Day 12: To Houston & The End

The drive home from Little Rock was a bit over 450 miles, but the ride wasn’t bad and traffic behaved itself. Also, once we left Texarkana, there was no more interstate. Mostly good four lane roads, and more interesting stuff to see. We took a break for a short visit with good friends in Longview. Home before dark.

We went off I-30 in Arkansas for about 16 miles just to take a look and seeking some sane traffic. In Prescott, we were stuck waiting for a long train, so I turned onto a city street to keep moving and found this place. A local woman driving by was watching me as I got out of the car and gave me a weak wave. After I walked around this yard shooting for a few minutes and turned to walk back to the car, there she was waiting for me parked by the curb. She told me that the guy who had this place was last named Davis and that he was listed in the phone book (so I could call him). She said he ran a washateria then retired and “started painting’”. She then reminded me that he was in the phone book. I said thanks and she drove off.

More from El Spotros. (And these two photos capture the whole scene.)

Many of these have written on the side a narrow window of operations. Something like “Open June 26-July 5”. It varied from place to place and I suspect is subject to local or state laws. I’ve been documenting fireworks stands for a while now - see more at this link. You will see a Middle America link at the top to get back here.

Even though dinner was waiting a couple hours away , we couldn’t resist an east Texas DQ and had our dessert before dinner.

East Texas. From my own observations, I really believe that the number of donut shops have exploded in small towns in the south. Also, as an observer and photographer of interesting signs, these donut shops tend to have the most bland signage. It is almost like that is “a thing” and it is part of the donut shop culture these days. The one in St. Louis (Day 4) was certainly an exception.

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THE END

Thanks for riding along for 2,600 miles! I hope you enjoyed the photographs and the commentary that allowed you to see what I saw along the way.