Texas Cosmopolitan 6: London

 

If you're lucky, and loved, after you're long gone, you'll have a key chain with your name on it attached to a fence at a picturesque rest stop near San Marcos, Texas.  Milo did, Melissa did. Rest in Peace, y'all.  The land was beautiful as I drove west to Blanco, Texas, on my way to London.  Brushing up on my Matt Kirk tunes, I cruised to the Matt & Ma album and looped it, nothing like a voicey, legendary Texas river gal singing Prine, Cash, and Don Williams tunes, and others, with acoustics, strings, and sway; the music somehow made the drive perfect, Matt's shaker driven, harmonica laced Hypothetically Speaking made me think of trunks and limbs and twigs, "When we start a family tree," Sylvia Kirk, we know where Matt got his chops (He sings Jimmy LaFave better than Jimmy LaFave).

After some eggs in Blanco, 18 holes at Lady Bird GC, and an afternoon dash to Junction, Texas, I was settled in at the Sun Valley Motel.  London was 20 miles outside of town, no lodging was available there.  The baby back ribs at Lum's BBQ hit better than anything in Lockhart, but I'm spoiled by my hometown joint for brisket, not even sure why I try it anywhere else.  Keep your brisket secrets, Hutchins BBQ, can't find better anywhere.  An old Indian man on an old walker kept popping up all around the motel, smoking darts (cigarettes); across the parking lot, then two rooms over, puffing away, by the ice machine, keeping an eye on me it seemed, I ignored him and slept like a rock.

After a 10 mile town bike ride the following morning I left Junction impressed with self promises of a lengthy stay in the mid near future.  A poem on a town painting in my motel room summed up the place...

Are you seeking recreation, 

with surroundings more than fair?

Peace and rest and relaxation,

from a world of weary care?

Come then--come away to Junction,

where the air is pure and sweet,

Mid the rock ribbed hills of Kimble,

where the Llano rivers meet.

Forest, field and rippling river,

rocky hilltops rearing high.

Bring the body rest and comfort 

and delight the weary eye.

Spend a little time with us--

you'll recall it with delight.

Junction, Kimble County, Texas;

Tourist Camp.--J. J. McWright.

...and I dug how J. J. made the signoff part of the poem, probably written in the middle of last century, probably a legendary figure around Junction, great use of punctuation and letter casing.  The 20 mile drive north to London featured blue skies, blue as the Sea Of Cortez, populated with large and small puff clouds, white like cotton, white white.  After Moscow and Berlin, I was worried London was gonna be a blip, or a blur, or a blurp, or a bust, but no, London was intact, 200 folks strong, alive.  The famous London Hall, London Park, London Pub, London Grocery & Grill, London Baptist Church, London Methodist Church, London Cemetery, London Water Tube, London VFD, The Queen Of Junk, and no Dollar Stores or Dollar Generals anywhere in sight, I liked London, classy signage.

Texas Cosmopolitan 5: Martindale

 

The road had done me in, I needed to hide out and get my thoughts together, write something, play something, do nothing for awhile.  I booked 3 nights at the Western 1924 Lofts above Duett's Texas Club in Martindale, Texas.  Set on the upper banks of the San Marcos River, the Aerodynamic Room was a renovated, old, poshy spot, and I can posh with the poshiest poshers that ever poshed, thanks to my wife and daughters.  The next 3 days went by slowly, I left a 5 star review and tried to capture the hazy memory of what went down...

"Felt like a 3 day dream. The pad, Duett's Texas Club, Harper's Vintage, the artist next door. Peace and quiet by day, then rocking and swaying and popping for a few hours, then back to peace and quiet and birds and river and moon. Best bed I've ever Aired To The Bee and Bee, and I've been around. Acoustics were nice, the patio was proper. All amenities were stocked just right and orderly. Thanks for the Tide, not all places set you up, detergent is pricey. No nickle and diming here. Cool to open the windows on a breezy day, the draft hits. River access is close, if that's your thing. Good bike loop of about 8 miles, includes a bridge crossing. Mansions are on the other side of the river, if you're curious. I was. Lockhart State Park is incredible, and close. Barb's BBQ was sold out and Smitty's was disappointing. The burger at Duett's is incredible, I ate it twice. The pork bellies were, eh. They have Flensburger Pilsner in a bottle. Matt Kirk and The Gueyfarers rocked."

