Hubbard Texas used to be known as Slap Out on account of their general store typically being slap out of provisions. As of the 2010 census the town was 1,423 persons strong and I like it, well put together for the most part with a lively feed store and a couple of shops and decent country restaurants. Their war memorial's especially impressive, a Cobra gunship which saw service in Vietnam before decommissioning in 1994, when 1 Cav gave it to the town.
After a tasty lunch of cheese enchiladas at Polos Italian Pizza restaurant, I drove over to a churchman's ranch for a sick call. What a great old man, in his 90s, a proud vet, Airforce I think, and an excellent horseman in his day. Pillar of the church to boot. He's weak now but clear of cancer, praise God.
On the way back I stopped in Malone, population 269. It's famous for being German and having saloons or bars, Muleskinners, Pair-A-Dice and Whiskey River. I haven't been in any of these but feel I should.
Whiskey River seems the best and it's owned by a friend who obstinately doesn't come to Mass but cheerfully lets me shoot at his back(ish) country range. A neat guy, a wiry landowner with a piercing eye and a serious, shooting safari hunter. I wish he was Senior Warden of Mission #1 but as it is we're allies.
Malone's also famous for its motel. You see, not so long ago this part of the world was dry, you couldn't get a drink because that was so wicked and unchristian, even though wine features rather strongly in the Bible. As in the Miracle at Cana and the Last Supper.
No, not Dr. Pepper and non-alcoholic grape juice in a dixie cup. That in mind, people would drive from as far away as Corsicana, population 23, 770, to live it up at Malone's saloons, and then they'd stay in the motel. Smart.
So now you know. I love this part of Texas.
Shoot straight,
LSP
7 comments:
Sounds as if a whole buncha places are gonna be adoptin' Hubbard's old name before too long.
Brandon will save us......."an EBT card in every pot and an electric car in every garage"
A young man I was mentoring/training/supervising was a serious drinker (now 12 step sober going on ten years). He was horrified when checking into a motel in Lubbock to find it a dry county.
My wife and I used to drive on the eastern side of Hubbard several times a year when I had medical appointments at Fort San and Lackland AFB. We went from Sulphur Springs, preferring the peaceful state highways to I30 and I35, although driving on I35 became necessary near Waco. Near Texas Highway 31 not far from Hubbard, I believe, is a marker beneath a sassafras tree on a low hill, announcing MURDERED, where two adult men and a boy were killed by Indians, in the 1840s. Standing there, in prairie grass, with low mesquite nearby, it's easy to see how such an event from history came about.
Ain't that the truth, Wild.
Mind you, part of me wants an electric rig(!). Is that wrong?
It's a strange thing, WSF, a kind of conflation of Christianity and Islam, or something like that. Detestable.
Wow, Sgt., that's right where I was, off of 31. I'll look out for the marker
LSP. I could be off a town, but I think it is west of Hubbard, north of 31 if you are headed west. I drove by it at least six times and then one day on my way to Fort Hood decided to see what it was. It was a surprise. Saw a couple of MURDERED grave markers in NE Texas, one in Delta County, the other in Lamar County. The one in Delta County is in Ben Franklin. at the Simmons Cemetery. Bill Longley killed a preacher after breaking out of the Delta County jail. The preacher is buried there. The one in Lamar County is the Old Deport Cemetery. I wrote a story on that one for the Paris newspaper and got a call from a woman who said the murdered man was her great-grandfather. She said all the family knew was that her great-grandfather answered a knock at his door one night and was shot by someone with a shotgun. Do enough history and you discover people have not changed since Cain killed brother Abel. Sad but, well, human.
Post a Comment