not recently having much luck in the way of people offering
hospitality, so i finally decided to hit up the churches in the
areas that i am coming to, and/or spend alittle more time trying
to find camping areas around these towns, because i come to find
that there are often more camping options than most people are
aware of, and even at RV parks you could possibly pitch a tent for
ten bucks or less. that sure beats a hotel for 45 and up! (as a side
note, camping at a camp ground or RV park introduces the possibility
of playing music for people, which brings to mind the possibility
earning some money.)
So Kirbyville is a small fading town in far east Texas (no camping).
there's an old building on Main st. that is nothing more than a broken
shell of brick and mortar with no roof left and there are trees growing
inside of it. one particular tree is about twenty or thirty feet tall, seems
to me that that tree has been growing there for a little while.
i asked the Pasteur (Brad) at the Methodist Church where i was
going to camp at if there were any oldtimers that met up somewhere
to play music. and he said (to paraphrase) that people in this town
were very private and that they didn't get together and do things
together too much unless it was an organized event like the Magnolia
Festival or Church. he even pointed out how some folks that lived
right there in town had no trespassing signs in the yards (like they
do in out in the country). i want to say he even referred to it as a
dying town, or something like that. kinda funny, on the Baptist
Church sign i saw, "Bad company corrupts good character"
-corithians 15:33 to which i wanted to reply,
"what if good character corrupts bad company?"
so later on i was at the local subway chain eating carbohydrate rich
foods full of preservatives and other unknown to me chemicals and
a local fella came in and after he sat down, asked me where i was
headin'. after a few words passed between us he told me he worked
at the local Housing Authority and if i wanted to shower i could come
down there and use the facilities. i thanked him and said i was
wondering where i was going to use the bath room tonight
(meaning poop) because i had arranged to camp at the
Methodist Church over on Main st. he said, "that's where i go.".
-small town.
so once i made it over to the Housing Authority building he told me
that he grew up around north San Antonio and that he used to run
competitively until he crushed his ankle.he has since bought a bike
to stay active but confesses to not riding it much, but any time he
sees a cross country cyclist he always offers them a place to shower
and crash at the Housing Authority. he brought me a cot too.
so this is a nice turn of events, because as stated earlier, the
hospitality in southeast Texas has been a bit spotty, however
in other cases, it's been Great!
this is a weird part of the state too, i think that
when most people from other states think of Texas, this is
what they think of, REDNECKS and horses. there are alot
of rednecks here, and almost as many churches and dirt
roads, but there are also a good deal of nice folks here too.
(i think the other extreme people think of is the TV show
Dallas- god i hope they never remake that...)
ok, so south east Texas, what else comes to mind??? ... Jasper...
yes, and i'm in Jasper County, the town of Jasper is twenty miles
north of where i'm at now. i just talked to my host (Wes) about
that. he wanted to impress upon me that that was an isolated
incident, he says the people here as a whole are not like that.
Wes pointed out that those dudes that dragged that man
behind a truck to his death had learned to become white
supremacist in the Texas Prison System. that last statement
there kind of packs a wallop in it self.
i bring this up because for me it's been kind of scary to go thru
some of these places because they are so remote and some of
these people seem rather put off by strangers, but again
only some of them, case in point, where am i now?
in the Housing Authority Office & Community Center to
spend the night on a cot with the interweb.... and a latin
dance group in the neighboring room from 6 to 7. i'd also
like to point out that i've seen a lot of interracial activities
among the kiddos and adults, now that's not to say everything
is perfect and no racial hatred exists anymore,
but the Klan doesn't rule here.
if anyone is interested here's an interesting article about
the dragging death and Jasper 10 years later.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-06-2161250099_x.htm
well, this took an unexpected turn, thanks for reading.
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