I grew up in Bledsoe Tx. My kids spent at least two weeks of every summer in Bledsoe! I left Bledsoe in 1982 when I married and moved to Morton Tx My family moved to Mineral Wells Tx in 1985. Where I still reside. I owned the cafe from about 1980-83. I am not Definite about dates because I don’t recall dates well! The train caboose was a business owned by the family across the street from my family home! They had gas pumps there as well! There hasn’t been any business’ in Bledsoe except for Post office and grain elevators for many years! The town really began to dwindle when the state came in and took the schools money to disperse to larger schools that were not as wealthy as our community per student. The school closed in a few years after the government took it and began busing to the small town of Whiteface, Tx about 30 minutes east of Bledsoe! My parents generation where the main people left up until they died off! Bledsoe is located in Cochran county! In my opinion The peoples of Cochran county are some of the hardiest people in our nation! Bledsoe Baptist Church is still alive and has been since my days as a youngster! I have many memories of this off the beaten path community! It is a great place to live whether young or old. Very laid back and the stars at night are amazing! I could go on and on but I won’t. If you don’t know how to chill Bledsoe Tx is a great place to unwind !!
Joe, only you can take us into the most boring - and sometimes depressing - towns in America and not only entertain us, educate us, by make the ride-a-long, GREAT! LOL. Thank you for keeping your videos clean and free of negativity! The wife and I LOVE your ride-a-longs. They are also helping us in our retirement decisions. 💰Thank you! 🙏 Looking forward to your NEXT video..as Always!
Joe, you give us a calming, relaxed state of Peace - in a crazy world. LOL. Kinda taking us back a bit, for sure. Wishing you and yours the best in 2024! Marta and Ron.@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip
As a native Texas, most families that have been here more than 4 generations all come from those small towns. All of the towns started dying after the Depression and then WW2. Family Farming faded out and urbanization occurred on a mass scale. My family no different.
WWII Texan recruits... They tent upon them at WWI, what could go wrong?... In Russia there are a lot of deceased villages after that... Some 20 millions died fighting.
@@jamesh1641He's talking about back in world war 1 and 2 in Russia the men mostly died off because they were killed off during war and so the towns died because there were no men. He is supposing that is what happened here in the USA as well.
Having grown up in a small town in rural Texas I was ready to leave when I got out of school.I did so as soon as I could. Bad thing is I spent the first half of my life trying to get out and the second half trying to get back. It wasn't easy but I finally got back to my hometown and I wouldn't ever leave it again. Lesson learned.
Watching your channel from the Netherlands I think there is so much value in all the abandoned houses and factories in the sense of old timber, iron and other resources. And so many opportunities for homeless people and growing your own food.
I lived in this part of the country. There's no water. Rain is seasonal. Groundwater is very deep and poor quality, barely good enough to grow anything. The soils are mostly caliche (very hard clay) and sand. Summer temperatures can exceed 40C. Winters are cold and very dry. The wind blows constantly. There is nothing there. Nothing.
As a Norwegian growing up in the 70's and 80's in a small area in Norway with about 800 inhabitans, 4 grocery shops, 1clothing shop and a pub in to the 80's. Nowadays we are only 500 inhabitans and only 1 grocery shop left, but there is almost no blight and decay in small town Norway compared to the USA. I love these videoes, but the decay all over small town USA is shocking to see and it makes me sad. Keep up your eye opening work you two 👍.
that's because you have a population about the same as Washington DC sitting on massive oil wealth feeding the largest sovereign fund on Earth If Bledsoe was sitting on oil and had the largest pension fund in the USA, it wouldn't have blight and decay either
@@emergent3744 Your explanation is lacking at least one other critical difference between the USA and most other first world countries. Those other counties have much higher tax rates, especially on those whose incomes are obscenely high. As a result, those countries can and do take care of their population by providing for basic human needs.
@@frankmiller95 That's because the US is an empire and is spreading it's wealth all over the world instead of here at home. Take Ukraine as a recent example. Look at all the taxpayer $ wasted on that war. Those other countries you're comparing the US to don't have that problem.
@@frankmiller95 Envy is a deadly sin. One of only just seven. But one nonetheless. And he wasn't talking about other countries. Just Norway. Go to these other high tax Western countries with envy driven tax rates and you'll find they have neither eliminated obscene wealth and most certainly not closed the wealth gap and most importantly have few avenues to wealth generation which America has in spades if The People would just go out and do it.
It is of relevance that he mentions these other countries, because the United States is a marked outlier in our tax rates. No they have not eliminated inequality but there are many ways to measure this, and other first world nations are far less unequal when it comes to likelihood of obtaining security. In the United States it is less likely for someone born in poverty to escape it than in most European countries. And if we are going to discuss deadly sins, surely the GREED of the extremely wealthy who use their outsize power to influence our government to hoard even more wealth is worthy of condemnation...
You are close to my farm,,, Peanuts replace cotton on some farms out there thus the processing facility. They harvest tons of peanuts every year on land that once grew cotton. And now you know.
