High Points from el Camino Real

by Chris Davis

Folks along El Camino Real celebrated Juneteenth and Fathers Day all in the same weekend.
Several good breezes and a rain shower or two made sitting outside tolerable as long as the wind kept blowing, but when it stopped it got sultry hot.
By the time my crew left on Sunday evening, my tail was dragging, but it was worth every minute of it.
Finding eight bits’ worth of news can be difficult and if you are hunting for all good news it is nearly impossible, but I’m doing my best.
Our community was saddened by the passing of Trent Williams in an automobile accident last week. Trent was 47 years old. When I was a teenager, Trent was a little red headed boy that would come in the Dairy Treat with his mother.

His parents, Martha and Tommy Williams owned the Dairy Treat and it was the hang out for teenagers.
After the Dairy Treat closed, I didn’t see much of Trent until he was grown.
When I ran into him he was working at Alto Butane and farming some with the old stuff his grandfather Buddy Clifton had. We would talk a little about farming, when I would see him, and you could tell he was really excited about it.
He lived in Lufkin most of his life, but I always considered him an Alto boy. Please keep his mother, his children, and the rest of his family in your prayers during this time of sorrow.
Our hearts are aching for Ted and Betty Moore and the rest of the Moore family this week with the passing of their son, Caleb. He was a sweet easy-going young man who will be missed.
When you live in a small town like ours where everyone is so close we all hurt when our friends are hurting.
Please lift these special people up in prayer during this time of sorrow.
Christie Reece Teutsch has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks.

I don’t know if she has been diagnosed yet, but lots of prayers are going up for her.

I worked with Christie at the courthouse and then she went to work for the City of Alto. She is a sweet girl and we need her to get well and home soon. Please keep her in your prayers.
Kelly Curry is back home and doing well after her surgery last week. Hopefully she will recover quickly and be back to work with a big smile on her face. Get Well soon, Kelly! We’ve been praying for you.

I hate to just keep telling y’all bad news, but sometimes that is just the way it goes.
The Coronavirus, COVID 19, or whatever you want to call the disease that has turned our lives upside down is back on the rise in our county.
I guess the summer heat didn’t kill it out like they thought it was going to do, so we need to be extra careful and don’t forget that this disease is still out there.

Everybody on Earth should know what to do by now, so don’t get rid of your soap, your hand sanitizer or your cute little masks, just yet. I don’t know what kind of jump we will get on this stuff after this holiday weekend, so you better listen to me.
A Law Enforcement Appreciation barbecue was held on the Sand Flat Road in Alto on Saturday. There was a bounce house and games for the kids.

I don’t wear a badge but I wasn’t going to miss a meal or the chance to honor our boys in blue, who are probably needing a little moral boost right now. The food was outstanding and the weather was perfect.
A big thanks to Nick and Candee McCormack for hosting the event in their front yard and to all of the other great folks who donated and helped with putting it together.

The big rumor around Alto these days is that a Tractor Supply is coming to town. You would think something like that would really get people excited, but most of the folks around here just wonder which pothole they are planning on building it by.
It wasn’t but a few months ago that they were talking about building a big medical school here in Alto.

I can remember when you couldn’t buy a pair of socks or any underwear in Alto and now we have two dollar stores and building full of stray cats. We are really coming up in the world.

I bet if we bought a couple of loads of oil sand for the potholes, and put the stops signs back up, we could get a Chik-Fil-A and a Cracker Barrel, too.

We use to have a firecracker stand years ago, but some kid threw some firecrackers under an old widow woman’s carport and she complained, so they outlawed the sale of fireworks in the city limits. You have to go to Lindsey’s to buy firecrackers now. I wouldn’t live anywhere else, I love this place.

I guess I’ll quit writing before I depress myself. Things are going to get better -- they always do, we just have to hang on long enough to outlast the bad times. If you have any news worth telling then be sure and let me know about it. I’ll see ya next week!
And remember, We do not have control over what happens to us in life, but we do have control over how we choose to respond.