Its 9/11, I'm in Texas and instead of watching tv with my father in the hotel room I decided to take a long drive in search of more old abandoned houses. Its incredibly warm outside and the backroads are bustling with weekend travelers. My chosen route was a mixture of known and unknown roads between Abilene and Coleman, Texas. I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but figured that it didn't hurt to take a longer route to see what else I could find.
I found a few houses, but not as many as I hope. Though I must admit that I am not all that surprised. The land in this region is mostly fenced off for cattle. From my experiences the farmland further north of here is better for finding abandoned and isolated building structures. It seems the the general usage of the land affects the number of houses I find.. Its a theory..
The first house was okay, I can't say that I am too excited with the images.. The floors were too fragile for me to enter and from the window views it didn't look all that interesting inside.
The second house was the one that I was aiming for when I set out this afternoon. Its located between Santa Anna and Coleman. I have passed it by several times, but never had the time to properly explore it. This time I was determine to check it out. It is located next to a major road, but to access it you have to turn off onto a dirt road which leads you away from the eyes of passerbys. The overgrown greenery also helps block the view from the road. Makes it easier to relax and focus on work.
As soon as I stepped out of my car I had a brief thought about rattle snakes.. Its not a thought that crosses my mind often, though it probably should considering I wander the Texan landscape with sandals more often than I should. I pushed the thought out of my head and continued on. The house was covered with green vines. All that was clearly visible from outside was the roof.
For several moments I stood outside an entrance wondering if I should push through the vegetation into the hidden porch. The porch looked weak, and I wanted to get inside.. I knew that there had to be something wonderful inside waiting for me to digitally capture it!
I push through.
Inside and I am covered with spiderwebs, but hopefully not the spiders.. I saw many of them. Stout little black spiders.. They look like the kind that can jump. I'm not afraid of spiders, in fact I love the little guys, but I still don't want them on me.
This house has a soul.. its hard to explain. I feel like I am in another world. I feel like Alice and the looking glass. everything is still inside. I'm in whats left of the kitchen and notice that an empty hanging pot is suspended in front of a window covered with the green vines. its cool inside where as the outside was thick with heat.
I begin to make my way through the house. its mostly bare with the exception of the typical debris scattered across the wooden floors. On my left is a room that catches my eye. The colors inside are muted except for the bright greenery outside the window and a single sheet of wallpaper loosely hanging from the top of the wall.
it would have been a perfect photo!! I slowly step through the door into the silent room when all of the sudden I hear the Rattle snakes!!
I don't know how many there were. I never actually saw them. I knew they were inside the closet on my right and the only way they had out was at me.. They were so loud and angry. With out any thought I ran out the nearest door and continued running across the yard back to my car. From outside I could still hear them as I ran passed open windows.
My heart was beating so fast! It was thrilling, exciting and scary as shit all at once!! I have heard rattle snakes in the fields before, but never had so close of an encounter with them..
I'm going to go back in the winter when it is cooler outside and maybe borrow my friend's snakeguard pants for extra protection.. I REALLY WANT THAT PICTURE!! It was perfect and I can see it so clearly inside my head! If I don't get capture it I will go insane thinking about it!
From there the rest of my drive was calm in comparison.
I found two new house that I never knew of before. One was not so inviting and the other seemed like the strangest house I have ever seen. I'm not sure on how to explain it.. The wooden floor covered a cement foundation with shallow grooves. I didn't have to worry about falling through the floor into an empty basement.. But I was concern that more rattle snakes were under the floor.
- Side note: it took a few weeks for that sound to not feel so fresh in my memory.... weeks!!
In the center of the house was a strange hallway that connected to arch shaped doors on opposite sides with a floor of cement slabs that matched the exterior porch floor.. It was a wide hallway with living rooms on either side.. I don't think the doors were wide enough for a modern vehicle but maybe for a stage coach of some sort.. but it looked like it should have some sort of function to it..
It was around then that I began hearing what sounded like an angry animal walking around.. after the snake encounter I decided that I wasn't quite up to anymore Amber vs Nature adventures.. The heat was also starting to get to me. I then made some notes about the house and headed back toward Abilene to meet Dad for dinner.
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