Roads to Nowhere

January 29, 2022

Sometimes an adventure doesn’t work out as planned. This can be either good or bad, depending on whether we find something else interesting along the way. Today’s adventure did not work out as hoped for, but there was at least a small consolation prize in the alternative plan.

Before I get into the details on the drive, though, I just want to mention that the Spaceship Car is still waiting for that one part. The body shop called last week and offered to finish assembling the car without the radar unit, then install it when it eventually comes in. I told them that we would think about it. After some discussion this weekend we decided to take the car if omitting the radar unit does not cause problems with the car’s safety features.

Anyway, you might be wondering what went “wrong” with this weekend’s adventure. The short answer is that I neglected to read the correct map. The longer answer is that I found a great route through some potentially interesting forest, but it turned out that a significant–and crucial–portion of the trip was along a private road.

We started on Rocky Creek Road, which begins at FM 3152 outside of Onalaska, Texas. It was a fairly pretty little drive, and the road surface was excellent for a dirt road. It ends in a neighborhood located along Kickapoo Creek.

Rocky Creek is located about halfway down the road.

A short distance from the creek we saw this interesting sculpture by someone’s front gate:

Everything was proceeding according to plan until we got to the turn that would have taken us north through the forest. We came to a gate with a sign that clearly marked everything beyond as private property. My original plan was to follow that road to Josserand Road, which would eventually lead us to Groveton, Texas in Trinity County. Since that was no longer possible, we headed back to FM 3152.

From there we turned north and came to Triple Creek Road. I noticed earlier that Triple Creek intersected with Rocky Creek Road, so I turned down it with the hope of finding a quiet place where Kristi and I could stop and plot out a new route.

Triple Creek Road does not appear to get much use. It has lots of deep ruts and I do not recommend driving it in low-clearance vehicles. There wasn’t much to see. We stopped somewhere along the way and checked the map.

As I noted earlier, things do not always go according to plan. This was entirely my fault because I did not examine the route carefully enough. A now more thorough examination of the area on Google Maps revealed that a lot of the nearby dirt roads were private roads, and that there was no practical way to get to Josserand Road from our location. We started looking for other routes.

FM 3152 runs north a short distance, then turns east, where it meets with FM 350. Somewhere along the east-west stretch it crosses Lucky 13 Road/Colita Loop. The name alone sounded interesting, so we finished making the loop around Triple and Rocky Creek Roads and then once again turned north onto FM 3152.

Most of this area is comprised of planted forests that are apparently harvested on a regular basis. Some sections, such as along Triple Creek Road, appear to have been harvested fairly recently.

Turning left from FM 3152 onto Lucky 13 Road (probably properly named Colita Loop), we headed north. Colita Loop has thick woods on either side, as pictured above. Kristi and I decided that this might be prime horsefly country during the right time of the year.

After driving for some time, the woods suddenly opened up, slightly, at Bethel Cemetery. This cemetery was not on the map, so it was a complete surprise to us. Kristi got out and explored a little bit while I continued studying the map.

There are only a few graves in Bethel Cemetery. It once served an area called Louisiana Settlement in which Colita was one of the communities.

One of the interesting facts about this cemetery is that it is the final resting place of William and Elizabeth Kennedy, both of whom were born in the 1790s. Several of their family members are buried there, too. If you follow the links to William and Elizabeth’s Find a Grave entries, you will see photos of the two and a brief description of the placement of Elizabeth’s marker.

Born in Louisiana in 1822, William S. Mainer might have been one of the earliest settlers in western Polk County. He served as a Private in the Confederate States Army, Company D, 1st Infantry. The 1st Infantry fought at Sharpsburg/Antietam, considered the “bloodiest single day in American history.” I don’t know whether Pvt Mainer was present at the battle, but it is very likely that he was. He probably saw many other horrible battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg where the 1st Infantry successfully held out against repeated cavalry charges. I can only imagine the tales he must have told upon returning home. I have to wonder what he thought of his world after the war. A lot happened in Texas during his lifetime–independence from Mexico, becoming a U.S. state, secession, and Reconstruction.

Colita Loop brought us to FM 350. From there we headed south to the intersection of FM 3152, from which we proceeded to Onalaska, and then home.

We ended our adventure with dinner at Carbonero in Huntsville, then with ice cream at Sonic.

While the adventure was short, Kristi and I enjoyed one another’s company. It gave us opportunities to engage in good conversation with each other on a variety of topics. Bethel Cemetery and the surrounding area gave us interesting subjects to investigate.

My plan is to attempt Josserand Road sometime in the future, but we might first retrace some more familiar routes nearer to home. Plans for the next trip are already in the works…