#6 Bartonville - 12/28/2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hospital in Fort Richardson

Hospital in Fort Richardson

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

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

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).