The thing about growing food crops on land that has been chemical farmed for 70+ years is that the chemicals retain in the soil such as aluminium,ect,ect. It may be safe I just don't know. My sisters a chemist and she says don't eat crops from this land.@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip
The elementary school I went to in Mason Hall, Tennessee had a thriving community in the early 60's when I was a child. They consolidated the school with a larger town and now Mason Hall has pretty much dried up and blown away. The little Allen's grocery store where we got our groceries still stands (empty and abandoned), but the school building is no longer there. People want their kids to be able to attend school locally and our education system has gone way down with the bigger classrooms. Having our schools supported federally was supposed to improve things but the opposite has happened. I think those schools and the pride they felt in their little schools was what helped small towns thrive.
Thanks for the video, Australia is one big middle of nowhere with a land size the same as yours, that's why our cities are on the coast, Happy New year 🎉😊
I love that road in your opening!!! There is something about these small rural Texas towns that fascinates me. I really appreciate viewing and learning about them up close. Texas is on my list of places I want to visit. I look forward to more. Happy New Year Joe and Nic! My favorite TH-camrs.
I grew up in Snyder, which is not that far from Lubbock. Left West Texas after graduating high school & lived in the Ruidoso, NM mountains for 12 years. We moved to Los Alamos, NM (about 45 miles north of Santa Fe, NM) & have been here for 40 years. I sometimes get homesick for TX, but I do love these beautiful mountains! I sure enjoy all of your video's, so thank you for sharing your adventures! Happy trails & wishing the two of you a great new year! ~ Mrs. C.
Bledsoe was interesting. The peanut shelling company is probably only open for the season. Sure looks desolate out that way. Not even a cat running around or a Dollar General. LOL Thanks, Joe.
WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR HISTORY, JOE!!👍😁 YOU REALLY GIVE US A HISTORICAL RUNDOWN IN STATS, ETC., ON THE PLETHORA OF ALL STATE TOWNS; ESPECIALLY TEXAS WHERE IT'S LOADED WITH HISTORY. LOVE ALL THEM LITTLE TOWNS!!! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH, JOE FOR ALLL YOUR HARD WORK & DEDICATION! GOD BLESS YOU!! 🙏🏻👍😁👋
As far as Bledsoe, one could say they work for peanuts, literally. And they are part of the peanut gallery. One thing I noticed on a lot of your videos, the churches and government buildings are usually the nicest structures in the town while the homes are falling apart. Food for thought.
Bledsoe was founded in 1925 as the terminus of the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway, and named for Samuel T. Bledsoe, the line's president. The town gained its original prosperity through its function as a cattle-shipping station, and reached its greatest population of 400 in 1930. The Great Depression had dire effect on the community and throughout the remainder of the 20th century the population continued to dwindle; the last recorded figure put the 1990 population at 125.
Miles..an..miles of Texas, the clear Blue sky, it would be quiet enough to "just sit an think" if ya wanted too...interesting. .a good video Joe, thanks for showing us these places.🌼
@@chrisv9186 My emphasis was to indicate that these people are mostly forgotten by the rest of the world. I thought that would be obvious, but….I suppose it wasn’t obvious enough for you.
Majority of peanuts used to be grown in other parts of Texas, now they are in the panhandle. When cotton prices declined some farmers started growing peanuts. Thus the Bledsoe operation.
I enjoyed the video. On my bicycle tour from the northwest corner to the southeast corner of Texas I encountered many places like this an it makes you wonder how some people still exist in these areas but I did meet very friendly folks. Best of luck in 2024 ✌
@@BluecollarBackcountry , he he ........... thats what my dad always said of the smell of pig-manure on the farm back when I was a kid growing up on the family farm in Denmark :-) Guess that comment is universal ! :-)
I try to imagine these towns back in their hay days about a 100 years ago, before the Depression... A school, store, saloon, cafe, a blacksmith, horses, wagons, a car now and then, maybe a church, hard working men, veggie gardens in every yard and a few well cared for fruit trees...
Bledsoe is at the end of an old Santa Fe branch line. Looking on Google maps a turning wye is clearly visible on the north side of town. Amazingly the rail line looks to be active to Whiteface. Great video, thanks much!
Great viewing,We in New Zealand really cannot comprehend the scale of the vastness of Texas.Your video,s and Tom and Julie's mines explorations keep me watching for hours. Many thanks Dave P.Oamaru N.Z.
Those old rail cars make beautiful living quarters, I can imagine having that one with the pop out side windows, perfect place for the dining area. In 74 I remember a trip back from San Diego to Houston and I was entering Johnson Country so it was called, very near Llano Tx and the cut back to Austin to bypass San Antonio. I was driving a 65 Ford Galaxie and all the tires were bald, it was just about day break sun coming up and I hear a pfff noise and the right side rear tire blew out, not enough rubber to make a big bang. So I pulled over and put on the spare and drove on hoping I would not have another flat. This road your on reminded me of that feeling being out in the middle of nowhere on that highway which was actually very nice road just desolate. There were no highway patrol in those earlier days because the crime rate and traffic count wasn't high enough to warrant all the expense. Today it is so much different
Right on the beginning of the video you can tell it's not too crowded out there at all pretty cool, I dig the wide Open spaces another good video Joe and Nick right on thank you again.
OZ// Thanks Joey (& Nicole) Another great drive. I love to see these 'fading' towns- makes my mind wander to the history behind all the falling down houses and I appreciate the drive through them and also imagine they might be great for film industry backdrops? Happy New Year to U2.
