.