Baird

Baird, Texas bills itself as the antiques capital of West Texas. The small town, and county seat, is about 15 East of Abeline a bustling metropolis. Baird is about 1,600 or so souls and it looks it. It is a dying town.

Well it ain't an antiques capital at all. Main Street was mostly closed, that is not open for business because we were there to early (about 9:45 or so) or the businesses had failed. We found one place open but the folks were stacking stuff up for auction come Saturday. We looked around but not much. We found three places and a real old time hardware store open, a bank, and eating establishment. We wandered around for about an hour then elected to drive to Abeline and Dyess Air Force Base.

On the way out of Weatherford we at at Cracker Barrel and Judie bought Will a T shirt with a Farmall Tractor on it. But she had to buy a larger size, it was a discontinued line and there were no others to be had close to his size. On the way into Abeline we saw a Cracker Barrel so we doubled back and Judie managed to swap a size down at that outlet.

We pressed on to Dyess, it has an excellent display of aircraft including a B-1 (it is the home of one of the two B-1 wings in the US). There is a new commissary and BX. The BX has a very modern set up, with clothing sales store (where Judie bought me some socks), a large food court and of course a new BX. We found the BX to be well stocked, spacious and obviously new. I ate a piece of pizza and Judie had a sandwich. Saw lots of young people enlisted as well as officers in the food court. It was a very vibrant place.

We then drove off base and through Abeline. Nice size town, maybe 100,000 to 120,000thousand folks. Home to Abeline Chrisian and Hardin Simmons Universities. The big ecomonic engine is petrolium industry and the Air Force base.

On the way home we decided to stop in Eastland and look for antiques. We found one place on the square. Eastland is also a county seat. Nice old homes and appears to be in pretty good shape. Judie got a couple of things there; an LSU placard and an old fashioned hand held fan as found in churches before air conditioning.

Not being much else we got back on the Interstate and headed toward Weatherford. Next stop was Ranger. Ranger is about 15 or so miles East of Eastland and is reputed to be about the size of New Roads. The local attraction is Lake DeLeon. Ranger had one large antique place, probably had as much stuff in that business as all of Baird put together. But Ranger is dying. The oil has played out and the gas drilling as not reached there yet (and may not do so). Several large buildings, like five stories are empty. Bank looks lonely by itself on the main drag. We stopped at the Dairy Queen on the way out to use the restrooms and grab a coke. The restrooms were marginal, the price of the cokes was reasonable - happy hour for them. The place reflected Ranger, while relatively new, it to was dying. I would say in a few years, maybe ten or so years, Ranger will be a ghost town. Mineral Wells will not be far behind. People in Ranger either go to Abeline or Fort Worth for serious services. Even Graham is more vibrant than Ranger.

From there we returned to civilization and a vibrant city - Weatherford. The change was dramatic. The people are moving from towns like Eastland and Ranger to Abeline and Fort Worth (and surrounding communities).

Next tour will be Stephenville and Doublin. Tour Dr Pepper and see if there are any antiques in Stephenville. Stephenville has Tarlton State University to keep it going. We may drive through Lipan to get there. Or we may go West on I-20 to Santo and turn south. Better see those towns before they are gone.