The Hurt's Adventure Across Texas

#18 - Maypearl 09/06/2010

2010-09-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last stop on today's trip was Maypearl. We've been through Maypearl several times as Dad had a trailer here and small piece of property for the horses. The Veterans Memorial was new since we'd been here last.

Self-explanatory

There is something wrong with this sign. Do you know what it is? No, I'm not referring to the crumbling brick at the top. Something is wrong with the sign. (If you know, post it in the comments section.)

I submitted this picture to City-Data.com because they had no pictures of Maypearl. Be interesting to see if they use it.

#17 - Red Oak 09/06/2010

2010-09-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

City number two for today's outing was Red Oak.

Amanda was afraid there was bull nettle near the sign and this is the only way she would get in the picture with me. (You can see Tex, the official Hurt's Adventure Across Texas mascot, right?)

Red Oak is on Interstate Highway 35 twenty miles south of Dallas in northern Ellis County. In 1844 James E. Patton and his family settled on Red Oak Creek a few miles southeast of Billingsley Fort, at the site of present Ovilla. The first post office came to the area in 1847 from Mitchell's Branch, two miles from the site of future Red Oak. The settlement was originally called Possum Trot because of the abundance of possums in the area. It was renamed Red Oak after Ellis County was formed in 1849 for the creek. Before the Civil War the principal crop of the local farmers was wheat. In the 1860s an increase in cotton production occurred because more slaves came to the area from other southern states. Cotton was still produced in 1988, although farming was not central to the local economy.

James E. Patton also founded the first church in the area, the Shiloh congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, on July 25, 1847. Other churches, including the Baptist and the Methodist, were founded at cemeteries. In 1884 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad reached Red Oak. The townspeople did not want the trains to disturb the tranquility of the community, so the tracks passed by a mile northwest. The line was finally finished in 1890, connecting Red Oak with Dallas and Waco. The town eventually moved out and centered along the railroad. Fires in 1909 and 1919 caused extensive damage first to the southern and later to the northern part of town. Red Oak was incorporated in 1949. The population was 350 in 1950 and 1,882 in 1980. In 1967 Red Oak was used as the site for three days of filming for the motion picture Bonnie and Clyde. A local woman, Mrs. Mabel Cavitt, made a brief appearance as Bonnie Parker's mother. In 1987 Red Oak had an estimated 2,425 residents, most of whom were commuters to Dallas or Fort Worth. In 1990 the population was 3,124. The population grew to 4,301 in 2000. (taken from The Handbook of Texas Online)

Today's driver

The girls

Amanda is not a big fan of long trips in the car. Today's round trip was only 96 miles.

#16 - Duncanville 09/06/2010

2010-09-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Between some very HOT days this summer and a lot going on, it's been a while since we've taken our day trips visiting our list of Texas cities, but we were able to head out today. Since Amanda spent the night at a friend's house and we did not get an early start, we stayed close to Arlington today. Our first stop was Duncanville, about 17 miles from our house.

This is the Duncanville sign we pass by every time we pass every time we go to visit my parents. It is on Cedar Ridge right off of I-20.

Duncanville has a very pretty City Hall complex

The origin of Duncanville can be traced as far back as 1840, with the community's beginning as a small settlement. It was not until some forty years later, with the construction of the Chicago, Texas and Mexican Central Railroad connecting Dallas and Cleburne that Duncanville began to emerge as a town. The coming of the railroad to Duncanville changed the community. The railroad line connecting Dallas to Cleburne was to be completed not later than April 15, 1881. With time running short to complete the railroad on time, a shortened method of railroad construction was adopted at an open field owned by James R. Horne and G.H. Finley. Doing this allowed the railroad to arrive in Cleburne two hours ahead of the deadline and a switching station was later built in the open field. It was called Duncan switch.

In 1881, Charles Nance arrived by train at Duncan Switch to visit his sister, Mrs. William Horne. Finding the area much to his liking and envisioning a bright future for this part of Dallas County, Mr. Nance made the decision to stay in this area. He formed a partnership with Chris Horne, for fifty dollars purchased a lot from G.H. Finely, and built the first building, Nance Brothers, at Duncan Switch.

In August of 1881, Nance forwarded a petition to the Post Office Department in Washington, D.C. to establish a post office. Residents at that time were receiving their mail at post offices in Cedar Hill, Wheatland, or Jim Town. His application was returned with a notation to choose a different name because there was already a post office in Jasper County, Texas with the name of Duncan. There had been individuals in the community who had refused to sign Nance's original petition and many others who were hard to convince, so he simply added "ville" to Duncan, so it now read Duncanville. The petition was returned to Washington and, in early October 1881, he received the order to open the new post office under the name Duncanville.

