jolie pearl

I had intended to post an image of the Old Capitol Building rotunda but my new laptop had other plans. Photoshop is loaded but won't read the images from the card. And if I could figure out Windows 10 I might be able to navigate better. So here's the oyster bar as seen by my phone.

Jolie Pearl

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

1.30.2017 

idle: not active or in use

 

The Idle Hour Café lived up to its name.  All its hours are now idle.  The "no trespassing" sign on the door means the roof has fallen in and the floor is a sea of mud and rubble.

 

Cimarron, New Mexico

8.19.2016

catfish buffet

 

This coming weekend, don't rush to Spur for the catfish buffet at the Hot Iron Café -- the place has been closed for years.  Spur is located in southern Dickens County and is named for the Spur Ranch.  The town was incorporated in 1911, two years after the railroad arrived.  It is the central shipping point for cotton, wheat and cattle.  During the 1940s the town boasted 110 businesses but fewer than half remain.  A stroll downtown, peering through dusty windows, finds many eating establishments, like the Hot Iron, which didn't make it.  Your best bet would be the Dixie Dog Drive-In or the Turnaround Café.

 

Spur, Texas

8.16.2014

 

The red DQ sign may be called the Texas stop sign but in earlier times the travelers' choices of eating establishments were more varied.  Small towns had local cafes with names like the Rock Inn and the Green Frog.  Motorists broke up the trip to Dallas along Route 114 by planning their lunch stops.  Each cafe seemed to have a specialty like chicken fried steak or home-made pies.  But people got in a hurry, highways got faster - or even by-passed usual stops like the rock gas station in Guthrie -- and cafes closed.  Faded signs remind of times past in places like Dickens, Jean, or Megargel.

Texas State Highway 114
9.19.2013