Pecans, Tractors, and Dark Magic

October 19, 2023

We had a very special visitor in the middle of October! My favorite brother, Jimmy, came all the way from Maryland to spend a few days with us and to see some of the sights of East Texas.

I asked him where he wanted to go, and he said that he wanted to go down some of the dirt roads that Kristi and I have explored.

But where to go, exactly? Kristi and I have covered A LOT of territory these past few years. I figured we shouldn’t stray too far from base, so I picked out a route that covered some of the nearer dirt roads and interesting places to see. After mapping everything out, we hopped into the truck and drove all over the countryside!

Route: Pecans, Tractors, and Dark Magic, Part I

(Side note: Whenever you see “Route:” followed by the title of the post, that indicates a link to a map that shows the route that we took.)

We traveled north from Huntsville to Madisonville along TX-75. This is one of mine and Kristi’s favorite paved roads. It’s a pretty drive, and we enjoy going to Madisonville from time to time. It’s somewhat bittersweet, though, as the route takes us by the cemetery where Patrick is buried. I took Jimmy there to visit Patrick’s grave. All was in good order. The recent rains had “greened up” the cemetery grounds a great deal, too.

Our next stop was a much happier place: Buc-ees. It is my obligation as a Texan to take anyone from out-of-state to see a Buc-ees in all of its glory. (Although born in Texas, I think Jimmy’s heart is in the mountains of western Maryland, so I consider him an out-of-stater.) He seemed less than impressed, though. To be fair, Buc-ees is best visited when one has been driving for a long time, is hungry, and in desperate need of a bathroom break.

Moving on, we headed east on TX-21 to Rattlesnake Ranch Pecans, where I stocked up on treats. This is a fun place to visit if you like pecans and candies and want to spend $75 in less than 5 minutes. After admiring their collection of vintage passenger coaches, we continued on TX-21, then turned right onto Houston County Road 3275.

CR 3275 is paved, but the pavement ends a little less than two miles from the highway, near Big Creek, and the road changes to CR 3480. The community of Vistula was once located along this route near the junction with CR 3470. A cemetery, a few houses, and an abandoned church building are all that are left. The old travel trailer, which we documented in our Creeks and Ghost Towns adventure, is still there.

CR 3470 crosses a creek, then goes up a hill where it meets with CR 3475 at the top. We turned right onto 3475. This road offers several nice views of the Trinity River Valley to the west.

The pavement comes back at the line where CR 3475 ends and CR 2915 begins. An oil refinery was once located near this site. I believe it was owned by Unocal Corporation (now part of Chevron). The remains are on private property, but the site can still be seen on the Google Maps and Bing Maps satellite views.

CR 2915 ends at FM 230. Turning right, we traveled a very short distance, and then turned right onto CR 3495, which took us to the two metal bandito statues that I’ve dubbed The Two Amigos. They’re still there, guarding the gate to a ranch.

Jimmy seemed impressed with the Two Amigos. We got out of the truck to take pictures and admire them up close. But after a while we heard gunshots in the distance and, though the shots were certainly not directed at us, decided that it was time to continue on our journey.

CR 3495 ends at a ranch, but the road turns left onto CR 3500, which took us back to FM 230 in the small town of Weldon. We crossed over the highway and made our way to CR 3575, which passes by the Weldon Cemetery. From there we drove through woods, and by pastures and oil wells until we reached FM 3810/Piney Woods Road. My goal was to visit the vintage tractor display at the “Guinea Crossing and One Old Man” sign near the junction of Ellis Spring Road. We first visited this site in Retracing Our Steps.

Sadly, all of the tractors and other equipment had been removed. The sign was faded and nearly unreadable.

I’m guessing that the Old Man has either passed or moved away. I’m glad that Kristi and I got to see the display before it was gone. I wish I had stopped to talk to the owner that day, though.

Jimmy and I were ready for some lunch, so our next stop was Daisy’s Diner Country Store in Riverside. Named for a beloved pet of the owners, Daisy’s Diner is mine and Kristi’s favorite restaurant. We go there frequently. Not only is it convenient, but they have some of the best food in the area. I like to call it a mini-Cracker Barrel. It has a little store in front that sells various knickknacks, jewelry, articles of clothing, and treats. Their menu is mostly mainstream American food. And there’s even an RV park next door! (Although I don’t think that it is owned by the same people.)

Route: Pecans, Tractors, and Dark Magic, Part II

After a delicious lunch, we drove east on FM 980 to Old Staley Road. Our target destination this time was the Airstream trailer graveyard Kristi and I found during our Around the Lake adventure. We have wondered what purpose all of those trailers serve. Are they being renovated? Are they there for spare parts? Everything is still there, but the trailers and their surroundings are noticeably unkept and decaying. My guess is that either the owner keeps them for spare parts or just enjoys collecting them.

Now that we had viewed all of the manmade sites that I had planned on visiting, it was time to enjoy some nature.