With Mr. Nance as the first postmaster, the post office opened in the general store and the first mail bags were received October 1, 1882.The growth and development of Duncanville occurred along the railroad tracks. In 1883, a large two-room depot was constructed immediately adjacent to the railroad tracks. Over time, businesses began emerging along the east side of the tracks. The first businesses to be established were the cotton gin, two general stores, and a doctor's office. (taken from the City of Duncanvill web site)

#15 - Lorena 5/31/2010

2010-05-31T20:30:00.001-07:00

Our last city for the day was Lorena which was about 15 minute drive south of Waco on I-35. We saw this sign on the say into town and pulled over for a quick picture. I'm not sure if there was some bull nettle or stinging nettle or what it was, but the girls (wearing shorts) got into some weed here that caused their legs to burn for the next 15 minutes so. Ouch!

We stopped by the Chamber of Commerce to grab a quick family picture with Tex, our armadillo mascot for our travels across the state.

Amanda and Tex took a nap on the way home.

#14 - Waco 5/31/2010

2010-05-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

Our second city on today's Memorial Day outing was Waco. We drove up and down I-35 looking for a Waco sign and could not find one! I carried around a picture of this wall asking people in Waco if they knew where it was so we could take a picture, but nobody seemed to know where it was.

One of the goals for today's trip was to find a city that had something to do. Amanda's first request was a museum, but as we were looking at various cities, Brooke found the Cameron Park Zoo near Waco and Amanda quickly changed her vote. Here are the girls behind a waterfall at the zoo.

Here's my picture of a regal tang...we just called her Dory at the zoo until I had time to look up what kind of fish it was. Captured this one using the macro setting on my camera.

Lion fish...yup, had to look up this one when I got home, too. No, I did not read the sign on the aquarium.

Not sure of the name of this bird or even how to look it up. In my photo album, I just called it "cool bird". If you know the name, feel free to paste it in the comment section.

#13 - Hillsboro 5/31/2010

2010-05-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

Since Amanda was out of school and Brooke and I were off work for Memorial Day, we decided it would be a good day to visit a few more cities. The first city we hit on the way out was Hillsboro. Here we are at the Chamber of Commerce.

On the way into Hillsboro.

The Hill Country courthouse in Hillsboro.

#12 Hico - 03/18/2010

2010-04-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hico was town 4 of 4 on our Thursday day trip during Spring Break 2010. This turned out to be quite an enjoyable town to visit! As I researched Hico on the internet, I saw a picture of the bank and knew I had to get that picture. This is the picture I took. I edited it and made it monochrome for that "old look".

Downtown Hico was fun and interesting.

More downtown Hico.

This was our first "Hico sign" as we were driving into town.

We could not find the "official" town sign. I asked a shop keeper downtown where it might be. She must have been connected cause she called City Hall and said "Hi (calling whoever answered by name), this is Shy..." and she asked about the sign. They didn't have the answer so she called some other city official she knew by name and got the answer for us.

Hico (pronounced "high-coh") is a city in Hamilton County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,341 at the 2000 census. Each July, Hico hosts the Hico Old Settlers Reunion.
Ollie P. Roberts a/k/a "Brushy Bill", a resident of Hico, claimed to be Billy The Kid. Although his claim has been largely discredited by historians, Hico has capitalized to a small extent on his fame (or infamy) by opening a "Billy The Kid" museum where visitors can decide whether Brushy Bill was or was not the infamous outlaw. (Hico, TX web page)

Amanda demonstrating her flair for the dramatic and for fun posing in front of a Billy the Kid statue.

The Billy the Kid museum wasn't all that exciting, but the story was interesting.

I can't remember if this was supposed to be an actual jail cell that held Billy the Kid or not. It was a fun picture nonetheless.

OK, these things always look goofy, but why is it we always want to stop and get our picture taken anyway?

#11 Stephenville - 03/18/2010

2010-04-25T18:52:00.001-07:00

We stopped in Stephenville only long enough to take this picture. We were on our way to Dublin, TX to tour the Dr. Pepper museum. Took this day trip on Thursday during Spring Break. Seems like there might be more to see in the "Cowboy Capital of the World", so perhaps we can pass through this way again.

