Run! For Rest, Run! (Part 2)

I'm not sure what time it was when we pulled into Lufkin...I do remember the sun was soon to be going down, but I forget what time of year it was, other than that it was warm, which doesn't tell you much in Texas, so I can't nail it down to a clock time. I'm also writing about this trip months later, so please allow me a little leeway on the details when the chronology doesn't seem to make sense.

The reason for that babbling will become apparent shortly.

On the way into town, our first priority was to secure some lodging for the night. After vetoing several tiny, rundown motels ("That's a little too much local color," the girls chorused), and finding that one hotel only had a room with two double beds, we eventually ended up at a Best Western, and while in the lobby, I picked up a brochure about a nearby canoing place. That sounded like a lot of fun, and we resolved to look it up later as the next day's activity. After checking in, we proceeded to unload the car and then head out to find something to eat.

This proved to be much more difficult than we thought. See, we didn't want to eat at a chain restaurant, and every road we started down seemed to wind up in residential areas, or was hotel and franchise central. Eventually, we spied -- ah-hah! A local-looking barbecue place! I love barbecue...... Okay, pulling into the parking lot, about to get out of the car.....and someone inside flipped the open sign to "closed." Rats.

So we continue driving around town, eventually settling on a steak and seafood place....I inhaled a very large plate full of cajun-grilled shrimp...mmmm.....shrimp..... The three of us also flirted quite heavily with our waitress -- her chest was truly impressive and commanded our attention -- it took real effort to look up at her while we placed our orders. We mentioned that we were out wandering and didn't really have any particular plans for the weekend, but that we were just exploring the state and seeing where we ended up. She wistfully remarked on how fun that must be and how she'd like to go see her sister in Galveston one of these days. We replied asking when she got off work...we'd be happy to continue our little adventure and move it down to Galveston (and maybe take this lovely lady to the beach)...after all, we were in exactly the right frame of mind to just take off without a care in the world. Unfortunately, she opted not to go...I still wonder if we should have invited her back to the hotel room if she didn't want to actually go out of town....course, none of us are quite that bold.

Off to Wal-Mart, where we picked up a Texas Gazetteer, so that we could really explore the obscure back roads. Finally back to the hotel, where we worked off some of that energy we developed at dinner.

Next morning, and we're off to find the Big Slough Wilderness Resort and go canoing! We packed back up, checked out of the hotel, and got on the road, hoping to find some local small restaurant for breakfast along the way. As we circled through town, we marvelled that nobody seemed to be open at 8am or so on a Sunday morning...go figure. Oh well...according to the Gazetteer, we should pass two more towns on the way to our destination. So we chattered away as we entered the Davy Crockett National Forest on a delightfully rainy, misty morning....

Shortly before our next turnoff toward the canoing place, we stopped for gas -- I love these small gas stations in the middle of nowhere with the old-fashioned pumps that uses dials instead of LEDs, and may or may not be accurate in determining the price...they're just neat -- and asked for directions -- yeah, I know, but we're talking FOOD here! -- for a place to get some breakfast. He told us about a cafe just up the road, in a place apparently big enough to have a spot on the map, but once there, it didn't look like they had a population much larger than a couple dozen. The cafe was attached to a gas station, our waitress was also the clerk, and her three brothers were in there having breakfast when we arrived. Alas, she must have been having a bad morning, as our waitress was a bit surly as we decided what we wanted. The coffee was only so-so, but the pancakes were excellent, and served with butter that seemed fresh enough, it may have been churned that morning...the bathroom was also surprisingly nice -- it was on the outside wall of the store, but the walls were made of wood and it was very clean -- the whole room made me think that it should have been part of a log cabin at a fancy place trying to look rustic.

