Random Thoughts on A Long Drive

[ronwx5x]

My wife and I have a daughter who lives in Fort Worth near TCU. She and our other daughter who lives with her family 5 minutes from our home NW of Houston, have birthdays 1 week apart. We usually get together at our home if possible but decided this year to go to Fort Worth and enjoy a weekend celebrating together.

While I have made this drive many times, I usually am driving and couldn't devote much time to watching the countryside. This time my son-in-law drove and I enjoyed the sights. Keep in mind these are my random, uneducated thoughts and mean no disrepect to any location.

1. It's about a 4 hour drive, starting on US Hwy 290, out to Hempstead and Hwy 6, northeast through Bryan College Station and Marlin, connect with IH35 north of Waco and on into Fort Worth. There's a lot of nice open country with farming, ranching, some light industry and a lot of 2A and 3A towns.

2. We had a railroad running adacent to or near our route almost the entire trip. Railroads must be still an important means of transportation since we saw a lot of activity along the way. Conversely, we saw a very large number of railroad cars with containers stopped and evidently parked. How the heck do they make money with that much rolling stock sitting idle?

3. Beginning with Hempstead, with the loss of Lawrence Marshall Auto and the drought, I expect it will be a long time before we see them back in 3A. In fact, I would expect to see a declining enrollment for quite some time. We saw none of the famous Hempstead watermelons for sale along our route and I suspect the crop was a dismal failure. In fact we saw almost no produce vendors anywhere along the way.

4. Navasota is a nice little town but not really on the highway. The almost new and very nice stadium is very visible from the highway and I've been to several games there, always an enjoyable evening. The town's proximity to Bryan/College Station gives the inhabitants a natural affinity for Aggieland and I can understand why. I think Navasota is probably growing and not as dependent on farming as Hempstead. At least it looks more active.

5. Bryan/College station is growing like it's a city! I moved back to Texas when A&M Consolidated was a 3A powerhouse. Now it's a solid 5A and doing well in athletics. When I was a college student A&M was still a male only, corp required university with about 5,000 students. See what opening up will do!

6. Hearne. What can I say, it looks like a dying farm town and the railroad runs right through the middle of town. More like a storage site for railcars than anything else. I would not recommend stopping to use the toilet facilities at McDonald's. Enough said about that. They'll be 1A before they're 3A. No disrepect to the citizens but Hwy 6 and railroads are about all they appear to have.

7. There are several small towns between Hearne and Marlin but I'm not sure they have a school, much less a football team.

8. Marlin. Nice little town, probably helped by their easy access to Waco. There doesn't seem to be a lot going on and the High School is right beside the highway. Been there a while I would think.

9. Bellmead is pretty well an industrial area,at least along the highway. The famous "Waco" La Vega is right beside the highway and they're addding on at a furious rate. Looks like they may be growing in that area. They could someday be 4A.

10. West is one we hardly saw. At 70 MPH on IH35 you can't blink or you'll miss it.

11. Hillsboro is another one you can't really see from the freeway. Are they growing? I always think of it as where IH35 splits and not as a high school football hotbed.

12. Alvarado is still 3A? It looks like it will be 4A soon. Growing area. Again, the high school is right beside the highway and looks like recent construction has been occuring. Alvarado is not that far from Hillsboro but a world away when it comes to football success.

13. Burleson. How the heck is this a 4A school. I'll bet it won't be all that long before it's 5A . Close to a nice lake, growing and has that look of prosperity.

That's my observations. I have no real reason for posting them except to see if others have insights and observations that might make my quotes be eaten by the writer.

[bigwood33]

Two observations on your observations. First, Hearne is a rather pitiful little town. I suppose they are most recently known for shutting down not one but two Walmarts. There was a Walmart there several years ago that had to be closed because of the high theft rate and then Walmart tried again a few years later with a brand new building and better security but the locals once again "robbed them blind" and the store was closed. How's that for a legacy?
Second, you should have stopped in West at the Czech Stop. It is right on the service road and their baked goods and kolache's are fantastic! I stop there every time I pass for a snack or something for the road.

[Matthew328]

I just made that drive the other direction from Ft. Worth to College Station for the state 7 on 7.

B/CS is a growing area...especially College Station...2nd high school opens this year...Bryan already has two high schools...I like College Station, easy to get around for the most part...

The drought is evident all along six...whats usually green is brown...really sad...but these things happen every so often.

Hearne is a sad, sad place. It looks like it used to be a nice little town...the new Love's is nice though..I recommend going there..its no Buc-ee's but for Hearne it'll do

Marlin is kinda like Hearne in a lot of ways....its not a growing town by any means. Calvert is between Marlin and Hearne...some cool shops there...they play some good six man ball.

