Category Archives: Photography
Tower Drug, and car racing
Another view of Uhland, just steps away from where I found this trailer.
I am sort of digging Uhland. For one thing, the place was named for a poet.
And also because of the last sentence of the town’s history, offered simply, without detail: Club 21 was burned down due to a car racing accident in 2012.
Uhland, Texas
photographed 5.10.2013
Trailer House
You know how much I love old, ragged buildings, right?
Earlier this month, I was in Austin, Texas, and decided to drive around some nearby small towns, seeking some photogenic (to me) buildings. However, I failed to account for the revitalization of places like Kyle and Buda. I mean, they are nice enough if you are looking for a town with a pie shop, or a store that sells scented soaps, or even a day spa.
But they just don’t work if you want something that hasn’t been (or won’t ever be) fixed up.
The town of Uhland, however, was perfect.
Uhland, Texas
photographed 5.10.2013
Quarters only
The last few years of my grandfather’s life, he went on vacation with us. He had an intense curiosity and keen interest in everything he saw from his spot in the front seat; nothing escaped his attention.
I want to think I inherited a bit of those fine qualities.
He was a map reader. Every time we’d stop for gas, he’d return to the car with a new map from the rack inside the station.
I know I inherited his love of maps.
Our route from Texas to our most-frequent vacation destination would have taken us through Santa Rosa, and maybe to this very station. It’s funny that I hadn’t thought about him, or the trips, or the maps for years, but the very instant I saw this old map display, all those memories returned as if the trips were just a couple of years ago.
Although, in my grandpa’s time, the maps would have been free.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.4.2013
