After Corrie’s departure hug from the Escapee RV park it was a non-eventful drive to our next rest stop. In fact, I-10 looked so easy to navigate, that Corrie decided to drive for the first time since our departure. Turns out she is a better RV driver, since she has actually had RV driving lessons at Lazy Days RV in Tampa.
We had decided to split the drive to Dan’s sister’s house in the hill country of Texas into three drives of about 200 miles each. So after four hours we pulled into the town of Van Horn, TX. Although we can usually find something of interest in every small town we visit, it was a little more difficult in Van Horn.
Dan and Gumbo walked the entire length of the main business road from west to east and back, and noted the following. The road is named Broadway, and used to be old US Highway 90 now designated as I-10 Business. You can find the remains of at least twenty or more motels; along with several service stations, all out of business now. A few even have OPEN signs hanging in the window, even though it is clear they haven’t been open for years. The only businesses surviving are the national chain motels and gas stations clustered around the exit ramps to I-10; even though Broadway parallels I-10 less than 1/8th of a mile away.
In fact the one business thriving is Chuy’s Mexican Restaurant. Why you ask? Turns out that John Madden famous ex-NFL football coach and now TV football commentator is afraid to fly. When he coached he had to fly, but when he became a TV commentator he demanded to travel by bus. He criss-crosses the USA several times each NFL football season and “inducts” restaurants he feels worthy into his “HAUL of Fame” (note spelling of haul). Chuy’s has been inducted into this Haul of Fame, and have benefited. Corrie and Dan ate there on a previous RV trip. It is good, reasonably priced, and worth stopping if you are in the immediate vicinity.
As usual, Dan and Gumbo stumbled across a few unique items. One was a motel sign advertising SCI-FI, not WI-FI. Not sure what SCI-FI gets you in your room, but we can only think of the Twilight Zone. There also was an establishment that looked like a store and was called Van Gogh Books – Studio – Gallery. There were thousands of books piled on the sidewalk and other items, but the store was locked up with no posted times of business. We could tell from the condition of the items on the sidewalk, that someone has been tending them and they are not abandoned? And as usual, there was a yard full of art objects made from scrap metal, old cars, bottles, etc.
We had decided to split the drive to Dan’s sister’s house in the hill country of Texas into three drives of about 200 miles each. So after four hours we pulled into the town of Van Horn, TX. Although we can usually find something of interest in every small town we visit, it was a little more difficult in Van Horn.
Dan and Gumbo walked the entire length of the main business road from west to east and back, and noted the following. The road is named Broadway, and used to be old US Highway 90 now designated as I-10 Business. You can find the remains of at least twenty or more motels; along with several service stations, all out of business now. A few even have OPEN signs hanging in the window, even though it is clear they haven’t been open for years. The only businesses surviving are the national chain motels and gas stations clustered around the exit ramps to I-10; even though Broadway parallels I-10 less than 1/8th of a mile away.
In fact the one business thriving is Chuy’s Mexican Restaurant. Why you ask? Turns out that John Madden famous ex-NFL football coach and now TV football commentator is afraid to fly. When he coached he had to fly, but when he became a TV commentator he demanded to travel by bus. He criss-crosses the USA several times each NFL football season and “inducts” restaurants he feels worthy into his “HAUL of Fame” (note spelling of haul). Chuy’s has been inducted into this Haul of Fame, and have benefited. Corrie and Dan ate there on a previous RV trip. It is good, reasonably priced, and worth stopping if you are in the immediate vicinity.
As usual, Dan and Gumbo stumbled across a few unique items. One was a motel sign advertising SCI-FI, not WI-FI. Not sure what SCI-FI gets you in your room, but we can only think of the Twilight Zone. There also was an establishment that looked like a store and was called Van Gogh Books – Studio – Gallery. There were thousands of books piled on the sidewalk and other items, but the store was locked up with no posted times of business. We could tell from the condition of the items on the sidewalk, that someone has been tending them and they are not abandoned? And as usual, there was a yard full of art objects made from scrap metal, old cars, bottles, etc.
2 comments:
Sounds even worse than Ozona, TX just down the road in Texas miles. At least they had a bit of a downtown. Poor RV spots however.
This place sounds like Gila Bend, which interestingly enough also had a Sci Fi restaurant, but it was still open.
Speaking of Ozona, guess where our next stop was on the 28th of October?
Post a Comment