Bellemead is just a suburb of Waco..lots of fast food joints..La Vega for some odd reason is growing...heard the school district isn't great though

West..must stop for Kolaches..

Hillsboro other than one or two good years has been mediocre at football....outlet mall keeps that town going....

Itasca used to be 2A but they've shrunk to 1A....used to have some hot's working at the DQ

Grandview is growing a little bit..they might be 3A soon.

Alvarado was growing for a while but they've kind of stagnated..but that's good for them..they want no part of 4A...

Burleson is 4A because they have two high schools...they just split...

[Old LB]

Ron as far as the railroads go, what you where seeing was more than likely trains waiting for approaching trains from the opposite direction. In most areas of the country there is one track for train traffic in both directions with sidings to allow the trains to pass. Occasionally you do see trains parked due to hours of service requirements mandated by the government. Train crews can only work a certian number of hours before they are required to have a rest period. The railroads make more than you can imagine from the container traffic, those trains receive top priority in most cases.

[ronwx5x]

I just made that drive the other direction from Ft. Worth to College Station for the state 7 on 7.

B/CS is a growing area...especially College Station...2nd high school opens this year...Bryan already has two high schools...I like College Station, easy to get around for the most part...

The drought is evident all along six...whats usually green is brown...really sad...but these things happen every so often.

Hearne is a sad, sad place. It looks like it used to be a nice little town...the new Love's is nice though..I recommend going there..its no Buc-ee's but for Hearne it'll do

Marlin is kinda like Hearne in a lot of ways....its not a growing town by any means. Calvert is between Marlin and Hearne...some cool shops there...they play some good six man ball.

Bellemead is just a suburb of Waco..lots of fast food joints..La Vega for some odd reason is growing...heard the school district isn't great though

West..must stop for Kolaches..

Hillsboro other than one or two good years has been mediocre at football....outlet mall keeps that town going....

Itasca used to be 2A but they've shrunk to 1A....used to have some hot's working at the DQ

Grandview is growing a little bit..they might be 3A soon.

Alvarado was growing for a while but they've kind of stagnated..but that's good for them..they want no part of 4A...

Burleson is 4A because they have two high schools...they just split...

I was trying my best to find something good to say about Hearne. Best thing I saw about Calvert was it's not Hearne.

I was also trying to be nice about Marlin. I know it was was once 3A and has had some great success in football. Not much there really.

Itasca is so far from the interstate all you see is a directional sign. I would have like to stop in West to just "Czech" it out but I was not driving.

It would seem that any central Texas town without a lake or proximity to a large city is just waiting to downsize. It seems a shame and all those once-thriving commuities won't get much better soon, especially with the drought. I'll bet almost all those man-made lakes are running out of water. Well, maybe a good tropical storm or two will help this year.

[TarponFanInNorthTexas]

I'll bite!

I did a drive from Houston to Port Isabel a few weeks ago. Here goes....

Sugarland - It's still very "suburbia" looking, and it's still growing southward and westward all along 59 and north along Grand Parkway south of Katy.

Richmond/Rosenberg - Richmond is a nice little town I think. My work takes me there occasionally. Seen some nice residential neighborhoods on my way to work. Sadly the only part of Rosenberg I see is all the restaurants and gas stations along 59.

Edna - Doesn't look like it's growing at all. Everything still looks the same as it did 10-15 years ago, even that lonely looking Whataburger they have there.

Victoria - You mostly see the industrial sector along 59 and not much else. I didn't notice any difference from the last time I drove through.

Refugio - Now this town....man.....you drive through and IT LOOKS like it's a 2A town, but then you look at their HS and see about 200+ kids (high school aged looking) running around at the high school and it makes me wonder. I think it was their band I saw, and if it was, then that's a freaking HUGE band for a 2A school. Bigger than most 3A's I know including Port Isabel.

Odem - Every time I drive through this town, there always seems to be a new business where an old business was located. Other than that, not much changes there from what I can tell.

Corpus Christi/Calallen Area/Robstown/Kingsville - The one GLARING thing I noticed was Joe Cotten's Barbecue burned to the ground. Sad, that place had been around for years.

King Ranch - It's still a whole lot of nothing, though I nearly hit a deer just south of the rest area.

Raymondville/Lyford - Raymondville looks to be growing a bit. Some new stores and houses I noticed off 77. Lyford still looks as dumpy as before including the roadside fruit stands.

Harlingen - Definitely a growing area (slightly) but I'm still baffled as to why they felt it necessary to split into two high schools. It's a shame really.