Anyway, eventually, we made our way back to the turn, and took it. Here's where we ran into a tiny problem.....these dirt roads weren't labeled...or at least, they weren't labeled the same as the map. We turned up several dirt roads based on counting the thin, barely drawn lines on the gazetteer map, and every single one of them turned out to be a private driveway, so we had to turn around and make our way back again. Man, this was disappointing...but we weren't giving up! We were going canoing, dammit! Continue down the road a bit -- ah-hah! A sign for the Big Slough Wilderness Resort, and what appeared to be a well-travelled (and wide!) dirt track. We make our turn, and the whole car starts vibrating -- we're laughing, enjoying it, and the girls start in on some naughty humor...oh, who am I kidding...I probably started it :) We're certain we're going the right way, and though the dirt is really more of a mud track (with some nasty looking sludge on either side of the road), we kept steering to the solid-looking portions and were basically doing okay.

And then the road forked.

Three ways.

Only one of them even had a road sign marking it. None of them had any indication that they had anything to do with the Big Slough Wilderness Resort. Oh well...we picked straight ahead...and shortly got to cross over a bridge which consisted of little more than two boards spaced approximately car-width apart over a gully. Looked tricky, but we got across easily...and then saw a sign for Big Slough, pointing in the same direction we were pointing! Hurray! We're still going the right way! And it's only a mile more! We continue slugging along at a sensible 20mph, which was really ticking off the old guy in the land yacht behind us. Oh well....a little poetic justice for when they hold us up on the roads we drive fast on :)

Then the road forked again.

Looked like four ways this time.

Trusting in those Mexican tracking instincts honed from generations of hunting the elusive chupacabra, I determined the most well-travelled road of the options available, and went that way.

Okay, so maybe those tracking instincts need a little more honing.

20 minutes or so later, we're deep in the forest, pine trees towering all around us, and the road has gotten smaller...wolves are howling, storm clouds are gathering, and there are gremlins removing the lug nuts from our tires.

Well, okay, maybe not all that...but we were deep in the forest on a smaller road. Angela's starting to get worried -- Brandy and I are irritated that we probably won't get to go canoing and are trying to figure out if this mud trail eventually leads to another road so that I don't have to figure out how to turn the car around on a road which isn't as wide as the car is long....or really have to freak anyone out by reversing all the way back to an intersection to do the turning. As it turned out, there was a little state highway on the map, and supposedly this farm to market road intersects with it eventually. Assuming that I was on the right branch of it, of course.

More tension in the car as the minutes drag on, and the road gets a little smaller....and then seems to run out of the dirt covering....we're now driving on bare rock. I've got my fingers crossed that this track won't turn into a game trail before we actually get to the highway.

Time passes.....

......

.....and we're out! Oh well, no canoing for us today -- time to plot a course home. As we say our farewells to the trail of adventure, we see a billboard, advertising -- you guessed it -- the Big Slough Wilderness Resort. Who knows? Maybe that whole drive was the resort....we certainly saw enough wilderness!

Back on the road, and as it turned out, we were on the Texas Forest trail. Who knew? We follow it for a while, taking note of Mission Tejas State Park as something to come back to someday, working our way up through Palestine and then further north toward Athens, stopping at every roadside vegetable stand that happened to catch our eye. In Athens, we turned again, this time back on highway 175...along the way, we stopped at a couple antique stores, as well as one more roadside fruit and vegetable store. This wasn't just a stand...it was in a building, and could at least claim the title of shop. While there, we got more fresh blackberries and some Black Walnut syrup....mmmmm......

The trip was coming to an end as we passed Kaufman again, where we saw cows standing deep in a lake....we dubbed them mooquatic cows...and the meat is feef....or maybe bish...

All in all, we had a lot of fun for our first major road trip, and a hunger had been re-awakened within us. As children, we had each been explorers, wandering where we could and seeing what there was to see. As adults, this desire had been suppressed as we took on adult responsibilities. Until we met, we hadn't travelled enough. We hadn't taken the back way and seen. We just took the major highway, got to our destination, did what we were there to do, and then went home.

That would soon change. Now that we knew each other's gypsy nature, now that we had rediscovered that spark within us, we vowed to nurture the flame, to experience more, and to learn what there is to see in the small towns of Texas.

There would be many more trips...and soon....