Branch

The small town of Branch sits in the very southern tip of Franklin County, in western Arkansas. Branch was founded back in the early 1900s along a rail line that connected several coal mines. That rail line and the coal mines aren't around anymore, but there are a few old buildings still in Branch.





North of town is this abandoned church, tucked away amongst some pine and oak trees. It's been so dry this summer that some of trees are already starting to show some fall colors.





The tall grass in front of the church was home to a large population of grasshoppers, who leapt and jumped out of my way as I walked around the building for pictures.

Lake Conway

If you've driven down I-40 past Lake Conway recently, you might have noticed that it's not really a lake anymore. The lake was emptied in order to start a five year project to clean the lakebed and to build a new dam on Palarm Creek. It's the first time that the lake has been emptied in 75 years.

I used to work in Conway (at AETN, many many years ago) and I used to head out on my lunch break to take pictures around Lake Conway. So I was interested to see what it looked like now, without water. It's been a hot and dry summer here, and in some places the lakebed has turned into a plain of dry and cracked mud.





Walking out onto the dry lakebed was a little eerie. It felt like the lake would have been the perfect setting for some sort of dystopian post-apocalyptic movie, with the cracked mud and old tree trunks jutting out of the ground like shards of broken glass.







Every once in a while you'd see a random piece of debris, which had probably been resting underwater for decades. There were several pieces of cinderblocks, along with some old beer cans and bottles. And also what looked like an old sunken boat.



The old lakebed wasn't completely devoid of life. There were a few plants trying to grow on top of the cracked mud. I'm definitely not a plant expert (as proven by our large collection of dead houseplants and our yard filled with weeds), but this almost looks like a pumpkin vine?





The formations in the cracked mud happen when "wet, muddy sediment dries up and contracts. A strain is developed because the top layer shrinks while the material below stays the same size. When this strain becomes large enough, channel cracks form in the dried-up surface to relieve the strain. Individual cracks spread and join up, forming a polygonal, interconnected network of forms called 'tesselations.'"



I walked around, trying to take pictures of the interesting patterns in the mudcracks...



At one point, I noticed that some of the mud was a slightly darker and different color. I got closer, thinking that the change in color might make for a good picture...



And it turns out that the mud is a different color because it's not completely dried out. The cracked layer on top isn't thick enough to support someone walking on it, which is bad news for anyone foolish enough to step on it.

So it was a bit of a surprise when I took a wrong step and sunk into the mud, down almost to my knees. There wasn't anyone else around, so luckily no one saw me struggling to extract my legs out from the murky depths of Lake Conway. The mud was a dark gray, and it smelled pretty bad. This was the view after I made it back to solid ground.



After that I learned my lesson and stuck to the drier areas.



There are lots of old tree stumps sticking out of the ground still, which I guess have been here since the lake was built in the 1940s?







After that I headed back to the car, leaving muddy footprints along the way...

Road Trip: Dallas

Luckily we didn't need to head home just yet. My wife's family has a reunion every year, where assorted aunts and uncles and cousins all gather together. This time, the cousins in Dallas were hosting. So from Glenrio, we cut across Texas and headed to the metroplex. It was a bit of an adjustment after being in the mountains of Colorado (with its cool temperatures and low humidity). In Dallas, it was about 100 degrees.

But we were able to attend a game of my beloved FC Dallas while we were there. It was a good game, despite us sitting outside in the heat. Dallas played Portland and actually won(!), and since it was the 4th of July there was a fireworks show afterwards. And during the game, there was also a pretty nifty sunset over the stadium.



We then headed home, and concluded our long road trip. Total miles driven were exactly 2,707. It was a great trip. We passed through five states, visited three National Parks, and saw some amazing scenery. And there was no car trouble or flat tires! Now it's time to start planning the next road trip. Where should we go next?

Road Trip: Glenrio

Glenrio sits on the border between Texas and New Mexico, and was founded in 1903 as a stop along the Rock Island Railroad. Route 66 was routed through the town in the 1930s, resulting in several hotels, gas stations and diners being built. But in the 1970s, Glenrio was bypassed by the interstate. It steadily declined, and turned into a ghost town.

I've made a few stops here over the years. Glenrio was an interesting, and forlorn, little town. I was eager to make another stop as we drove by, but I was incredibly disappointed when we exited the freeway and drove through. Most of the old buildings in Glenrio are gone, either collapsed or torn down. And almost all of the few remaining buildings here were covered with graffiti.

It was a great reminder of why we should take pictures of old buildings. These old places can be lost or destroyed so easily, or ruined by vandalism and graffiti. It was depressing to see how much Glenrio had changed.

One of the most prominent buildings in Glenrio was an old motel, built in the 1950s. Depending on which direction you were traveling, the sign would say it was either the "First Motel in Texas" or the "Last Motel in Texas." The building still stands, but it's a shell of its former self. The roof is gone, and the walls are covered in graffiti. I didn't even bother getting a picture of it this time, the damage was so severe. This is a photo of the motel from 2010:



The ruins of a gas station was just down the road from the motel. But it is gone now. Here it was in 2010:



And then again in 2015:



The gas station was next door to the old post office, which was one of the last places to close in Glenrio. This was the view in 2010 along the divided highway, which was built back in the time when there was traffic in Glenrio. Now both of these buildings are gone. Now a weed dispensary sits here.