San Benito - Nothing seems to change in this "barrio", they're still proud to be the hometown of Freddy Fender, though.

Los Fresnos - If you drive through Los Fresnos proper (SLOW DOWN TO 25 MPH) you'd think it's a 3A town. But the district stretches pretty much from Brownsville, up to near Rio Hondo and up to near San Benito. There are some kids that actually have Brownsville, Rio Hondo and San Benito addresses that attend Los Fresnos schools. Because of this they're 5A. Other than that, Los Fresnos is infamous for it's police force. Once got pulled over for doing 35 mph in a 30 zone. It's BS...

Port Isabel - Home Sweet Home! The outlying areas don't change too much, as they're mainly residential areas (Laguna Vista, Laguna Heights) but Laguna Vista is growing at a rapid pace due to the homes/condos being built in and around South Padre Island Golf Club (pretty cool course btw) Port Isabel is also growing, mainly commercially though, and it's residential populace pretty much remains in the 6,500 range. There IS a possibility of a new bayfront subdivision along Highway 100 but nothing has come of it yet.

That's it pretty much. Y'all should come down sometime and play a round of golf or two.

[ronwx5x]

I made that drive a few years back,except for Port Isabel. I was headed to Brownsville. Strange to see a Customs/Immigration stop in the middle of nowhere. There are very loooong stretches of nothing and you better have plenty of water, fuel, snacks and anything else you may need. The distances between towns is expansive and the traffic is anything but heavy except for trucks. As a coastal city, I really thought Brownsville would be humid but it's not, just hot and dry.

I probably won't go back. I couldn't find much to see, I don't fish and I was there when the fields were already plowed under.

[Matthew328]

I made the drive last year from Weslaco over to S. Padre and then caught a game in San Benito....then the next day drove up from Weslaco to Corpus on 77....not much to see but I enjoyed the football in the Valley

[trojandad]

I was trying my best to find something good to say about Hearne. Best thing I saw about Calvert was it's not Hearne.

I was also trying to be nice about Marlin. I know it was was once 3A and has had some great success in football. Not much there really.

Itasca is so far from the interstate all you see is a directional sign. I would have like to stop in West to just "Czech" it out but I was not driving.

It would seem that any central Texas town without a lake or proximity to a large city is just waiting to downsize. It seems a shame and all those once-thriving commuities won't get much better soon, especially with the drought. I'll bet almost all those man-made lakes are running out of water. Well, maybe a good tropical storm or two will help this year.

coach lymas took his hearne team 4 levels deep in the playoffs a few years back, then had 3 coaches pass away in 18 months, including coach jackson, a beloved coach who actually played nba ball with big o in cincinnati back in the 60's, had WONDERFUL stories to tell and spurred my boys tremendously when he was at coldspring.....otherwise, your on the money about hearne, although lymas always fields a tough track team, irregardless of football success.....

[Gsquared]

My wife and I have a daughter who lives in Fort Worth near TCU. She and our other daughter who lives with her family 5 minutes from our home NW of Houston, have birthdays 1 week apart. We usually get together at our home if possible but decided this year to go to Fort Worth and enjoy a weekend celebrating together.

While I have made this drive many times, I usually am driving and couldn't devote much time to watching the countryside. This time my son-in-law drove and I enjoyed the sights. Keep in mind these are my random, uneducated thoughts and mean no disrepect to any location.

1. It's about a 4 hour drive, starting on US Hwy 290, out to Hempstead and Hwy 6, northeast through Bryan College Station and Marlin, connect with IH35 north of Waco and on into Fort Worth. There's a lot of nice open country with farming, ranching, some light industry and a lot of 2A and 3A towns.

2. We had a railroad running adacent to or near our route almost the entire trip. Railroads must be still an important means of transportation since we saw a lot of activity along the way. Conversely, we saw a very large number of railroad cars with containers stopped and evidently parked. How the heck do they make money with that much rolling stock sitting idle?

3. Beginning with Hempstead, with the loss of Lawrence Marshall Auto and the drought, I expect it will be a long time before we see them back in 3A. In fact, I would expect to see a declining enrollment for quite some time. We saw none of the famous Hempstead watermelons for sale along our route and I suspect the crop was a dismal failure. In fact we saw almost no produce vendors anywhere along the way.

4. Navasota is a nice little town but not really on the highway. The almost new and very nice stadium is very visible from the highway and I've been to several games there, always an enjoyable evening. The town's proximity to Bryan/College Station gives the inhabitants a natural affinity for Aggieland and I can understand why. I think Navasota is probably growing and not as dependent on farming as Hempstead. At least it looks more active.

