Sunday, May 19, 2002

A visual feast waits for motorists taking southbound route

By Greg Okuhara
Reporter-News Staff Writer

No amount of digital power, sound system wattage and stadium seating at a movie theater can top the drive-in experience. So I catch a Sunday night show at Abilene’s Town and Country Drive-In, 2902 Vogel Ave., before hitting the road.

The next day I head south to Buffalo Gap. The Buffalo Gap Historic Village is an impressive collection of buildings from the past, giving visitors a glimpse into life long ago. Even some of the town’s buildings that are still in use (The Wild Women Store, Lola’s Mexican Restaurant) could be part of the exhibit.

Drawing closer to Tuscola, Jim Ned High School’s stadium appears in the distance. The stadium serves as a reminder that high school football is king in West Texas; I can picture and hear the packed stands on a cool, fall Friday night.

As Farm Road 382 reunites with U.S. Highway 83, the Ballinger Cross greets me as I near town. The giant white metal structure contrasts nicely against the green backdrop.

A lady is sitting on a wooden log bench as I pull up, and she seems fixated on the paintings around the cross’s base. “Isn’t it just magnificent?” is all she can muster.

My next stop is my most anticipated: the American Indian pictographs in Paint Rock.

I arrive midmorning at Kay and Fred Campbell’s ranch on Highway 83. Kay is deep into telling stories to a group of fourth-graders, passing on the wisdom from her 75 years of living there. Her grandfather, D.E. Sims, traveled from Missouri and purchased the land in 1887. He named the town Paint Rock and did his best to preserve the paintings, some of which are 9,000 years old.

Back in Ballinger, I happen upon Taylor’s Restaurant, a diner where folks gather to talk politics, sports and current events. Waitresses seem to know everyone’s name and his usual order.

Between bites, Allen Amos, a Concho County judge, talks about life here.

“When Mother Nature puts on her best Sunday dress here, there is not a more beautiful creature in the world than here,” he said.

As for Texas Monthly’s neglect of Abilene, Amos shrugs his shoulders: “They missed out on a lot of interesting things and people.”