The 3rd Road

 

Welcome to :

The 3rd Road

by Doug Elder

formerly : Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, originally published Jan 6, 2016...

     1986...Traveling down I-10 from Las Cruces, NM with a couple of Army buddies towards El Paso, TX, I noticed a parallel highway, Hwy 478.   We took the next exit and soon realized that there was another road running parallel to that highway, which turned out to be what is now called the Lou Henson highway, or Hwy 28. 

     Prior to the Interstate system, there were state and U.S. highways.  Often times, these would bypass small towns in order to make travel faster for freight haulers and travelers not wanting to be slowed down by every small town on the way from one city to another.  So with the bypassing highways in place, the growth of those small towns were pretty much halted in the name of speed and progress.  Actually, in retrospect, those bypassing highways probably did many of those small towns a favor, unwittingly.  

     As we drove down Highway 28, we saw small settlements containing old churches, a few homes, and not much else, except the occasional cantina.  We stopped at one that seemed to promise something to eat.  After placing our order, it became fairly evident to us that we were pretty much the only people speaking English in this establishment.  Pretty soon, the place began to fill up and out of nowhere a small band with guitars, an accordian, and trumpets began to assemble and play Mexican music.  It was quite entertaining.  I inquired with our waitress as to what the special occasion was, or if this was something that took place on this particular day (it was in the middle of the week.)  She replied that the band usually only played on the weekends and that there was never a crowd on a Thursday night.  The reason all this was happening was because "we" ( my buddies and I) were aqui... meaning We were here!  Word had gotten around the town that some folks from outside of the town were patronizing the cantina and the whole town decided to throw a party because of it.  Amazing.  We found this special place on a 3rd road.  

     Now this blog is not necessarily about 3rd roads, though I may discuss a number of them I am aware of, but it's a celebration of out of the way places that serve good food and hospitality, have interesting sites, and the methods of travel that we use to get us there.  In short, we will discuss places and vehicles...of all kinds.

     The blog started out several years ago as an homage to the fascination of things that move us about, covering (old and new) autos, boats, planes, trains, blimps, subs, ships, motorcycles, trucks... and will probably still cover some of these modes of transportation.

     So, Warm up your coffee, take a seat, prop up your feet and come down the 3rd road for a fun ride!  Please leave your comments on whether or not you like each specific article and how I can improve this blog.  Additionally, I am considering making some YouTube videos based on this blog.  I'd love to hear from you as to whether this would interest you, or if you have some other suggestions for a successful vlog.  Many Thanks in advance!