Cool video. I have property located near the Cochran County line that I have not seen in person. This was very useful to me. Thanks for showing me around Bledsoe. 🇺🇸🖖
thank you again for the ride. I think your fans would like to know about Pyote-wink- kermit-wicket, - Monahans, Texas, lots of cool history.I was stationed in Pyote early 60's
An awesome video, so interesting. These must be some of the quietest towns you've ever visited ! I always find abandoned buildings to be sad, but very fascinating and intriguing. The stories they could tell ! Thanks so much, Joe, and wishing you and Nic a very Happy New Year !😊💖
When I’ve past through small run down towns even abandoned houses out in the middle nowhere i often think of how many families were raised there and the story behind each house and store! I can picture the kids skipping and running to the store for 5 cent wax bottle candy and 25 cent soft drink
Back in the '60s we still had a nickel coke machine at the gas station by the high school, everything else was a dime. When I got out of the navy in '69 all the pop machines had gone up to a quarter, I thought that was outrageous but not as bad as when we went up to Yellowstone in '73 and gas was 45 cents instead of the 30 cents back home...
@@mrmarkymark77Exactly..Decades past, these places were the center of the little isolated rural communities. These people didn't have much, but they lived meaningful lives prioritizing their families and community.
Another very interesting town. I always hate to see towns on their last breath. I want to thank you and Nicole for a great and adventurous year. May God bless you and keep you both safe in your future travels. Happy New Year 🎉🤠👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Ho love this series a question are the trees dead or have they just lost there leaves for winter,.If those trees had leaves it would really change the area.
When you said is another world out here I couldn’t agree more. I’m guessing the people are all on their homes or working as to me it looked so empty. I think personally it’s sad to see these little towns dying. Thank you for showing us Joey.
I just discovered your channel. This is the first video viewed. Loved it. So fascinating to see remote and fairly unknown places. I've subscribed and look forward to viewing more of your videos.
5yrs ago my friend found a complete 69 4spd hemi roadrunner for 3,500$ needing complete restoration in a small Texas town like this. He flipped it for 15,000$. These small towns are the best for car hunting.
If not for the vending machine, I'd have assumed someone turned the rail car into a home (especially seeing the TV Antennae) and used the other rail cars as storage.
That second rail car looked like a freezer car having the compartment in the front for the power plant and compressor. That upper vented area probably had a large evaporator unit. Those type cars are pretty rare today since most products shipping across country go by air.
I agree with your deduction! Good call! This Class CE 13 Bay Window Caboose did not venture to far off the beat’in track was at the AG Depot in Beldsoe Tx. it appears to have been moved to accommodate the place to live and storage in another location in Beldsoe!
Great show Joe! Just loved it! From the Santa Fe Class CE 13 Bay-window Caboose to the “Experienced statement that the children are bussed to Whiteface for school! Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the new year wherever it takes you stay safe my friend!
Rail cars work great for living in. Many of them are insulated and well built. I live in Minnesota and have seen many of them around the state that were lived in!
The 2nd town looked like all that was needed is buy the lot knock down the house and move a trailer right in there on the foundation lol. Everyone be right at home. Wow some scary towns for sure no gas, no groceries, and no shopping but there was a bail bonds located there. Thanks for sharing and you have a great day with safe travels
Definitely a grim place to live. Both towns remind me of the faded parts of Texas that have little life and growth and are hanging on barely. It appears that those who live in these places leverage the low costs to stay alive. Another great video and finding why Bledsoe is alive (peanut shelling) is good for us viewers as it answers the why question. Thanks again for the entertainment. P.S. I crossed into New Mexico at the same place this past November and it is indeed remote!
My husband went to high school in Bledsoe. Water is what hurt the town and I have a sister-in-law that still lives there in the out skirts of town. The Mennoniites put in the peanut factory. Years ago there was cattle shipped out of there by railroad but the tracks have been removed.
Just north of these towns is Maple, Texas. I went to school at Three Way High School, name because 3 schools were combined into one. There is only a historic marker there. The school was occupied for more that 75 years, but has been torn down, with not even a brick remaining.
after graduate school. i had a brand new 4 wheel drive truck some free time and a few bucks and thought it would a good idea to just take a trip across the county and back. i remember being in lubbock and drving west to clovis new mexico , and was on a pretty major highway and marveled how i was pretty much the only vehicle on the road for what seemed like hours.
I've always known them as crickets but this is what they call them according to the internet... - A pumpjack (also called donkey pumper, nodding donkey, pumping unit, horsehead pump, rocking horse, beam pump, dinosaur, sucker rod pump, grasshopper pump, Big Texan, thirsty bird, or jack pump) is the overground drive for a reciprocating piston pump in an oil well.
There’s a beauty about this town, though. The church and post office look nice. Other buildings are from yesteryear. I remember going to Guadalupe National Park in Far West Texas on a roadtrip in 2017, and there was no gas for 50+ miles.
Check out Sipe Springs, TX. Pretty much only thing left of that town is the dirt lines in the pasture which used to be streets. Old bomb an' bust oil town. There's a few families who still live out there to this day. Lonely country.
We have a town in NM that has two people employed, the school teacher and highway maintenance guy. The big economic activities are selling food stamps and poaching.
Please include cemetery info? My family moved and traveled all across the USA and we always remarked on the cemetery. Big cemetery means folks been living and dying there for a long time. Moved from the Rockies to Massachusetts in the mid 70’s and saw the largest cemeteries up to that point at 15 years old. Whenever we moved, it was the public library, USPO and then the schools we looked for and learned the way to/from first. Dad worked for the USDA. Love your programs! 🙏🏼
That appeared to be a very nice school.. Lived in New Mexico for 5 years, Clovis, which is just north of there. Dove through that area once, about 33 years ago. Doesn't look much different.
Hey Joe, I was raised just west of Ft. Worth. The cattle you talk about are one of the most popular breeds in Texas besides Long Horns. They are referred to as White Face. But are a Herford breed. There are 7 breeds that have white faces. White Faced Cattle Breeds: Hereford Cattle Simmental Black Hereford Abondance Hinterwald Montbéliarde Vorderwald Just letin you know. Thanks for the video. Say Hi to Nic for me.😍
The instant you see railcars you have what was once a railroad right-of-way. Look at the northern extremity of the town on Google Maps an you can see where the railroad line ran. It appears that the rail-line dead ends at the NM border. Oftentimes cars like this are used for storage - there is no 'museum' - they just use them like shipping containers. Immediately north of the 'Peanut Shelling' operation you see an inverted 'Y' shaped formation that would have been a locomotive turn-around. Towns like this are spaced at regular intervals so that steam locomotives can top off the water in their tenders. Another 'ghost town' in Texas is named Pumpville, for obvious reasons.
When you smell crude, you smell money. I grew up in Oklahoma and there is a refinery north east of town. When the wind was right you could smell the refinery. My folks always said, smell that money.
Three Way was a school of 225 students K through 12th grade, in 1974. It is just north of Maple. This is a farming community with fewer and fewer please. The kids in this area now go to Sudan schools. There were around 300 people in Maple in the '70s. I doubt that many live there now.
I have family in Lubbock , Have the Soccer Box , say Hi , Sure was poor towns this time and so dam flat the country , Thanks Happy New Year to you and your wife
I grew up near or around those rural areas. Back then bootlegging was a "business" then you had whiteface farms who housed temp migrant workers then all those migrants moved to Sundown,Texas. Farming Cotton,maze and peanut were prominent crops and of course alcohol,gambling,cock fights and horse racing were also a strong source of income for some. Good old days
You filmed my Hometown of Bledsoe tx !! My heart is happy. Look there isn’t anything there but my family is there and it’s everything!!
Must suck when the cable goes out..😮
I grew up in Bledsoe Tx. My kids spent at least two weeks of every summer in Bledsoe!
I left Bledsoe in 1982 when I married and moved to Morton Tx My family moved to Mineral Wells Tx in 1985.
Where I still reside.
I owned the cafe from about 1980-83. I am not Definite about dates because I don’t recall dates well!
The train caboose was a business owned by the family across the street from my family home! They had gas pumps there as well! There hasn’t been any business’ in Bledsoe except for Post office and grain elevators for many years!
The town really began to dwindle when the state came in and took the schools money to disperse to larger schools that were not as wealthy as our community per student. The school closed in a few years after the government took it and began busing to the small town of Whiteface, Tx about 30 minutes east of Bledsoe!
My parents generation where the main people left up until they died off!
Bledsoe is located in Cochran county! In my opinion The peoples of Cochran county are some of the hardiest people in our nation!
Bledsoe Baptist Church is still alive and has been since my days as a youngster!
I have many memories of this off the beaten path community! It is a great place to live whether young or old. Very laid back and the stars at night are amazing!
I could go on and on but I won’t. If you don’t know how to chill Bledsoe Tx is a great place to unwind !!
Interesting. Thank you for sharing your experiences there.
My college friend was from Bledsoe
Hey D. I was watching and thinking I needed to tell you about this video.
Hi aunt d 💕
Hello sweetheart! Love you!!
🥰😘
Joe, only you can take us into the most boring - and sometimes depressing - towns in America and not only entertain us, educate us, by make the ride-a-long, GREAT! LOL. Thank you for keeping your videos clean and free of negativity! The wife and I LOVE your ride-a-longs. They are also helping us in our retirement decisions. 💰Thank you! 🙏 Looking forward to your NEXT video..as Always!
Wow, thank you!
Joe, you give us a calming, relaxed state of Peace - in a crazy world. LOL. Kinda taking us back a bit, for sure. Wishing you and yours the best in 2024! Marta and Ron.@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip
When ever I see these small towns and old fallen down homes. I ask myself who lived there what did they do where did they go?
@@wstroh5837 Man, what I would do for being able to live in one of those cities. What a quiet life, away from everyone. It would be a blessing!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTriphi Joe,what video is the one,you were in plainview Texas,you were like in a little Spanish area, I'm from there .
As a native Texas, most families that have been here more than 4 generations all come from those small towns. All of the towns started dying after the Depression and then WW2. Family Farming faded out and urbanization occurred on a mass scale. My family no different.
WWII Texan recruits... They tent upon them at WWI, what could go wrong?...
In Russia there are a lot of deceased villages after that... Some 20 millions died fighting.
@@Vladimir-hq1neI understand your comment now.
@@jamesh1641He's talking about back in world war 1 and 2 in Russia the men mostly died off because they were killed off during war and so the towns died because there were no men. He is supposing that is what happened here in the USA as well.
@@kd5inmok. Yep. Makes sense. I reworded my original post some because I didn’t mean to imply all the men were killed or died.
As a native Texan.......
.
Having grown up in a small town in rural Texas I was ready to leave when I got out of school.I did so as soon as I could. Bad thing is I spent the first half of my life trying to get out and the second half trying to get back. It wasn't easy but I finally got back to my hometown and I wouldn't ever leave it again. Lesson learned.
Watching your channel from the Netherlands I think there is so much value in all the abandoned houses and factories in the sense of old timber, iron and other resources. And so many opportunities for homeless people and growing your own food.
I lived in this part of the country. There's no water. Rain is seasonal. Groundwater is very deep and poor quality, barely good enough to grow anything. The soils are mostly caliche (very hard clay) and sand. Summer temperatures can exceed 40C. Winters are cold and very dry. The wind blows constantly. There is nothing there. Nothing.
Watching from the Netherlands 💗 Always AMAZED by the space you have over there.
Hello Netherlands from Boston Mass, America!
Some people might say that USA stands for Unused Space in America
As a Norwegian growing up in the 70's and 80's in a small area in Norway with about 800 inhabitans, 4 grocery shops, 1clothing shop and a pub in to the 80's.
Nowadays we are only 500 inhabitans and only 1 grocery shop left, but there is almost no blight and decay in small town Norway compared to the USA.
I love these videoes, but the decay all over small town USA is shocking to see and it makes me sad.
Keep up your eye opening work you two 👍.
that's because you have a population about the same as Washington DC sitting on massive oil wealth feeding the largest sovereign fund on Earth
If Bledsoe was sitting on oil and had the largest pension fund in the USA, it wouldn't have blight and decay either
@@emergent3744 Your explanation is lacking at least one other critical difference between the USA and most other first world countries. Those other counties have much higher tax rates, especially on those whose incomes are obscenely high. As a result, those countries can and do take care of their population by providing for basic human needs.
@@frankmiller95 That's because the US is an empire and is spreading it's wealth all over the world instead of here at home. Take Ukraine as a recent example. Look at all the taxpayer $ wasted on that war. Those other countries you're comparing the US to don't have that problem.
@@frankmiller95 Envy is a deadly sin. One of only just seven. But one nonetheless. And he wasn't talking about other countries. Just Norway.
Go to these other high tax Western countries with envy driven tax rates and you'll find they have neither eliminated obscene wealth and most certainly not closed the wealth gap and most importantly have few avenues to wealth generation which America has in spades if The People would just go out and do it.
It is of relevance that he mentions these other countries, because the United States is a marked outlier in our tax rates. No they have not eliminated inequality but there are many ways to measure this, and other first world nations are far less unequal when it comes to likelihood of obtaining security. In the United States it is less likely for someone born in poverty to escape it than in most European countries. And if we are going to discuss deadly sins, surely the GREED of the extremely wealthy who use their outsize power to influence our government to hoard even more wealth is worthy of condemnation...
You are close to my farm,,, Peanuts replace cotton on some farms out there thus the processing facility. They harvest tons of peanuts every year on land that once grew cotton. And now you know.
Interesting.
The thing about growing food crops on land that has been chemical farmed for 70+ years is that the chemicals retain in the soil such as aluminium,ect,ect. It may be safe I just don't know. My sisters a chemist and she says don't eat crops from this land.@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip
Even the cats have forsaken Bledsoe.
I so wanna live there. Perfect peace and isolation.
The elementary school I went to in Mason Hall, Tennessee had a thriving community in the early 60's when I was a child. They consolidated the school with a larger town and now Mason Hall has pretty much dried up and blown away. The little Allen's grocery store where we got our groceries still stands (empty and abandoned), but the school building is no longer there. People want their kids to be able to attend school locally and our education system has gone way down with the bigger classrooms. Having our schools supported federally was supposed to improve things but the opposite has happened. I think those schools and the pride they felt in their little schools was what helped small towns thrive.
Thanks for the video, Australia is one big middle of nowhere with a land size the same as yours, that's why our cities are on the coast, Happy New year 🎉😊
I love that road in your opening!!! There is something about these small rural Texas towns that fascinates me. I really appreciate viewing and learning about them up close. Texas is on my list of places I want to visit. I look forward to more. Happy New Year Joe and Nic! My favorite TH-camrs.
Awesome! Thank you, Alexandra!
Being from one of the towns in this video. It absolutely blows my mind that you find this entertaining lol
I grew up in Snyder, which is not that far from Lubbock. Left West Texas after graduating high school & lived in the Ruidoso, NM mountains for 12 years. We moved to Los Alamos, NM (about 45 miles north of Santa Fe, NM) & have been here for 40 years. I sometimes get homesick for TX, but I do love these beautiful mountains! I sure enjoy all of your video's, so thank you for sharing your adventures! Happy trails & wishing the two of you a great new year! ~ Mrs. C.
Roscoe Plowboys ! class of 69
It's beautiful up there where you are.
From Lubbock, recently in a mountain town in CO! ❤
Bledsoe was interesting. The peanut shelling company is probably only open for the season. Sure looks desolate out that way. Not even a cat running around or a Dollar General. LOL Thanks, Joe.
Yep. No store of any kind for miles.
WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR HISTORY, JOE!!👍😁 YOU REALLY GIVE US A HISTORICAL RUNDOWN IN STATS, ETC., ON THE PLETHORA OF ALL STATE TOWNS; ESPECIALLY TEXAS WHERE IT'S LOADED WITH HISTORY. LOVE ALL THEM LITTLE TOWNS!!! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH, JOE FOR ALLL YOUR HARD WORK & DEDICATION! GOD BLESS YOU!! 🙏🏻👍😁👋
Wow, thanks!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip 😁😁👋👋👋👍👍👍
I was a little oil field worker in Whiteface Texas for several years... good people out there..
I have to say that every time you post a trip, I have to watch. Thank you for all of your hard work.
Thank you!
As far as Bledsoe, one could say they work for peanuts, literally. And they are part of the peanut gallery. One thing I noticed on a lot of your videos, the churches and government buildings are usually the nicest structures in the town while the homes are falling apart. Food for thought.
Working for 🥜🥜🥜 peanuts 😂😂😂
Bledsoe was founded in 1925 as the terminus of the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway, and named for Samuel T. Bledsoe, the line's president. The town gained its original prosperity through its function as a cattle-shipping station, and reached its greatest population of 400 in 1930. The Great Depression had dire effect on the community and throughout the remainder of the 20th century the population continued to dwindle; the last recorded figure put the 1990 population at 125.
I love the sound of a gravel rock road!! I don’t know why it’s soothing to me. Thanks for sharing!
Me too!
Miles..an..miles of Texas, the clear Blue sky, it would be quiet enough to "just sit an think" if ya wanted too...interesting. .a good video Joe, thanks for showing us these places.🌼
I grew up in Bledsoe. The old caboose was a store. The school consolidated with Whiteface.
Thank you for a new video. This places looks so sad.😢
I really love your videos. You take the time to show the other side of America...where REAL people live.
Thanks. Lyle!
Real people live everywhere. 🙄
@@chrisv9186 My emphasis was to indicate that these people are mostly forgotten by the rest of the world. I thought that would be obvious, but….I suppose it wasn’t obvious enough for you.
My town has 175 people - we're a thriving metropolis compared to Bledsoe.
Majority of peanuts used to be grown in other parts of Texas, now they are in the panhandle. When cotton prices declined some farmers started growing peanuts. Thus the Bledsoe operation.
I enjoyed the video. On my bicycle tour from the northwest corner to the southeast corner of Texas I encountered many places like this an it makes you wonder how some people still exist in these areas but I did meet very friendly folks. Best of luck in 2024 ✌
P. S. People out there refer to the petroleum smell as; smells like money.
@@BluecollarBackcountry , he he ........... thats what my dad always said of the smell of pig-manure on the farm back when I was a kid growing up on the family farm in Denmark :-) Guess that comment is universal ! :-)
That's a lonely stretch of Texas. You weren't kidding.
Happy almost New Year 🎉👍
I try to imagine these towns back in their hay days about a 100 years ago, before the Depression... A school, store, saloon, cafe, a blacksmith, horses, wagons, a car now and then, maybe a church, hard working men, veggie gardens in every yard and a few well cared for fruit trees...
Can't wait for the Lubbock video.
I grew up in Roswell NM. Always loved the backroads of NM. Hope to see a few videos from there.
Heading to that area in a couple weeks. :)
Bledsoe is at the end of an old Santa Fe branch line. Looking on Google maps a turning wye is clearly visible on the north side of town. Amazingly the rail line looks to be active to Whiteface. Great video, thanks much!
Interesting!
Great viewing,We in New Zealand really cannot comprehend the scale of the vastness of Texas.Your video,s and Tom and Julie's mines explorations keep me watching for hours. Many thanks Dave P.Oamaru N.Z.
You hit all the famous spots, Joe! Covered that one.
Those old rail cars make beautiful living quarters, I can imagine having that one with the pop out side windows, perfect place for the dining area. In 74 I remember a trip back from San Diego to Houston and I was entering Johnson Country so it was called, very near Llano Tx and the cut back to Austin to bypass San Antonio. I was driving a 65 Ford Galaxie and all the tires were bald, it was just about day break sun coming up and I hear a pfff noise and the right side rear tire blew out, not enough rubber to make a big bang. So I pulled over and put on the spare and drove on hoping I would not have another flat. This road your on reminded me of that feeling being out in the middle of nowhere on that highway which was actually very nice road just desolate. There were no highway patrol in those earlier days because the crime rate and traffic count wasn't high enough to warrant all the expense. Today it is so much different
A real education. Thanks for bringing me along.
Right on the beginning of the video you can tell it's not too crowded out there at all pretty cool, I dig the wide Open spaces another good video Joe and Nick right on thank you again.
OZ// Thanks Joey (& Nicole) Another great drive. I love to see these 'fading' towns- makes my mind wander to the history behind all the falling down houses and I appreciate the drive through them and also imagine they might be great for film industry backdrops? Happy New Year to U2.
Cool video. I have property located near the Cochran County line that I have not seen in person. This was very useful to me. Thanks for showing me around Bledsoe. 🇺🇸🖖
thank you again for the ride. I think your fans would like to know about Pyote-wink- kermit-wicket, - Monahans, Texas, lots of cool history.I was stationed in Pyote early 60's
An awesome video, so interesting. These must be some of the quietest towns you've ever visited ! I always find abandoned buildings to be sad, but very fascinating and intriguing. The stories they could tell ! Thanks so much, Joe, and wishing you and Nic a very Happy New Year !😊💖
Thank you, CL. I have to say, places like this are my favorite.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Mine, too ! I never get tired of these "middle of nowhere" towns !! 😊
Lived in Tatum NM early 80s.
Drove thru Bledsoe many times. Oilfield. There used to be a bar not far from there on state line called Bloated goat
Another interesting video thanks for sharing joe and Nic 👍
Man, you sure do get around. Thank you for a very interesting 2023. Happy 2024
When I’ve past through small run down towns even abandoned houses out in the middle nowhere i often think of how many families were raised there and the story behind each house and store! I can picture the kids skipping and running to the store for 5 cent wax bottle candy and 25 cent soft drink
I remember nickel wax bottle candy drinks and ten cent soda pops.
Back in the '60s we still had a nickel coke machine at the gas station by the high school, everything else was a dime. When I got out of the navy in '69 all the pop machines had gone up to a quarter, I thought that was outrageous but not as bad as when we went up to Yellowstone in '73 and gas was 45 cents instead of the 30 cents back home...
Yes when I saw the Bail Bonds building 😮. YIKES
As a retired teacher who taught in some small town schools, abandoned schools make me the saddest along with abandoned churches.
🙏❤
I can see that, places that were important meeting places
@@mrmarkymark77Exactly..Decades past, these places were the center of the little isolated rural communities. These people didn't have much, but they lived meaningful lives prioritizing their families and community.
Another very interesting town. I always hate to see towns on their last breath. I want to thank you and Nicole for a great and adventurous year. May God bless you and keep you both safe in your future travels. Happy New Year 🎉🤠👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you!
@@JoeandNicsRoadTripНУ ЭТО МАМА АМЕРИКА ОНА ТАКАЯ ПРОСТОРНАЯ БОЛЬШАЯ КРУТАЯ ЛЮБЛЮ Я МАМУ АМЕРИКУ КАК СТРАНУ КЛАССНАЯ ОНА ЭТО ФАКТ
Ho love this series a question are the trees dead or have they just lost there leaves for winter,.If those trees had leaves it would really change the area.
I love the back road towns.
Love the research you do.
Keep up the great work.
Happy New Year..
Imagine being there in the dust bowl 80 years ago,, great video sir
May you and the family have a safe and happy New Year !!
Thank you!
When you said is another world out here I couldn’t agree more. I’m guessing the people are all on their homes or working as to me it looked so empty. I think personally it’s sad to see these little towns dying.
Thank you for showing us Joey.
You're welcome!
I just discovered your channel. This is the first video viewed. Loved it. So fascinating to see remote and fairly unknown places. I've subscribed and look forward to viewing more of your videos.
5yrs ago my friend found a complete 69 4spd hemi roadrunner for 3,500$ needing complete restoration in a small Texas town like this. He flipped it for 15,000$. These small towns are the best for car hunting.
I’m from Hobbs New Mexico, Bledsoe is a small town near our county. Ive delivered to oil rigs out there. There is also farmland there .
Church sure does seem to be enjoying its tax free status as the rest of the town dissolves
Crazy little gray towns with gray grass and gray trees
If not for the vending machine, I'd have assumed someone turned the rail car into a home (especially seeing the TV Antennae) and used the other rail cars as storage.
That second rail car looked like a freezer car having the compartment in the front for the power plant and compressor. That upper vented area probably had a large evaporator unit. Those type cars are pretty rare today since most products shipping across country go by air.
I agree with your deduction! Good call! This Class CE 13 Bay Window Caboose did not venture to far off the beat’in track was at the AG Depot in Beldsoe Tx. it appears to have been moved to accommodate the place to live and storage in another location in Beldsoe!
Great show Joe! Just loved it! From the Santa Fe Class CE 13 Bay-window Caboose to the “Experienced statement that the children are bussed to Whiteface for school! Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the new year wherever it takes you stay safe my friend!
Rail cars work great for living in. Many of them are insulated and well built. I live in Minnesota and have seen many of them around the state that were lived in!
The 2nd town looked like all that was needed is buy the lot knock down the house and move a trailer right in there on the foundation lol. Everyone be right at home. Wow some scary towns for sure no gas, no groceries, and no shopping but there was a bail bonds located there. Thanks for sharing and you have a great day with safe travels
Thanks!
Thanks, Jeffrey!
Love the videos. Watch them as soon as you put them on. Happy new year to you both!
Awesome! Thank you!
Definitely a grim place to live. Both towns remind me of the faded parts of Texas that have little life and growth and are hanging on barely. It appears that those who live in these places leverage the low costs to stay alive. Another great video and finding why Bledsoe is alive (peanut shelling) is good for us viewers as it answers the why question. Thanks again for the entertainment. P.S. I crossed into New Mexico at the same place this past November and it is indeed remote!
I find this area bleak.
It really is, isn't it? I was in that spot for 30 minutes (It took me 10 takes to get that open right). Not a single car drove by.
