Texarkana to Atlanta, Texas – A road definitely less traveled!
Every now and then there is a place you have wanted to visit for a strange reason. I remember as a kid seeing various destinations on buses in Scotland and always wanting to go visit those places. Places with such interesting names as Easterhouse, Slaeumuir and Auchenshuggle.
Well, I found myself meandering the country and my partner really wasn’t picky about where we went so I opted to go through Texarkana. I had heard the song “Cotton Fields” many times by various artists and loved the song despite not liking country music. It had a great beat and a great story which made me want to see Texarkana.
I have no idea what I was expecting to see but what I left with was great sadness. I felt so sorry for the town with its wide boulevards, attempt at an arts district, historic structures and a complete lack of people and for the most part life itself. I could see where progress was being made but the town appeared very poor as if a large employer had left town and with it went hope. I certainly didn’t expect this feeling.
If there is a local film commission they would be wise to find zombie movie producers as there were great sections of town that would be suitable for such productions. I think because the song was so lively and full of spirit I expected the town to be somewhat similar.
We saw people posing by the sign that showed the Texas and Arkansas border that is featured in ads promoting tourism to the area. Since it was in the ads, and people were posing with it and that’s about all the tourist activity we could find, we figured there was now good reason to use it in tourism promotion. Because there was not much else.
Following the most disappointing stop of the trip we headed into Texas on US Highway 59 which we ended up spending a lot of time on – and for good reason. We didn’t get into the town of Atlanta but opted to go directly to the campground. We arrived just after five and so we found a camp site and took the dogs out to the water to see a gorgeous sunset over Wright Patman Lake.
The campground was really quite nice but it was cold when we were there so we didn’t get to fully appreciate the state park. There was no shortage of water activities and I could see why people who live in landlocked areas really don’t need to be by an ocean or gulf as this lake was really quite big.
There is a place to swim in the lake though we certainly didn’t do it. Having lived in Florida most of my life now I really have a hard time knowing that there wouldn’t be alligators in lakes. There were canoes for rent as well but we didn’t have enough time to do much of the activities – and primarily because it was cold.
The state parks represent a good value and they should since they are ours to enjoy. I’d strongly suggest you look into visiting more state parks if you haven’t been to one recently. Atlanta State Park was wonderful and a great asset for this part of Texas. If you travel by, it makes for a great stopping point.
We will continue our journey down US 59 and thank you for coming along with us.
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