#10 Glen Rose - 03/18/2010

2010-04-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip to Glen Rose last year and visited Dinosaur World, so we didn't spend much time in Glen Rose on our way through visiting four of our Texas towns on this day trip during Spring Break. We did, however, come back through Glen Rose returning to the camp ground so we could have dinner at one of my favorite BBQ places, Hammond's BBQ. The food was great, as usual, but I was disappointed that they were out of peanut butter pie. :(

#9 Cleburne - 03/18/2010

2010-04-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

On Thursday of Spring Break we took our second day trip. We hit four of our Texas cities and stopped by the Dr. Pepper museum in Dublin. Since we had a number of cities we were trying to hit including the tour at the Dr. Pepper museum and making it back to Glen Rose for dinner, we didn't stop long in some of our cities. We just took pictures in Cleburne as we passed through.

Welcome to Cleburne!

#8 Greenville - 03/16/10

2010-04-25T14:31:00.001-07:00

Greenville, population 23,960, was our second (and last stop) during Tuesday's Spring Break outing. According to Wikipedia, "Greenville was named for Thomas J. Green, a general in the Texas Army in the war for independence from Mexico. He later became a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas. The city was almost named “Pinckneyville” in honor of James Pinckney Henderson, the first Governor of Texas."

We look for a green city sign (the one that states the population, too) when we visit a town, but we saw Greenville's sign along the highway too late. Amanda spotted this sign on the way in and it worked well for our picture.

We walked for a bit downtown near city hall and saw Central Christian Church. "The towers and art glass in this 1899 Gothic Revival church building are a downtown treasure." (Greenville Historic Walking Tour).

As usual, I did an internet search to see what sights we might want to visit in Greenville. Mary of Puddin Hill popped several times. To be honest, the most exciting part of visiting here was getting this pretty picture. I read something about a self-guided tour, but we didn't see much to tour. The 6 turtle candies we bought were good, but I don't think they lived up to the $12 price tag.

As we were crossing Lake Ray Hubbard on the way back to the campground, Brooke saw the Beef Jerky Outlet and wanted to stop. Brooke got some jerky which made her happy. They had a t-shirt that I thought was hilarious. It read, "Fat People Are Harder to Kidnap".

Amanda liked the rock candy from the Beef Jerky Outlet.

#7 Lone Oak - 3/16/10

2010-04-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

It has become a Hurt family tradition to camp during Spring Break. We borrow Mom & Dad's camper and camp at Cedar Hill State Park. Since the State Park is local (down the road just 25 minutes), we take day trips during the week. Spring Break was a perfect time to hit a few Texas towns.

On Tuesday, we headed north and east from the campground toward Lone Oak, and then on to Greenville.

Tex the stuffed armadillo got to go camping with us this year so that he would be ready for our road trips. Here he is with Brooke and Amanda in front of the Lone Oak sign.

With a population of 521, there was not a lot to see in Lone Oak. We followed the GPS down a couple alleys (literally) to get to City Hall. Thought this was worth a picture.

#6 Bartonville - 12/28/2009

2009-12-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

We passed through Denton going from Gainesville to Bartonville. We came around the corner and saw this giant JESUS sign and had to stop and take a picture. Victory World Outreach is making Jesus famous in Denton. Awesome!

Had a hard time finding a Bartonville sign. Here we are (Amanda is holding Tex) at the sign to the Town Hall. The Town Hall building had Bartonville written on it, but it was hard to see.

signs we could find in this sprawling 6.1 sq. mile This sign was less than a half mile from the Town Hall sign. Those were the only two Bartonvillemetropolis.

"Bartonville was originally part of the Chinn's Chapel settlement, but then it decided to change to a place that was established in 1853 by Elisha Chinn. Chinn's Chapel eventually became three small communities with Bartonville being the lone remaining town. Bartonville was settled in 1878 and was named for T. Bent Barton. In 1886 a local post office was established, and by 1890 Bartonville had twenty-five residents, a general store, a gristmill, and a cotton gin, all owned by the Barton family. By 1896 Bartonville's population was estimated at 100 and the town had three general stores. The post office was discontinued in 1906. Slow growth continued, and by 1930 Bartonville had a population of 300 and a business establishment.

In 1960, with cities such as Irving looking to expand northward, local residents feared annexation and Bartonville incorporated for the first time. The town then included Double Oak and Copper Canyon, as well as present-day Bartonville. Once the fear of annexation subsided a few years later, Bartonville citizens voted for disincorporation." (Source: Wikipedia)

#5 Gainesville - 12/28/2009

2009-12-28T21:13:00.000-08:00

Our second stop on today's trip was Gainesville. We planned taking our sign pictures on the way into town, eat lunch at a "local" place and then visit the factory outlet stores. Things did not go exactly according to plan. Both of the "local" places that we tried were a little TOO hole in the wall, so we ended up eating at Cracker Barrel. Next we went to the factory outlet mall only to find that most of the stores had closed down and moved out. Oh well, so much for that.

