Brownfield, Texas Re-examined

Recently we drove to Brownfield to take another look at that town, and the first thing we encountered was an auto graveyard. These cars had been in awful wrecks and we doubted that some of them were survivable. And so I begin this photo series with a warning to DRIVE SAFELY!

Here in Lubbock the Tech kids are back in town and most of THEM drive like idiots.

Some of the people who drove these cars didn't realize their destination would be a closed-casket funeral...
 

Finishing Townsend Strong

Today, if I worked at a car wash, it would only be for the exercise.

 I had that feeling, when I worked for the SPD car wash, and for Townsend Strong, that "this too shall pass away". And sure enough, it did.

Just a few pics here from the Wind Power Museum, from a novel perspective...

 From Wind Power to dire poverty-- we ran across this apartment complex in East Lubbock and it tore our hearts out.

 And the place below has been on the corner of 19th and MLK for years and years.

Lubbock And Townsend Strong

Back in the early 1970's I worked at a car wash owned by "Townsend Strong". It was the SPD Car Wash in Redbud Center, at about Slide and 13th Street. The car wash is long gone, and not a trace remains. Most of the people who worked at that car wash seemed to have ties to one or the other of the two families who constituted corporate Townsend Strong, the Townsends, and the Strongs. The corporate office was located on the east side of the canyon on East Broadway where McKenzie Park is located. "Townsend Strong" seems to be history. I don't know what happened. I am not aware of any prominent Townsends and the only Strong I am aware of is a home builder but I don't know whether he has anything to do with the Strong family who was part of that old alliance of wealthy Lubbock families. It's sort of a mystery. We drove out to the site of the former business office and I photographed the sad remains. I'm sure the families were into much more than car washes, maybe the oil business.

Looking back, I can say that "Townsend Strong" seemed to treat their employees well. They rewarded loyalty. I didn't work for them very long. I went on to better things. There was an interesting fiasco when the automated track that guided cars through the wash broke down. I might write about that someday.

I worked really hard in the SPD car wash, back in the day.

Finishing Wilson

Today we say goodbye to Wilson. It was a nice visit, thanks to Helen and Jenna.

Lubbock will be our next stop. I'm going to examine debris on the site of what used to be the headquarters of "Townsend Strong", on East Broadway. No, I didn't trespass. My wife and I parked on the street and I took photos through the fence surrounding that property.
 

Now Back To Wilson

We've completed the interior of the Wilson Mercantile Store, and we are outside again...

Looking at all the different angles...

Tomorrow we should be done with Wilson.