5. Bryan/College station is growing like it's a city! I moved back to Texas when A&M Consolidated was a 3A powerhouse. Now it's a solid 5A and doing well in athletics. When I was a college student A&M was still a male only, corp required university with about 5,000 students. See what opening up will do!

6. Hearne. What can I say, it looks like a dying farm town and the railroad runs right through the middle of town. More like a storage site for railcars than anything else. I would not recommend stopping to use the toilet facilities at McDonald's. Enough said about that. They'll be 1A before they're 3A. No disrepect to the citizens but Hwy 6 and railroads are about all they appear to have.

7. There are several small towns between Hearne and Marlin but I'm not sure they have a school, much less a football team.

8. Marlin. Nice little town, probably helped by their easy access to Waco. There doesn't seem to be a lot going on and the High School is right beside the highway. Been there a while I would think.

9. Bellmead is pretty well an industrial area,at least along the highway. The famous "Waco" La Vega is right beside the highway and they're addding on at a furious rate. Looks like they may be growing in that area. They could someday be 4A.

10. West is one we hardly saw. At 70 MPH on IH35 you can't blink or you'll miss it.

11. Hillsboro is another one you can't really see from the freeway. Are they growing? I always think of it as where IH35 splits and not as a high school football hotbed.

12. Alvarado is still 3A? It looks like it will be 4A soon. Growing area. Again, the high school is right beside the highway and looks like recent construction has been occuring. Alvarado is not that far from Hillsboro but a world away when it comes to football success.

13. Burleson. How the heck is this a 4A school. I'll bet it won't be all that long before it's 5A . Close to a nice lake, growing and has that look of prosperity.

That's my observations. I have no real reason for posting them except to see if others have insights and observations that might make my quotes be eaten by the writer.
Ever wonder how Arbys stays in business?
Its rare that I ever hear someone say they ate there.

[mwynn05]

Ive lived in Burleson the past 2 years and just since I have been here the growth has been huge! Especially between Joshua and Burleson on 174. From where I live its actually faster to go to Cleburne via 35 than 174 even though its probably 10 more miles. When I moved here Burleson was 5a, but the new HS opened and took some of the enrollment. Centennial is probably the nicest high school ive ever seen

[TarponFanInNorthTexas]

I made the drive last year from Weslaco over to S. Padre and then caught a game in San Benito....then the next day drove up from Weslaco to Corpus on 77....not much to see but I enjoyed the football in the Valley

San Benito's stadium is pretty nice, so is Weslaco's. Next time you're down in the Valley, head over to a place in Port Isabel called Isabel's Cafe (for breakfast), and have one of their breakfast tacos. It'll fill you up, and it's easy on the wallet. Or you can do Pirate's Landing for lunch. Turn left right before the causeway to South Padre and it'll be on the right, right next to the Fishing Pier.

[TarponFanInNorthTexas]

I made that drive a few years back,except for Port Isabel. I was headed to Brownsville. Strange to see a Customs/Immigration stop in the middle of nowhere. There are very loooong stretches of nothing and you better have plenty of water, fuel, snacks and anything else you may need. The distances between towns is expansive and the traffic is anything but heavy except for trucks. As a coastal city, I really thought Brownsville would be humid but it's not, just hot and dry.

I probably won't go back. I couldn't find much to see, I don't fish and I was there when the fields were already plowed under.

Brownsville does have a port, but it's an inland port. There is a long channel that goes from Port Isabel to Brownsville's industrial area off Highway 48 (48 connects Port Isabel to Brownsville) and that channel then merges with the Intercoastal Waterway. There's nothing "coastal" about Brownsville at all. So I'm sorry you really didn't get a true feel of what coastal life in the Rio Grande Valley is like. Perhaps you should try it again, and completely forget Brownsville. Fly Southwest Airlines into Harlingen and drive from there to Port Isabel/South Padre Island.

[coach]

Brownsville does have a port, but it's an inland port. There is a long channel that goes from Port Isabel to Brownsville's industrial area off Highway 48 (48 connects Port Isabel to Brownsville) and that channel then merges with the Intercoastal Waterway. There's nothing "coastal" about Brownsville at all. So I'm sorry you really didn't get a true feel of what coastal life in the Rio Grande Valley is like. Perhaps you should try it again, and completely forget Brownsville. Fly Southwest Airlines into Harlingen and drive from there to Port Isabel/South Padre Island.

Itasca has a great mascot!

[orange machine]

Ferris has some good looking mountains built by trash. I think Ferris was built on top of trash I'm sure land is very cheap.

