Drove through Linden, Texas today - the hometown of one Donald Hugh Henley!
I'm currently driving back to Indiana from Houston. To do so, you get on Highway 59 going north and stay on that sucker for well over 200 miles until you get to Arkansas. My family used to get on 59 and go through Texarkana when we visited my grandparents (who have now passed on). However, that trip was made from Beaumont and we were on 59 for about half that time, I'd say. I hadn't made the drive from Houston since 2003. I certainly didn't remember all of the towns Highway 59 snaked through.
Imagine my surprise (and - I must admit - delight) when I saw a sign that said "LINDEN 10 miles." "Well, whaddya know," I thought. "I gotta at least stop here for a minute, even if it's only to get gas."
As I drove through the town, I craned my neck left and right trying to take it all in and imagining how it was in the past.... without getting off the highway, unfortunately. I had a LONG drive ahead of me and no time to linger. A pity as I saw the exit for the Theater and I really would have liked to have seen it.
They are widening 59 around that area, it seems, and there was a great deal of ground torn up, so I couldn't see as far as perhaps I might have in the past. Heck, that highway might not have even been there back in the day for all I know. I was able to see several well-kept homes, a couple churches, a store called "Mr. Ed's" - it was nice. I know there are people on the board who have visited the town and have seen it in much more detail - wish I'd have had time to do so myself!
When I saw an Exxon station, I pulled up. Suddenly I realized that I could get a "souvenir" in the form of a receipt from the gas station, and an additional one from the accompanying store, which has printed on it "Linden, Texas." Now, when I write this out, it all comes off as rather silly, but hey - if you're still reading this and not bored out of your mind or sniffing with contempt, you must be a superfan and understand. Anyone who is doing the sniffing would be well-advised to spare themselves the trouble of reading further, as it only gets worse!
The people in the gas station/rest stop store were very nice. We became acquainted after a slight mishap where I accidentally walked into an employee-only area of the rest stop in an attempt to get to the ladies' room. "Shoot, looks like I'm the kind of girl who really does get lost going to the bathroom," I joked, which got a few chuckles. At any rate, I finally took care of business, got my soda and candy bar, and approached the counter. "You folks take debit cards?" I asked, since I hadn't brought any cash.
"Sure," the man at the counter said, smiling.
"Good," I said. "I was worried that since I had such a itty bitty purchase, you would want cash." (Most of these places do, and my purchase came out to a little over $2).
"Actually, it's supposed to be $5 minimum, but don't worry about it," he replied with a wave of his hand.
"Well, aren't you sweet as can be!" I declared happily. I ran my debit card through the reader and waited for my receipt with perhaps a bigger smile on my face and a tad more enthusiasm than is usual for such an exchange.
Once the receipt printed out, I placed it in my purse pocket carefully before taking the soda and candy bar. "Thank you so much and have a wonderful evening, sir," I told him warmly before turning to leave. I was starting to feel a bit ridiculous at being so excited, but I was grateful nonetheless - and he had indeed been very sweet!
As I pulled out of the station, though, I almost got a souvenir from Linden that I sure DIDN'T want. Many times police cars hover about these small towns and wait for highway traffic to zip through without slowing down, then pull folks over for speeding. When I was 16, I received my first speeding ticket in such a manner when zipping through lovely Silsbee, Texas, lol. Luckily, before I could get up to speed today, somebody else got pulled over down the road and I was well-warned to keep it at the limit. That sure would have been a pretty ignominious exit from Linden if it had been me! (Not that I'm a speed demon or anything but I do have a tendency to perhaps go a tiny bit over the limit).
This story perhaps was a bit overlong considering how little happened... but a receipt for a Coke and a Snickers bar from a gas station in Linden, Texas truly fits the definition of a "little thing that reminds you of the Eagles," wouldn't you say?