Texas landmarks
Sooo...these are interesting;
The first is a leaning water tower on I-40 in Groom, TX. This was apparently the brain child of a truck stop owner named Ralph Britten, who bought a decrepit water tower at auction in 1980. Somehow he hauled it 34 miles to his property and purposefully erected it at this awkward angle next to his truck stop. Rumor is that panicky travelers used to stop to warn someone the water tower was about to fall, and Ralph would explain that it’s been that way for years-and why don’t they sit down for some food & drink? Seems like it would never work as a marketing tactic these days, but it was apparently quite successful and business was booming until the truck stop burned down sometime in the 90’s and never financially recovered.
The second one we’ve not been to up close and personal, but we see it every time we drive through Amarillo. It’s an oddball collection of old cars (Cadillacs apparently-not clear to a car-derp like myself) buried at 45 degree angles out in an epithet field. Seeing it really raised a lot more questions than it answered, so I had to do some internet sleuthing.
Apparently this is is referred to as the Cadillac Ranch. A local artist (and billionaire) made this happen, and after some time the piece began to have issues with graffiti & being tagged. Instead of hiring security guards, they began providing spray paint on site and encouraged visitors to add their own bit of “art” to this piece. When we drive by this site, there is what seems to be a taco truck in the parking lot, but on it hangs a big sign that says “spray paint”.
That’s all for now...it’s been a busy few days, folks. Thanks for reading! ♥️