[ronwx5x]

When I lived in The Woodlands and drove IH45 to Dallas I noticed the landfills and especially the thousands of birds looking for morsels to eat. I once went to Juarez Mexico to build homes for the poor and the land they had been given was all on top of a landfill. I was a bit concerned about how stable the foundation could be.

[trojandad]

When I lived in The Woodlands and drove IH45 to Dallas I noticed the landfills and especially the thousands of birds looking for morsels to eat. I once went to Juarez Mexico to build homes for the poor and the land they had been given was all on top of a landfill. I was a bit concerned about how stable the foundation could be.

i didnt know you werent in the woodlands anymore....i guess attending coldspring games will be tougher now.....

[ronwx5x]

i didnt know you werent in the woodlands anymore....i guess attending coldspring games will be tougher now.....

We moved to Cypress in June to be closer to our grandaughter and family. I can still make some games. After all, I've been known to drive to DFW, Wimberley, Huffman and others. I even went to a Tarkenton game once. Probably won't do that again.

[Matthew328]

Looks like I'll be making the drive from DFW to the Valley again...will probably take a day trip to the beach like last year....

[trojandad]

We moved to Cypress in June to be closer to our grandaughter and family. I can still make some games. After all, I've been known to drive to DFW, Wimberley, Huffman and others. I even went to a Tarkenton game once. Probably won't do that again.

i REALLY think this is one of those 1 in 30 yrs that tarkington takes cleveland.....:cheerl:

[Cam]

I'll bite!

I did a drive from Houston to Port Isabel a few weeks ago. Here goes....

Sugarland - It's still very "suburbia" looking, and it's still growing southward and westward all along 59 and north along Grand Parkway south of Katy.

Richmond/Rosenberg - Richmond is a nice little town I think. My work takes me there occasionally. Seen some nice residential neighborhoods on my way to work. Sadly the only part of Rosenberg I see is all the restaurants and gas stations along 59.

Edna - Doesn't look like it's growing at all. Everything still looks the same as it did 10-15 years ago, even that lonely looking Whataburger they have there.

Victoria - You mostly see the industrial sector along 59 and not much else. I didn't notice any difference from the last time I drove through.

Refugio - Now this town....man.....you drive through and IT LOOKS like it's a 2A town, but then you look at their HS and see about 200+ kids (high school aged looking) running around at the high school and it makes me wonder. I think it was their band I saw, and if it was, then that's a freaking HUGE band for a 2A school. Bigger than most 3A's I know including Port Isabel.

Odem - Every time I drive through this town, there always seems to be a new business where an old business was located. Other than that, not much changes there from what I can tell.

Corpus Christi/Calallen Area/Robstown/Kingsville - The one GLARING thing I noticed was Joe Cotten's Barbecue burned to the ground. Sad, that place had been around for years.

King Ranch - It's still a whole lot of nothing, though I nearly hit a deer just south of the rest area.

Raymondville/Lyford - Raymondville looks to be growing a bit. Some new stores and houses I noticed off 77. Lyford still looks as dumpy as before including the roadside fruit stands.

Harlingen - Definitely a growing area (slightly) but I'm still baffled as to why they felt it necessary to split into two high schools. It's a shame really.

San Benito - Nothing seems to change in this "barrio", they're still proud to be the hometown of Freddy Fender, though.

Los Fresnos - If you drive through Los Fresnos proper (SLOW DOWN TO 25 MPH) you'd think it's a 3A town. But the district stretches pretty much from Brownsville, up to near Rio Hondo and up to near San Benito. There are some kids that actually have Brownsville, Rio Hondo and San Benito addresses that attend Los Fresnos schools. Because of this they're 5A. Other than that, Los Fresnos is infamous for it's police force. Once got pulled over for doing 35 mph in a 30 zone. It's BS...

Port Isabel - Home Sweet Home! The outlying areas don't change too much, as they're mainly residential areas (Laguna Vista, Laguna Heights) but Laguna Vista is growing at a rapid pace due to the homes/condos being built in and around South Padre Island Golf Club (pretty cool course btw) Port Isabel is also growing, mainly commercially though, and it's residential populace pretty much remains in the 6,500 range. There IS a possibility of a new bayfront subdivision along Highway 100 but nothing has come of it yet.

That's it pretty much. Y'all should come down sometime and play a round of golf or two.

I remember going wade fishing with my dad to Laguna Vista when there were only a few homes and a little convenience store. We used to park right by a concrete seawall and walk north along the shoreline. Then we'd hit the water. That spot is still the spot I caught the biggest speckled trout ever. After a few years, we couldn't go back in there anymore......