Friday, November 19, 2010
I was up early this morning. For some reason, my first night inside I find it hard to sleep. I go to bed late, wake up early. If I stay inside two consecutive nights, usually do better the second. I packed up everything, checked over the house, and headed down the street to look for breakfast. I stopped at a convenience store for ice, and they suggested Kitchen’s for breakfast. So I headed there. I was a little early, so walked around town for a few minutes waiting for Kitchen’s to open. Mineola is a nice town, maybe the nicest I’ve seen east of the DFW area. Lots of history and one of the longest running movie theatres in the state.
At 7, Kitchen’s Hardware and Deli opened for business. I ordered my usual…..2 eggs scrambled, bacon, grits, toast, and coca cola. It’s Friday, football day out here, so many of the patrons were wearing orange and white shirts……I assumed the team colors. While waiting for my order I walked around the hardware part of the store. A big wood stove was in the center, and there was a large soft drink cooler loaded with soda cooled by ice. And much more stuff like that. Breakfast was on the table and I dug in……very good. As I was leaving, a gentleman at the next table asked if it was my cart outside. I said yes, so we had a discussion about the trip. He asked why, I replied, “why not?. That seemed good enough for him. I forget his name, but he moved to the area from Chicago many years back. Seemed like a really nice guy.
I headed out, leaving Mineola behind. Hwy 80, for as far as I could see, was shrouded in fog……the first I’ve seen the entire trip. Soon I received a call from Allene, asking did she wake me! We talked a while, I thanked her for the use of the house, and continued heading east. Hwy 80 out of Mineola is divided with good shoulders. The area here looks almost like back east, trees lining the road. People from the Piedmont areas of NC, VA, would think they were home. I saw an occasional house or farm, and three blue herons at various times, but not much else. Just a good walking day.
I stopped and rested a while, and then continued on. I noticed a car pull off the road a couple hundred yards ahead of me, and a guy got out and started taking pictures of me walking up the road. As I got closer him, he introduced himself as Gary Edwards, a reporter and photographer for the Mineola paper. They are going to do an article about the walk soon, and I will put it on the blog when it’s ready. Gary and I talked a while, then he headed back to Mineola, I headed east. (Gary is another transplant from NY.)
It wasn’t long until I reached Hawkins, Pancake Capitol of Texas……that’s what the sign said. It seems the original Aunt Jemima originated from Hawkins. I found a local cafe, think it is called Petty’s, and went in for lunch. I ordered catfish, slaw, okra, and rolls. The waitress, a nice matronly sort, brought out a basket of rolls. I was fooling around with my cell phone, not paying much attention, and she said: “you need to go ahead and put butter on that bread while it’s warm!” “Yes mam” was my reply, and I put down the phone and started buttering. Wasn’t an option to not butter it seems. Sounds like something my mother would tell me. Anyhow, a good meal, and a nice waitress.
I was up early this morning. For some reason, my first night inside I find it hard to sleep. I go to bed late, wake up early. If I stay inside two consecutive nights, usually do better the second. I packed up everything, checked over the house, and headed down the street to look for breakfast. I stopped at a convenience store for ice, and they suggested Kitchen’s for breakfast. So I headed there. I was a little early, so walked around town for a few minutes waiting for Kitchen’s to open. Mineola is a nice town, maybe the nicest I’ve seen east of the DFW area. Lots of history and one of the longest running movie theatres in the state.
At 7, Kitchen’s Hardware and Deli opened for business. I ordered my usual…..2 eggs scrambled, bacon, grits, toast, and coca cola. It’s Friday, football day out here, so many of the patrons were wearing orange and white shirts……I assumed the team colors. While waiting for my order I walked around the hardware part of the store. A big wood stove was in the center, and there was a large soft drink cooler loaded with soda cooled by ice. And much more stuff like that. Breakfast was on the table and I dug in……very good. As I was leaving, a gentleman at the next table asked if it was my cart outside. I said yes, so we had a discussion about the trip. He asked why, I replied, “why not?. That seemed good enough for him. I forget his name, but he moved to the area from Chicago many years back. Seemed like a really nice guy.
I headed out, leaving Mineola behind. Hwy 80, for as far as I could see, was shrouded in fog……the first I’ve seen the entire trip. Soon I received a call from Allene, asking did she wake me! We talked a while, I thanked her for the use of the house, and continued heading east. Hwy 80 out of Mineola is divided with good shoulders. The area here looks almost like back east, trees lining the road. People from the Piedmont areas of NC, VA, would think they were home. I saw an occasional house or farm, and three blue herons at various times, but not much else. Just a good walking day.
I stopped and rested a while, and then continued on. I noticed a car pull off the road a couple hundred yards ahead of me, and a guy got out and started taking pictures of me walking up the road. As I got closer him, he introduced himself as Gary Edwards, a reporter and photographer for the Mineola paper. They are going to do an article about the walk soon, and I will put it on the blog when it’s ready. Gary and I talked a while, then he headed back to Mineola, I headed east. (Gary is another transplant from NY.)
It wasn’t long until I reached Hawkins, Pancake Capitol of Texas……that’s what the sign said. It seems the original Aunt Jemima originated from Hawkins. I found a local cafe, think it is called Petty’s, and went in for lunch. I ordered catfish, slaw, okra, and rolls. The waitress, a nice matronly sort, brought out a basket of rolls. I was fooling around with my cell phone, not paying much attention, and she said: “you need to go ahead and put butter on that bread while it’s warm!” “Yes mam” was my reply, and I put down the phone and started buttering. Wasn’t an option to not butter it seems. Sounds like something my mother would tell me. Anyhow, a good meal, and a nice waitress.
I headed out toward Big Sandy, which will be about as far as I can make today. Not much to see along the way, except same as the morning walk. I did notice a U-Haul place sitting out here in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes they put them in strange locations. It appeared to have a good selection of trucks and trailers.I called Gary Gauthier, a guy I met in Globe, AZ. Gary has a brother in Longview, TX, and told me to call him before I got there. I'll be in Longview late Saturday. Gary's brother Guy is arranging a place for me to stay while there. After about 2 hours of walking I reached Big Sandy. Stopped at a convenience store to inquire about possible camping spots, and a young guy told me there was one of those rest/picnic areas about a mile or two down the road.......so I headed there. It was getting dark quickly, and I spotted a nice place near City Hall and a railroad station, and decided to stop there for the night.
It was a good choice......still near town so I could get ice tomorrow morning, about 6-8' above Hwy 80 so as to not be so visible, soft ground for the tent stakes, and sitting in a little grove of trees. One of my best places so far. It was close to the train tracks, but I've become accustomed to that sound. It wasn't long until the tent was up, and I was inside in the sleeping bag, warm and cozy. It's Friday evening and a good bit of traffic going by, but it'll settle down soon. Not much goes on in Big Sandy after dark.
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