This picture was the highlight of our trip (click pic to see larger version). We are making in a habit, when possible, to stop at State Parks along the way on our day trips. We have an annual park pass, so we stop to see what might be of interest. As we were driving into Ray Roberts State Park between Krugerville and Gainesville, I saw movement on the side of the road. I pulled over and discovered that the "movement" was a bobcat! I waited for him to move a bit further from the car and then got out in time to snap this picture. Pretty cool.

I guess being a little further north, Gainesville got more snow than we did on Christmas Eve. There were still snow drifts on the side of the road so Amanda wanted to stop and take pictures.

This was at a not-out-of-the-way intersection in Gainesville, but we had not gotten a good sign picture on the way in. Notice Tex the stuffed armadillo sitting on the sign below Amanda's left elbow. He is our mascot and will be posing in all of our Adventure Across Texas pics.

A picture of the Gainesville courthouse. No, that ugly thing on front has nothing to do with construction. If you click on the picture to see a bigger version, you will notice that it is a fire escape (ladder that leads to a slide). Nice safety feature, just distracts from your otherwise cool courthouse.

"Gainesville is home to a courthouse with an octagonal rotunda topped by stained glass, erected in 1910. "The 1912 Cooke County Courthouse was designed by the Dallas firm of Lang & Witchell. The courthouse was designed in the Beaux Arts style with some Prairie Style features and influences from famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. The courthouse in the center of Gainesville features black and white marbled interiors and a tall central atrium capped by a stained glass skylight under the tower." The courthouse is undergoing a major renovation project, with many of the city offices moving out to other buildings to make way for the contractors to begin.

The courthouse grounds feature a towering Confederate soldier memorial, erected in the early 20th century by the United Daughters of the Confederacy UDC), topped by a Confederate soldier facing northward, and bearing the following poetic inscription honoring Confederate casualties of war." [Source: Wikipedia]

#4 - Krugerville - 12/28/2009

2009-12-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

We headed out today to visit a couple small towns north of us, and our first stop was in Krugerville. Not much to photograph in Krugerville... it was literally one of those towns that if you blinked, you missed it. It has a total area of .7 square miles and a population, according to it's sign, of 1,560.

"In 1964, after several years of building houses in the Denton area, Mr. L. H. Kruger purchased 328 acres right off of Hwy 377, just south of Aubrey. His plan was to improve the mostly wooded area, and build houses on 1-acre lots.

The “ol’timers” still recognize the place, since so much of the original look-and-feel still exists. In fact, you can still see L.H. Kruger and his wife Willie Mae out and about in “Old Krugerville.” A lot of improvements have taken place since his time as Mayor back in the early 1970’s, but L.H. still enjoys the beauty that initially drew him to this area over 40 years ago." {From City of Krugerville web page}

#3 Southlake - 10/03/2009

2009-10-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

Our third and final stop in our Adventure Across Texas today was in Southlake which has a population of 26,595 (2008) and crosses into both Tarrant and Denton Counties.

"It was the land -- a long, narrow strip of post oak and blackjack oak forest teeming with wild game known as the Easter Cross Timbers and prairie grasslands that lay on either side - that enticed people to stay in what is now Southlake.

Nomadic Indians - the Caddo, Plains Apache, Kiowa and Comanche - moved in and out of the Cross Timbers skirmishing with each other, and the Spaniards, determined to establish missions, searching for settlement sites.

White settlers were enticed to the area from the mid-1800's on, wooed by land grants and a chance to start over. Families traveled from Missouri, Tennessee and other Southern states and stopped to make a home here.

During the infancy of the Republic of Texas, Indian treaties were agreed to; most notable were those efforts made by resident Sam Houston, who worked to set boundaries between the white settlers and the Indians. Several treaty meetings were held very close to Southlake. While waiting for various tribes to arrive for one treaty signing, Houston and his entourage camped for a month at Grapevine Sprints (present-day cCoppell), where they hunted buffalo. The chiefs never arrived and the meeting was rescheduled. The treaty was signed at Bird's Fort in present-day Arlington, and as a result the Eastern Cross Timbers became the demarcation line in 1843 between Indians and white settlers." (taken from the Southlake Historical Society web site).

When I mapped our approach into Southlake, I avoided Hwy. 114 because I thought it would be hard to stop and take a picture of a Southlake sign. Well, the route we came did not have a Southlake sign. We finally had to stop and Google "Southlake City Hall" which gave us an address to city hall in the beautiful Southlake Town Square. It was just starting to rain so all we could do was take pictures but we want to return sometime just to walk around downtown.

