Sunday, December 27, 2020

Bookmark - Rustic Fenceline / The Rural Roads of East Texas

Being totally random here...

I was out doing site visits in Austin County here in Texas during winter (my favorite time to shoot) and saw this weathered fence as an opportunity.

This is the reason that since childhood one of my favorite things to do is aimlessly drive country roads to take in the beautiful rustic scenery of rural America.  I guess that the family Sunday afternoon drive is a ritual for the same reason.  It's just fun going to as-yet-undiscovered places and enjoying scenes like this.

I went crazy my second year of college at SFA, when I owned my first car, a 1968 Rambler American named Old Blue.  Many hours were spent meandering through the red dirt roads of East Texas, stopping now and then to look at a shed or moo at a cow.  And, though the road was paved, my best time in Nacogdoches was while living out on a farm-to-market road (1275) because it was windy and rural, and any detour took me (or us, if with a friend) down some of those dirt roads.  Some days, just to explore, I would drive outbound until 1275 evolved into a logging road full of ruts and vegetation.  This was out in the sticks enough to do a little target shooting with my .22 revolver.

Then there are the people that live way out there.  Occasionally I'd have the opportunity to interact with someone living in a big house or mansion with acreage out in the boonies.  Other times I'd end up discovering a small community occupying a crossroad or river bottom flat.  All of it beautiful in its own way.

No comments: