Me & My Ol’ 80: Gladewater, Texas

Once, Teri overheard Tom talking to someone as she thought Tom said “Me and my old lady”, but Tom told Teri that he would never call Teri an old lady, and Tom claimed that he said “Me and my Old 80”.

U.S. Highway 80 is “The Broadway of America”. U.S. 80 was the first all-weather coast-to-coast route available to auto travelers. It’s history is second only to U.S. Route 66 “The Mother Road” in American highway folklore. More on U.S. 80 history, including it’s relation to the death of Bonnie & Clyde in Louisiana, as you read on through this Journal post.

We usually take I-20 West when rolling towards Dallas/Fort Worth, but when time permits, we’ll take our time and spend a few days enjoying the ride on U.S. Hwy 80 through Northeast Texas

There have been times that we’ve taken the Historic U.S. Highway 80 (instead of I-20) during our journeys west to Texas Motor Speedway, and stop at some of the places along the way. Teri has her notebook of hundreds of places that we’ve been during our 25+ years of RVing, and Tom has been busy looking through Teri’s notes and putting them in our website Journal section. In this Journal post, we’ll cover a stop off U.S. 80 in Gladewater, Texas

Photo of Teri relaxing at the rv & watching TV in Antique Capitol RV Park. Every time that we’ve been to this rv park, we’ve notice more improvements and upgrades that have been done, or are in progress. There are so many rv spots at this park
We’ve stayed at the Antique Capital RV Park in Gladewater on a handful of occasions over the years, but during this stay, we took advantage of the new addition to the park – a heated pool.
During one of our visits to Antique Capital RV Park in Gladewater, the TomsMaHauL motorhome was in a spot on the corner of John Wayne Blvd & Jerry Lee Lewis Ave. Quoting John Wayne from the movie “McLintock” + a Jerry Lee Lewis song:
“pilgrim you caused a lot of trouble this morning. There’s a “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”. The bedroom propane furnace heat quit working on a cold (34 degrees) Friday night. The front furnace worked, as well as the electic heaters. And now, more on how we solved the bedroom furnace issue….
On a cold Friday night, the rear motorhome furnace wasn’t working. On Saturday afternoon, Phillip, w/ Country Boy RV Repair stopped by while he was in the area, and after some trouble-shooting, the issue was solved. We’re thankful that Phillip worked us into his busy schedule. Tom enjoyed the conversation & learning a few things about RV propane furnaces.
We enjoyed strolling into several shops and locations in downtown Gladewater (Tx). The lunch on National Burger Day at Buttercups Bakery was tasty. In the photo, Tom had boiled spicy crawfish, potatoes with corn on the cob, and Teri had gumbo, while enjoying a blues band at Booshay’s Central Station Cafe in Gladewater.

When we make the Hwy 80 run, we will go a little beyond Terrell, Texas before getting on I-30 or I-635. One destination along U.S. 80, that we’ve been to several times over the years, is Gladewater, Texas. This is a wonderful town that is full of history and fun experiences. If you support “local”, as we do, and enjoy shopping in locally-owned stores & enjoy local-flavor restaurants, then Gladewater is a great location. It is known as the Antique Capitol of East Texas. Gladewater is just 13 miles west of Longview. When we get to Gladewater, we stay at the Antique Capitol RV Park . They offer full hookups, and we’ve even used their propane services to fill up the TomsMaHauL motorhome tank. We enjoy winter RVing, and along with our “fireplace” electric heater, we do use the onboard propane heat to keep the tanks and plumbing from freezing. This is a great rv park for walks, and has a pond that you can get some fishing time in, along with geese that may follow you around the pond.

To get some history of the Gladewater area, a good place to visit is the Gladewater Museum.

Tom taking a break at the Gladewater Museum
Tom with Elvis.
Tom is a ham. Folks across the street in Gladewater are staring at Tom as he sings these words: “Blessuh my soul – whatsuh wrong with me – don’t you let me catch you climbing up my apple tree- uhuhHUh – Yeah…Hey Hey”. Tom enjoys making up his own lyrics to popular songs.
Tom with Johnny Cash.
The “Man in Black” with the “Man in Shorts, Truck Stop Bargain Shirt & Down Home Meats Cap” keeping an eye on the situation. Johnny, Elvis and many other top stars through time, have ties to Gladewater, Texas
Tom loves old trucks, tractors and other vintage vehicles, and on the other end of the downtown area, he found an old Gladewater Volunteer Fire Department truck on display.
Some of the other TomsMaHauL crew (family) joined us for an afternoon exploring Gladewater & the surrounding area. We enjoyed looking through Decorate Ornate antique store in Gladewater, before driving west to Lake Hawkins for a dinner at Taste Of Italy on the LakeL-R in the photo: Tim, Teri,Tom & Missy.

While in the Gladewater area, we enjoyed a beautiful Saturday at Grumpy’s Garden Party (Union Grove, Tx). Teri bought some items from various booths, including plants, necklace & a few other things. Tom enjoyed a few items from the food trucks & talking to Grumpy (property owner, Steve, who is not really grumpy at all). We toured an old-timey chapel and listened to an outdoor show with Harvest Moon Countrygrass. Teri thought it was time for a new Trippin’ w/ Tom & Teri video.

Shame on Tom. In this photo, Tom forgot to take off his “Moon & the Starz” cap during the old chapel tour at Grumpy’s Garden Club. This chapel isn’t much different than the one that we got married in (over 4 decades ago) at Barksdale Air Force Base. It was an enjoyable early afternoon, with live music, vendors & food in Union Grove, Texas. Steve (aka Grumpy) was interesting to listen to (Tom asked him many questions). Grumpy is a man that loves his unique garden property.
Tom at the Gladewater Opry House.
Many local & regional entertainers joined the Texas Smoke band on stage, and the experience was enjoyable. It is a “do-over” as we say, which means that we’ll plan to attend a show there again. UPDATE: The Gladewater Opry House changed ownership, & is now known as Jackson’s Theatre with many weekend events. More on Jackson’s Theatre HERE

While downtown, we stopped for a bite to eat at Central Station Brick & Brew (now known as Booshay’s Central Station Bayou Café). They offer delicious brick oven cooked pizzas, as well as many other tasty dishes, along with serving many craft brews from around the state of Texas. This building was, originally, an old corner gas station, that has a history of it’s own. Now, though, this location has been expanded with an upper balcony bar area, and downstairs stage where bands often perform.

A Pontiac front end is above the restroom area of the Booshay’s Central Station Cafe’. Tom thought that was cool, so he took the photo.
The restroom door handles were… creative, huh?
A cheezy selfie of Tom & Teri while the Cheez-It’s commercial was on the TV above our table.
We found the Garage Band stage, and enjoyed a local band.

We explored many other places in, and around, Gladewater. We found nearby Lake Gladewater. Several jet skis and some boats were out on the lake, as well as many kids enjoying the park at the lake.

Oh yeah. We almost forgot that we were going to reveal more on the history on the legendary U.S. Highway 80. This article was posted on a wall, while we dined in a restaurant near Hwy 80, and it has some information on this historic highway.

We spotted this smooth-running antique truck in another Antique Capital RV Park spot.
Teri captures a photo of Tom, stopping to check out a neighbor’s car: While enjoying our stay at Antique Capital RV Park in Gladewater, we noticed a beautiful classic car that was near us in the park. We enjoyed the conversation with the car’s proud owner. We looked the car over, & Teri got some ideas for her Chevelle Malibu. More on Teri’s Chevelle HERE

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We welcome you to check out some of the places that we enjoy exploring around the ArkLaTex region and… beyond the outer parameterVisit our Journal page HERE
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Tom shares some of our motorhome preparation, maintenance & projects…along with expecting the unexpected. Visit our Projects page HERE
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