Abilene

Abilene, Texas is a rather strange town. I lived there off and on for about 9 years, starting in 1994 and finally leaving in 2003. Abilene is one of those towns that seems to be stuck in a time warp. People I have spoken to since have said that it has recently been updated with modern "amenities", but we will have to see. I think the amenities they speak of are retail stores like BestBuy and restaurants like Cracker Barrel. Personally, I think the time warp thing and the lack of some of those commercial places were part of the appeal.

Abilene sits in the eastern edge of what is considered West Texas, or also Big Country. Abilene is on the main train line (freight trains only) heading west from Dallas (about 200 miles away). The boom of Abilene happened sometime in the 50's or 60's (or sometime back then, maybe 70's - i wasn't around back then, so I can't say for sure) and was fueled by oil money. So when I said a time warp, I meant it is very much a throwback to that timeperiod. In some ways very cool, actually. And Abilene is pretty cheap, too. So one could buy a chic 60's post-modern home for a fraction of what it would cost in more desirable cities. Once the oil boom ended, the town just kinda kept going but quit growing for a while. There isn't any big industry there except for maybe churches. And people play church in Abilene like the best of them. The growth has continued, but I think that has more to do with standard US economic growth than any one thing or industry in Abilene to act as a catalyst. (But keep in mind this is just based on my own limited perspective.)

Abilene has a shortage of sushi restaurants, but boy, there are some good mexican places down there. The riding around Abilene isn't bad. There are a couple hills south of town, but it is mostly pretty flat. Not like panhandle flat, but there aren't any real hills to worry about. The biggest challenge in riding around Abilene is keeping one's tires inflated. With all of the goatheads and cactus and such, it is pretty important to run some sort of flat protection on the trail and road bikes should avoid the grass like a plague.

It will be nice to visit Abilene again, but the highlight will certainly be spending the weekend with Emma.