Most people will agree that forests are magical places. The trees, the wildlife, the mystery of what’s unseen, and their sheer beauty can inspire awe and fantastic visions. They are often a place to relax and get away from the constant thrum of our everyday, modernized lives. Our next destination was the Sam Houston National Forest. I reasoned that Jimmy would enjoy the natural surroundings, and it would give us a good backdrop for discussing deep topics, such as spirituality, life, death, and religion. Along the way we had a long discussion on the symbolism in his most recent novel, Book of Mark. These topics were a great segue into exploring the various sites in the forest.

We turned off of Old Staley Road and onto FM 946, which took us through Oakhurst and into the national forest. We left the pavement and turned onto Jenkins Road. (Take it slow when driving on Jenkins Road. Parts of it are narrow, and there are a couple of hairpin turns with very limited visibility.)

Sun Dappled Forest and Dusty Spider Webs (Part II) chronicled one of mine and Kristi’s journeys through this part of the Sam Houston National Forest. My favorite road during that adventure was Forest Road 202, which runs between Big Woods Road and TX-150. There’s virtually nothing out there, but the road is fairly straight and easy to drive. The forest scenery is beautiful. It has a park-like quality, with widely spaced pine trees and a few hardwoods.

There is a fairytale ambiance to parts of the national forest, but to me one of the most intriguing sites on this route is a service road that I call The Enchanted Path. I don’t know what it is about this little road–maybe it’s the trees lining each side, or its remote location–but it has piqued my curiosity ever since we came across it. I had to share the experience with Jimmy. We stopped for a bit and admired the surroundings. Sadly, the horseflies were out in force, so we didn’t risk leaving the safety of the truck to explore.

We doubled back and made our way to Forest Road 200, driving by the former site of the infamous Karolyi Ranch. Turning north onto FR 206, we proceeded toward 3 Notch Road.

It was along FR 206 that we espied an unusual figure heading in our direction. From a distance it appeared to be a man dressed in a long, black, hooded cloak and riding a bicycle. Jimmy stated, “He looks like a warlock.” I doubted his assessment but had no logical explanation of my own.

The stranger’s attire was a modern take on what one might normally consider a hooded cloak. It looked to be made of the same fabric as a typical “hoodie” jacket, only it was styled more like a trench coat. As he came closer, we realized that he was riding an adult trike, not a bicycle.

Who was this person? What was he doing on a dirt road so far out in the forest?

Jimmy was convinced that the mystery person was a warlock. I thought he might be a homeless person who lived in the woods, or possibly a high school student who had ridden all the way to the forest on his way home. But he was FAR from the school, although the timing might have been about right. However, there are very few homes in that area.

He stopped to let us pass, and I slowed to avoid the truck throwing dust all over him. Jimmy and I waved at him as we passed. The stranger’s eyes met mine. His face was round and pale. His eyes were dark and sunken. He wore a deep frown, and had a malevolent, penetrating gaze.

“He’s definitely a warlock. Probably out here for some kind of ritual in the woods,” said Jimmy.

“Maybe he’s going to an early Halloween party,” I thought out loud. I didn’t really believe that, though, and felt uneasy about the situation. If I was superstitious, my feelings might have convinced me that the “warlock” had put a hex on me. As it turned out…he sort of did. But we’ll get to that subject later.

Shortly after turning onto 3 Notch Road, we passed a group of law enforcement officers (mostly Sheriff and DPS, I think) who were gathered at the entrance to one of the forest service roads. We didn’t know what business they had out there in the woods, but it was interesting that their presence coincided with our creepy encounter a few minutes earlier.

But there was no time to dwell on our strange situation. It was getting late, and we had one more stop to make before heading home.

I wanted to make our last stop the Sam Houston statue, which is located in a small park on the south side of Huntsville off of TX-75. We parked, then walked to the statue. There, I showed Jimmy the brick we bought in memory of Patrick:

Sam Houston struck an impressive pose, as usual. After taking in the sight for a bit, we returned to the truck and headed back to the house.

It was a fun drive. We covered a total of 143 miles according to my Google Timeline. I wish we had time to visit some other places, but we can save those for Jimmy’s next visit.

Well, I think that wraps up this adventure. Stay tuned for more adv…

What?

The hex?

Oh, of course! How could I forget? Maybe I just wanted to block it from my mind.

Remember that bike that the warlock was riding? Well, it turns out to have been an adult electric trike, something like one of these.

The reason I know this is because, apparently, as we drove by him my phone connected with his phone in the dark, ethereal magic of the web, causing my Facebook account to start displaying ad after ad after ad for electric trikes. This went on for weeks. They kept coming at me, even though I ignored them. So in a way, he put a spell on me in much the same way an angry techno-mage might curse someone who offended him.

Therefore, I’m convinced that we did in fact meet a real-life warlock in the mystic woods. Thankfully we only got suffered a simple, mischievous, techno-mage hex and weren’t sacrificed to the spider spirits of the forest. In the future I will know to be more careful out there and to temporarily disable my phone’s location services the next time I see a mysterious, cloaked stranger riding a trike.

Stay safe out there, dear readers. The world is quickly becoming a more and more dangerous place with all of this new technology. Mischievous daemons, evil bike-riding witches and warlocks, and invasive metadata tracking are everywhere!