There is, luckily, at least one old building that has somehow managed to survive being torn down or covered with spray paint. It is the Little Juarez Cafe, which was built in 1952.





My son Elliott, who just turned four, is obsessed with cars. And also with the movie Cars. We were watching it the other day, as we often do, and I had to quickly pause it. There in the background, in a scene where Lightning McQueen and Mater were talking, was a building that looked awfully familiar. It turns out that Pixar based one of the buildings in Radiator Springs on this old diner in Glenrio. It is actually shown a few times in the movie, originally as the "Glen Rio Motel." In the epilogue here, it turns into a racing museum:

Road Trip: Tucumcari

Our next stop was Tucumcari, which has been a popular destination for travelers since the early days of Route 66. We were actually staying the night at one of the most iconic places on Route 66, the Blue Swallow Motel.



Which was a really neat place to stay. The motel opened in 1939, and it still contains a few original features. Each room has an attached garage, where travelers could park their cars for the night (modern cars don't really fit in them now). Each room still has a rotary phone that still works, and some of the furnishings have been in the rooms since the 1940s. But the rooms have also been modernized and renovated, with comfy mattresses and wifi.

After we checked in, I had some time to head out and get a few pictures of the other Route 66 buildings in Tucumcari. The town contains a large collection of vintage buildings that were built between 1930 and 1960. Many of them are still open, like the old Buckaroo Motel:



Tucumcari is known for its many vintage neon signs, dating back to the Route 66 era. Most of those signs are for motels or restaurants that no longer exist, and they stand as rusty and silent tributes to that bygone time. One of those signs is for the Ranch House Cafe, which opened in 1952. I stopped to get pictures here as it started to rain, so I retreated back to the car. But then I saw a rainbow form in the sky so I rushed out of the car to get a few pictures:







Across the street is this old gas station recently painted with a few Route 66 murals, with a towering wind turbine behind it.



I then hurried down the road to try to get pictures of the rainbow with as many Route 66 signs as I could before it faded away. This is the sign for the Westerner Drive Inn. It opened in 1949 and closed in 2000. The building was torn down, but the sign still remains.



I stopped at the Motel Safari, which opened in 1959. It is still open, and was renovated in the 2000s.



I passed by the Blue Swallow Motel again, with its distinctive neon sign.



And just down the road is the Teepee Curio Shop, which is another iconic Route 66 location. The shop originally opened as a gas station in the 1940s. But when the road was widened, the gas pumps had to be removed. So it changed to a curio shop. To make it stand out, the owners built a teepee on the front that you walk through to enter the store. The neon sign was added around the same time.









And just down the road is the old Palomino Motel, which is still open.



After that, it seemed like the rainbow started to fade away. Which was good timing, since it was dinner time. So we headed down to La Cita, a Mexican restaurant that has been along Route 66 for decades. To go in, you walk under a giant sombrero. As we parked, the rainbow reappeared, and was even more vibrant. So apparently the treasure at the end of a rainbow is....tacos?





I headed out later that night to try to get some shots of the neon signs. Luckily I didn't have to go far to get pictures of the Blue Swallow Motel sign.







And one last shot of the Teepee Curio Shop and its neon sign, taken before I headed back to our room for the night.

Road Trip: Cuervo

Sadly, we were nearing the end of our road trip. We packed up the car and left Durango, driving back into New Mexico. We drove through Albuquerque (resisting the urge to stop and visit Los Pollos Hermanos), and then started heading east on I-40.

In New Mexico, I-40 runs along the same path that Route 66 used to take. The freeway exits now lead to small towns that were once bustling stops for drivers traversing the Mother Road. One of those small towns is Cuervo, which is now nothing more than a ghost town. The town was established in 1901 as a stop along a railroad route that connected Texas to California. When Route 66 passed through Cuervo, the town grew and added a few gas stations, churches, hotels and schools. The town's population would peak at around 300 people.

Most Route 66 cities began to decline when they were bypassed by I-40. But in Cuervo, the interstate was built right through the middle of town, dissecting it in half. Cuervo's population dwindled, and most of the buildings were abandoned. They still stand, in view of the constant stream of indifferent traffic that speeds by on the freeway.

I've been through Cuervo three times before, on road trips in 2007, 2010 and 2015. I looked back at what I wrote on this blog about those visits, and there was one word that was used to describe Cuervo in each of those posts: creepy. There is a weird vibe in the town, like you're being watched or that something nefarious is lurking around nearby.

Here's a shot of Cuervo from 2007, of the odd collection of junk left behind in an abandoned house.



In 2010, we stopped and went inside the old abandoned school:



And in 2015, I peeked inside this abandoned house: 



There is an old catholic church in Cuervo, which was built during World War I. Somehow it's still in decent shape (the roof looks like it was replaced recently). I quickly got out to take a few pictures:





Right next to the church is an abandoned house (it's the one in the photo from 2007 that had the random hairdresser chair). I've taken lots of pictures of that house in the past, like this one from 2015:



But I didn't take any pictures this time. The old house was completely covered with graffiti and vandalism. It seemed like the entire shell of the old house was covered with spray paint. I got an uneasy feeling about it, and didn't want to linger too long. So I hurried back to the car, and then headed onto the freeway. We quickly put Cuervo in the rearview mirror, joining the rest of the traffic on the freeway that passes apathetically through the remains of this sad old town.