Down the Red Dirt Road

I love this song because so much running around was done in my teenage years up and down the red dirt roads of East Texas.  What is even funnier is that my husband actually was raised off of Rural Route 3, lol, just not the one in the song!!  :)

I don't even remember what I saw yesterday that reminded me of this story, but I just have to share it. 

Even back when I was a kid in the 70's, life was way different than it is now.  My cousin and I , who was just a few months older than me, would spend our summer days down at my Grandmother's house on Lake Jacksonville.  Jacksonville is in the heart of the Pineywoods of East Texas.  There are many roads that wind around the lake, and there are also several red clay dirt roads once you get away from the paved roads. 

My Grandmother attended a small little country Methodist church called Antioch Methodist.  This is the church where I met my husband (I was 13 years old when we first met), and the church where we got married.  It holds very many special memories for me.  We would go to every service they had all summer long.  My cousin and I reallly looked forward to the Sunday Night singing service.  They would let us pick songs out of the hymnal to sing and then after the services were over we would go outside and play football or whatever. 

To go to this church from my grandmother's house was about a three and half mile drive.  We would wind around the lake road and then turn down a dirt road for a while and then back onto a paved road again and YOU ARE THERE LOL!!

My cousin and I had the bright idea one time to

WALK TO CHURCH SERVICES

We were about 14 years old.  It's amazing now how in the late 70's you wouldn't think twice about letting your child do something like that, and now we won't even let our kids play outside by themselves because there really are just that many mean people around. 

We left her house at about 5 and we walked.    And we walked.  And we walked some more.  We had a great time laughing and giggling and talking to each other and gossipping about boys.    Church started at 6:00.  I think we finally got to the church at 7:30 p.m. and COMPLETELY MISSED THE SERVICE....and we were soooo hot and tired.....and of course we thought it was pretty funny that it took us so long to walk what we thought would be just a short trip!!

MY GRANDPARENTS BUILT THIS LAKE HOUSE WHEN LAKE JACKSONVILLE WAS FIRST PUT IN....WAS A WONDERFUL PLACE TO COME EVERY SUMMER...IT'S SINCE BEEN SOLD AND I SURE DO MISS IT :(

(This is a photo of how it looks today 06/10/11)

walking down the lake road

IT HAS TONS OF TWISTS AND BENDS IN IT

YOU CAN SEE THE LAKE FROM THE ROAD IN MANY PLACES

this old barn has been there since the 1970's and STILL LOOKS THE SAME

THE DIRT ROAD

LOVE THIS DUSTY RED CLAY ROAD

THE CHURCH I GOT MARRIED IN