Our Trip to the Texas Panhandle

Scott and I headed to West Texas this holiday weekend to witness our good friend, Dee Ann, get hitched. She and her new husband decided to get married in McLean, Texas which is essentially in the middle of nada. It was snowing when we rolled into town and checked into the Cactus Inn on Friday afternoon. Now, the photos here on the blog are ones with grass and leaves on trees. Our experience was of barren trees and snow covered ground.

The town is barely existent as there is ONE gas station (which doubles as the only place to get fast food), NO traffic lights, NO coffee shops, NO bars (dry county), and ONE teeny-tiny grocery shop. Scott was pretty shocked at the area. I'd been there before when Dee Ann lived there several years ago out on a ranch, so I knew what to expect. Still, I was pretty amazed at how desolate and depressing a town this was, yet people were living there and friendly. There is a high school (really tiny), three churches and a cemetery. Here are some photos of what we experienced:

Here is a photo of the Cactus Inn's old sign. It was a trip. I've not stayed in a motel such as this Route 66 classic ever in my travels. The people that owned it lived behind the little check in desk. They had a living room back there. I really wanted a tour of their digs, but I didn't ask. Instead, I just took our old school actual key and walked over to room 19 (out of 21). Luckily we got to stay in town close to the wedding location and dinner hall.

While I waited to go to the dinner and wedding, I cruised McLean, and I saw these "buildings" that used to probably be operational at one point.

Another old service station from the glory days of McLean.
This refurbished service station was right across the street from the church where Dee Ann got married. It was actually pretty cool.

I included this picture because Alanreed is actually a town in Texas. Weird name. We drove there on Friday night because the dinner/dance was BYOB, and McLean is dry. So, we had to pack it up and head out on I-40 to Alanreed, TX about 10 miles down the highway. Basically, the whole town is the beer store, which also serves as the post office, snack shop, souvenir shop, and laundry mat. Pretty awesome. It had a tee pee on top of the shop, but I didn't get a picture. Just imagine it by looking at the sign in front of the place.

Anyway, Dee Ann got married and the whole operation was very nice, and I was really happy for her. No, they aren't going to live in McLean; they just got married there. Long story. Anyway, man....there are some crazy old towns in Texas. They are full of history and stories that reel me in, but I wouldn't ever want to live in them.