Travels in Texas

You all know how I love the high plains of the Texas panhandle. Its sweeping, cattle dotted views to the horizon, its uncongested roads straight as laser beams, its grain elevators towering above the plains filled with the produce of a rich land, its oilfield jacks, its windmill farms, its center pivot irrigation booms marking out green circles on a dun colored background. It contains all the elements of the agricultural and energy sectors of the US economy. There is little difference between its large towns and open country for even within town limits there are vast open spaces, and Amarillo's Monday morning rush-hour is less crowded than early Sunday morning in the suburbs of the Northeast.

When I mention to the good people of this area that I am going to Houston, they wrinkle their noses as if to say that it's much too crowded there. Things are, as always, relative. I once mentioned to someone that I preferred Houston to Dallas and the reply was that while Dallas was a real city, Houston was just a cow town. I guess I like cow towns.

Houston's appeal to me is that despite its being one of the largest cities in America after (New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago) it is the most uncity city I have ever been in. A low roof line, typically only 2 stories defines the place. There are of course, many skyscrapers, the largest being the 60 story Williams Tower, and many three story apartment complexes all of which do not disturb the sense of openness and space I am used to from the plains. Almost all the buildings, low and tall have generous setbacks and abundant vegetation separating them from the concrete of sidewalk and street. The highways are lined with industrial and office buildings of all types, old and new, all with much open space surrounding them. Except for some persistent trouble spots, the traffic flows quickly and smoothly. As in most Texas cities, the freeways are built at level, service roads alongside, and the main roadway bridges the major intersecting streets. This allows for traffic flow through all the neighborhoods, largely due to the innovation which allows a U-turn from the service road without the need for turning at the intersection and waiting for two lights.

An anomaly that has always piqued my curiosity I can only attribute to something left over from an earlier time. In an area criscrossed by a freeway and a tollway, exit and entrance ramps, along a wide street bordered on both sides by empty land bereft of pedestrian traffic, sits an old rundown house with an off-ramp wall just behind it and a freeway overhead. Every time I pass it, I wonder how it came to be in this otherwise uninhabited place.

It is in fact, a well known Houston restaurant, Bubba's Texas Burger Shack. It looks as though it started out as a private house on a fair bit of land. Its subsequent history remains a mystery to me.