Plaque on the courthouse.

The water tower painted on the bull's head says Southlake, bit it didn't turn out so great in this picture. But the painted bull is still kinda cool.

You can view all of our pictures to, through and on the way out of Southlake as a Flickr slideshow here.

#2 Justin - 10/03/2009

2009-10-03T20:57:00.001-07:00

Our second stop for the day on our Adventure Across Texas was Justin which has a population of 3,030 (2008) and is located in Denton County. The area was originally settled by a band of French colonists who in 1848 established the Icarian Colony. The community was abandoned a year later, and the area remained sparsely populated until the early 1880's. In January 1887, the community petitioned postal authorities for a post office to be named Justin, in honor of Jusin Sherman, chief engineer of the Santa Fe rail line. By 1886, Jusin had a population of 100, a general store, a grocery, a hotel and a cotton gin.

Here we are at Justin City Hall. Yep, that's about as exciting as it gets in Justin.

The sign driving into town on Farm Road 407.

We had to stop for a picture when we saw this sign on our way out of Justin.

And of course, no matter where you are in Texas, it would just be wrong to let Sonic Happy Hour come and go without stopping. We didn't let that happen.

You can view all of our pictures to, through and on the way out of Justin as a Flickr slideshow here.

#1 Jacksboro - 10/03/2009

2009-10-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Our Adventure Across Texas began today and it was a beautiful day to be traveling. Our first destination was Jacksboro. Jacksboro is in Jack County (one of the few Texas counties to vote against secession) and has a population of 4,533 (2000). Settlers began gathering in the area in the mid-1850's and the city was officially renamed from Mesquiteville to Jacksborough in 1858 to honor the Jack Brothers, veterans of the Texas Revolution. Jacksborough was then shortened to Jacksboro in 1887.

This was the official Jacksboro sign we chose. All of our "official sign" pictures will have Tex the Armadillo (held by Brooke here) in the picture.

Another Jacksboro sign.

Jacksboro was the westernmost settlement in Texas after the Civil War although it barely survived Indian raids and was in ruins. Fort Richardson was build just south of town around 1870 providing safety for the settlers that numbered several hundred.

Rob and Amanda at Fort Richardson State Park

Hospital in Fort Richardson

Mess hall in Fort Richardson soldier's barracks

Kitchen in Fort Richardson soldier's barracks

Jain in Fort Richardson. You can kind of see the 4'x8' "cell" we are standing in. Three prisoners/soldiers shared one cell.

The Chicago and Rock island Railroad arrived in 1898 and in 1910 a second railroad (the Gulf, Texas and Western) built through the town. This is the original bridge used by the railroads.

On our way out of Jacksboro, we saw these zebras in a field. When we stopped to take pictures, Amanda stepped in a fire ant mound and was bitten by 7-10 ants. Fortunately (for all of us!), Amanda brought her ant bite medicine which helped minimize the trauma a little bit.

We saw this tribute to the Armed Forces as we drove through Weatherford on the way to Jacksboro.

You can view all of our pictures to, through, and on the way out of Jacksboro as a Flickr slideshow here.

The Video That Starts The Adventure

2009-09-19T21:10:00.001-07:00

I first saw this video about a year ago and thought to myself, "That would be so much fun!" But then, like I do all too often, I never really pursued it because there are so many practical, real-life things I have to do that crowd out this kind of stuff.

Sometime within the last year, I also realized that I really NEED an occasional break from practical, real-life. There is never going to be a break in all that I need to do. I'm not really a "high need for adventure" kind of guy, but sometimes I get so busy with practical, real-life that that I really stop enjoying life.

Well, enough with the philosophical ramblings. I saw this video today, talked it over with Brooke and Amanda and I so excited that the Hurt family is going to take on the adventure of visiting all the Texas cities/places listed in this song. We're going to take pictures, update this blog and eventually make our own movie. As Brooke pointed out, it will probably take us a few years to complete, but who cares. What GREAT memories Amanda will have in high school of us taking day trips when there is no school, or longer road trips during Spring Break, etc.

It's not traveling the world, but it's something we can do as a family that will be fun, will make memories and will make for an awesome scrapbook.

So let the adventure begin!

Where We Hope To Visit

2009-09-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

You can click on a city to the right and see it on the map. You can click on the map and drag it to see different areas, but don't click and drag a green spot because it will move and no longer mark it's original location (you can reload the page if you accidentally do this).