The Gueyfarers (pronounced Wayfarers, after the shades) were the reason I came to Martindale, they were headlining a late afternoon show on Sunday, my final day there.  I was acquainted with the drummer, Brandon Custard from Viva Big Bend in '22, he was filling in for The Watters and we had talked for a bit before their fabulous Planet Marfa show, which I bóotleg recorded.  Martindale was a musical interlude of sorts, the Texas Cosmopolitan Roadtrip was halfway through, time to party, time to ride.  Immediately, I started acting like a local, hanging out at Duett's, riding the town, and browsing around. Found my way out to nearby Lockhart State Park for a round of golf and shot a personal best 79, making a 15 footer on the final hole, just one of those days.

The Friday night and Saturday night acts were fine, even spectacular at times, but Matt Kirk and the Gueyfarers were another level.  A complete and built band, they started out with Ophelia, moved into their own catalogue, took a quick break, covered Dylan's From A Buick 6 on my request, and finished with a new tune about the urgency of life, Matt knew time.  After the show, Custard told me they were having a cigarette out back and invited me to hang out.  Matt told me about his new album and we got into other topics, regular stuff, his recent interview tears, McMurtry stories, smoked turkey, shoe technology, Gruene Hall, and London, Texas.  It was a cool hang, they were encouraging and curious about the Texas Cosmopolitan project and understood the creative potential; I left Martindale the next morning inspired and determined, my mind relaxed and observant.

Texas Cosmopolitan 4: Berlin

 

The only thing worse than falling asleep in a gulag is waking up in one.  The less said about the LaQuinta Inn and Livingston, Texas, the better, but you can tell a lot about a town by the condition of their oldest theater.  The poor old Fain Theatre in downtown Livingston is a travesty. No rich local can rub up some coins?  The town left me feeling filmy and gloomy, especially after their empty golf course rejected me due to no tee time, I needed a rejuvenation, I needed a washer and dryer, I needed a break, I was dizzy.

No lunch, no gas fill up, I wanted out of Livingston, wanted to go west, and I went west, heading for Berlin, just outside of Brenham, Texas, world famous for Blue Bell ice cream.  My tension was high, my nerves were skittish, but slowly, the curvey roads and thinning pines provided some relief.  JJ Cale's Grasshopper album finally set me right as I rolled into downtown Brenham, hungry and with my senses back in balance.  Filled up on chicken fried steak, murals, and two scoops of Blue Bell butter pecan in a sugar cone, I was impressed with Brenham.  Berlin was 10 miles west according to maps, I was on my way.

I blew past the supposed town going 85 MPH, only a brief glimpse of a street sign indicating S. Berlin Rd. made me realize I missed it.  From highway 290, you'd think Berlin didn't exist, the suburban new Brenham water tower loomed over the area, a trailer dealer, an energy station, and north and south Berlin Road.  I went south first.  A beautiful, tidy, fully operational, complely historical, small Lutheran Church sat a quarter mile south of the highway, nothing else but pricey homesteads, each with rolling hills and several acres.  North Berlin Road was the same, without the church.

Texas Cosmopolitan 3: Moscow

 

Pine Dunes, near Athens, is an impressive golfing experience, it was described perfectly on their website.

Carved through majestic, century old pine trees with contoured fairways & rolling terrain, Pine Dunes provides the most peaceful setting you'll find for a world-class round of golf.

And so it was, four straight pars to start, a highlight birdie on the long par3 #6, a fairly slow pace, and 3 doubles on the final 4 holes. It all added up to an 86; drained some big putts, but golf is hard, especially from fairway bunkers.  Should've watched a tutorial, I was lost in the sand, and this place was full of it.

