Beverage: yesterday's margaritas
Toast: to the dreams of our ancestors!
When last we were in Lufkin, things were going well. We had seen several important civic buildings named for a famous Kurth and been delighted by the Kurth Curveballs. But the specter of the snake in Eden had been raised by a weird guy hanging around a closed library. And no one had declared me King yet. We resume the story as the afternoon light falls.
Next stop on the Kurth Tour was the proud-sounding Kurth Investment Corporation. This must be a bunch of think tankers who keep the family fortunes flowing. Maybe they will offer me a job or something. So off I go.
The address is near the railroad and on the way I see this mural.
It's one of a series of five in the town. This one was on the back of a railroad headquarter building. I later learned that it was on the site of an old platform that exploded. The woman on the train is Angeline, for whom the county is named. She was a native that helped the early settlers a lot apparently. I was hoping the big guy would be Joseph Kurth, but no such luck.
But it was nice to see the railroad history on display. I bet Kurth Investment Corp has plenty of fingers in the railroad pie. I'll just drive on over and...
What's this now? This is Kurth Investment headquarters? I check the map and Google again, and yes this is the address. It's locked up and surrounded by the low, rusted barbed wire fence you see here. I look around like maybe there is a different entrance or side door. All I see is a muscle bound woman sitting outside of the gym next door. She watches me curiously, so as I loop back around I figure I will ask her about the company. But when our eyes make contact, her face tells me to go get back the car. I was beginning to realize I was literally on the wrong side of the tracks.
I declare Kurth Investment a wash and punch in the next destination: Kurth Street Store or something. I'm thinking I would go buy a Rockstar and pay its a credit card. Give the counter girl a chance to meet a real Kurth.
So the directions come out over the GPS in the Aussie accent that Matt programmed for it. "Turn left on Mar-tin Luthorking bull-ah-vard." Uh oh. The neighborhood is getting sketchier and sketchier. With the last two encounters I'm thinking I should be cautious.
When I get to the grocery, there are a handful of young men out front. And suddenly, I'm scared. I decide not to buy energy drinks, I'm just going to take a snap and get out of there. So I pull up, lean across the passenger seat and shoot this shot:
The guy in the picture sees me do this and starts yelling. Hey! Hey! Maybe taking pictures of possible drug dealers wasn't so smart. He's hopping over to his friend and the two of them are shouting now and gesturing at me. I put it in gear and drive off. In the rear view I can see them talking animatedly.
I would go back the following morning to get the shot of the store below, but even then with the store closed, I was cautious, looking around. It was probably all fine and just boisterousness, but I had caught the fear vibe and couldn't shake it easily.
In the morning I also visited the downtown. The sign on the marquee said that there was an Elvis impersonator in town. And the coffee shop looked like it was set up for music at night. There was even a little beer garden with Christmas lights in the back.
But I had seen enough of the Kurthful Lufkin for now. I slung my camera and headed north.