;)
Istanbul was Constantinople
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 12:40PM I have these things that fire my imagination. They don’t go away. Places, objects, characters. They bubble up through my subconscious when I least expect them, some of them returning to me after months or years. One of these places is The Intersection at U.S. 285 and TX FM 1776 (Check it out at street view). I wrote about it here over the summer and have mentioned it in passing before.
I go through this intersection maybe a couple of times a year, on the way to or from visits with family. In my brain, it is MY intersection and it is in New Mexico, but it’s actually everyone’s intersection and it’s in Texas. North of Pecos. Apparently it’s only been a four-way stop for a few years, though I remember it always being a four-way. One of the ways in which the present clouds our memory of the past, I suppose.
It’s an odd place. There seems to be nothing around there for miles and miles, and I always wonder why the busy highway traffic should stop there. But the big trucks are some indication that perhaps there is more activity beyond the rolling ridges at the horizon. In recent years the intersection has been built up with warning rumble strips and flashing lights. HEY STUPID! I KNOW YOU’RE DRIVING OVER EIGHTY MILES PER HOUR BUT IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO STOP. NOWNOWNOW!!! I’m pretty sure that’s what the signs say. The intersection has been the sight of numerous fatal accidents over the past few years.
When we drove through the intersection at the end of June, I didn’t notice any unusual activity about the intersection. Just the dry dry dryness of the desert. On our return at the beginning of July, however, just a week later, the landscape around the stop signs had changed. Earth movers were there and they had been fulfilling their life’s prupose. We made guesses that some sort of bypass was being constructed. I tried very hard to remember what the roads had looked like before all of that red dirt had been overturned around them. Next time I see it — if I even notice it as we speed by — it won’t be the same beast anymore.
Related: From the Alpine Daily Planet*, “U.S. 285 overpass to be built over FM 1776”
*You know that’s the coolest name for a newspaper you’ve heard for a long time, right?
Inspiration, New Mexico, Texas in World 
Reader Comments (2)
Why yes, yes that IS the coolest name for a newspaper I've heard in a while. I love newspaper names (and masthead fonts). They're all so wonderfully old-fashioned-y and people say them everyday without batting an eye.
Oh Sarah, I love a woman who reads the footnotes.