On to Moscow, a full two hour drive through the lushious east Texas woods and forests and hills.  This is where the best ranches are, where billionaires live, but nobody knows who lives there, nothing can be seen from the road, they tuck their houses back, probably cameras and sensors everywhere.  Security probably has their own headquarters, tucked even further back.  Machine guns, bunkers, secret doors and tunnels, could be anything going on, or going down.  Must be complicated being a billionaire.

Moscow had a post office, a park, and a burger shack that looked more shack than burger.  The older I get, the more the Greasy Spoon Myth is evident, don't waste your money on trashy food, I found a Dairy Queen later that evening in nearby Livingston, Texas, which was adequate.  Hobby Park, in Moscow, is named after former Texas Governor William Pettus Hobby, who was born there.  He served from 1918-1924 and among his accomplishments were making public school attendance mandatory, raising the age of consent for girls from 15 to 17, and bringing the Texas Rangers to justice after the Porvenir Massacre in Presidio County, where 15 unarmed Mexican American men and boys were murdered.  Nothing in Moscow, It was dusk, things were starting to look and feel Houstany, best I could do was a LaQuinta Inn in Livingston, it had the charm of a gulag, the bed was like a brick, tossed and turned all night, mind wandering, brain wondering, what ever happened to Moscow, Texas.

Texas Cosmopolitan 2: Athens

 

Loop 7 surrounds Athens, Texas.  It's a four lane, 16.6 mile masterpiece of civic organization and planning.  Driving around it, you wouldn't know a fully functioning small city lies within, the small city hasn't made it out to the loop yet.  But it thrives inside.  They have a cancer institute, they have a community college, they have a fishery, and the first hamburger was served there in the 1880s.

Fletcher Davis was his name, and he invented the burger category by frying up ground beef patties, adding mustard and Bermuda onions between two slices of bread, with a pickle on the side.  He took his delicacy to Chicago's Columbian Exposition in 1893.  It was a hit with the common folks, but the snooty class gave it the name hamburger after the barbaric eating practices of the people in Hamburg, Germany.  Something about eating fist fulls of raw hamburger meat.  The word hamburger was meant as a slur.

Either way, kudos to Athens, Texas for its grub.  Ate the best gumbo I ever ate at Tia Juanita's Fish Camp for supper.  The huge place was filled with interesting wall art-- a massive painting of Willie Nelson and George Strait, Chewbacca carrying a surfboard, a B.B. King concert poster, Mick Jagger in the rafters, Stevie Nicks, too.  I sat alone, drank a bottle of beer, and gawked.  No evidence of anything Greek inspired in Athens, Texas, a town all its own.

Texas Cosmopolitan 1: Paris

Can't blame Paris for the ratty greens at Legacy Ridge Country Club.  The golf course is located in Bonham, figured I'd start the Texas Cosmopolitan Roadtrip at a course on the way to my starting point.  Overall, I played well on the front nine after a double bogey on #1, finishing with a 39, swung loose and free, snagged a birdie on #3, the first day of this ramble, this wander, this jaunt.  The back nine, and it's trees, kicked me in the teeth, couple of doubles, a few missed short putts, my typical 43 to finish with a solid 82.  I'll take it.

Then to Paris for a tremendously good fried catfish lunch at Cafe 107 on the downtown square (4 stars).  I was familiar with the town in the northern northeast Texas area, known for the famous movie Paris, Texas, which won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.  It's considered a cult classic and one of the greatest films ever made.  Sounds a bit moody and depressing, I prefer epics and space movies.  I'll check it out one day, being a cult classic and all.

Paris has embraced bicycling and has hosted the Tour de Paris for the past 41 years.  A well maintained bike trail goes through the town and into the countryside.  The effort to leverage the culture of its European namesake is evident, a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower has stood since 1993.  It's 1/16th the size of the original.  A massive red cowboy hat sits at the top.