My husband went to high school in Bledsoe. Water is what hurt the town and I have a sister-in-law that still lives there in the out skirts of town. The Mennoniites put in the peanut factory. Years ago there was cattle shipped out of there by railroad but the tracks have been removed.
I LOVE these nowhere-s-ville out in the middle of nowhere ancient virtually empty ghost towns.
Ive been to Whiteface, there used to be 2 large feedlots, 1 for cattle and 1 for horses
Another really interesting, informative video, looking forward to more in 2024.
I love this, thank you, strange how you never see anyone. 🤷🏼♀️ I wish we could do this in Australia.🇦🇺🐨
I love the history lessons you give!
I saw those flaming oil things out there as well. I also went to Carlsbad, NM on that trip.
Just north of these towns is Maple, Texas. I went to school at Three Way High School, name because 3 schools were combined into one. There is only a historic marker there. The school was occupied for more that 75 years, but has been torn down, with not even a brick remaining.
after graduate school. i had a brand new 4 wheel drive truck some free time and a few bucks and thought it would a good idea to just take a trip across the county and back. i remember being in lubbock and drving west to clovis new mexico , and was on a pretty major highway and marveled how i was pretty much the only vehicle on the road for what seemed like hours.
Yep. It's really quiet out there.
I've always known them as crickets but this is what they call them according to the internet... - A pumpjack (also called donkey pumper, nodding donkey, pumping unit, horsehead pump, rocking horse, beam pump, dinosaur, sucker rod pump, grasshopper pump, Big Texan, thirsty bird, or jack pump) is the overground drive for a reciprocating piston pump in an oil well.
A very interesting video. Thanks.
Thank you!
Love your videos and information on all of these towns across the country. Thank you. Happy new year to you both snd safe travels!
Thank you!
Wide Open Spaces!!!!
Happy New Year Joe and Nic!!
Happy new year!
👍You're getting smart here, Joe: starting the upload with a mystery and promise to tell secret ! Happy New Year. 👍
The red caboose was my grandmothers convenience store for many years! And you could get gas!
hello ,beautiful views Your car must have many miles now?
They're piling up. :)
Thanks for another well made informative presentation.
What depressing towns. Yikes. We lived in lufkin Texas years ago and it was a nice little town.
I follow your travels and really enjoy them! Can't believe no cats and firehouses in that big of an area?
Drew Bledsoe
I don’t know how often you’re in West Texas but hopefully you make it through where I grew up in Snyder and Hermleigh. And, Abilene. Love the vlogs.
There’s a beauty about this town, though. The church and post office look nice. Other buildings are from yesteryear.
I remember going to Guadalupe National Park in Far West Texas on a roadtrip in 2017, and there was no gas for 50+ miles.
I agree.
Check out Sipe Springs, TX. Pretty much only thing left of that town is the dirt lines in the pasture which used to be streets. Old bomb an' bust oil town. There's a few families who still live out there to this day. Lonely country.
Man you are getting so close to my home town of Sundown. You have to go check out the oil patch!
We have a town in NM that has two people employed, the school teacher and highway maintenance guy. The big economic activities are selling food stamps and poaching.
Man l heard THATS! So TRUE!
Please include cemetery info? My family moved and traveled all across the USA and we always remarked on the cemetery. Big cemetery means folks been living and dying there for a long time. Moved from the Rockies to Massachusetts in the mid 70’s and saw the largest cemeteries up to that point at 15 years old. Whenever we moved, it was the public library, USPO and then the schools we looked for and learned the way to/from first. Dad worked for the USDA. Love your programs! 🙏🏼
That appeared to be a very nice school.. Lived in New Mexico for 5 years, Clovis, which is just north of there. Dove through that area once, about 33 years ago. Doesn't look much different.
Hey Joe, I was raised just west of Ft. Worth. The cattle you talk about are one of the most popular breeds in Texas besides Long Horns. They are referred to as White Face. But are a Herford breed. There are 7 breeds that have white faces. White Faced Cattle Breeds:
Hereford Cattle
Simmental
Black Hereford
Abondance
Hinterwald
Montbéliarde
Vorderwald
Just letin you know. Thanks for the video. Say Hi to Nic for me.😍
Interesting! I'll remember all of this.
The instant you see railcars you have what was once a railroad right-of-way. Look at the northern extremity of the town on Google Maps an you can see where the railroad line ran. It appears that the rail-line dead ends at the NM border. Oftentimes cars like this are used for storage - there is no 'museum' - they just use them like shipping containers.
Immediately north of the 'Peanut Shelling' operation you see an inverted 'Y' shaped formation that would have been a locomotive turn-around.
Towns like this are spaced at regular intervals so that steam locomotives can top off the water in their tenders. Another 'ghost town' in Texas is named Pumpville, for obvious reasons.
When you smell crude, you smell money. I grew up in Oklahoma and there is a refinery north east of town. When the wind was right you could smell the refinery. My folks always said, smell that money.
This is a part of the US we never see, thanks for upload. Very good.
My favorite places. :)
those are my favorite places too@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip
Three Way was a school of 225 students K through 12th grade, in 1974. It is just north of Maple. This is a farming community with fewer and fewer please. The kids in this area now go to Sudan schools. There were around 300 people in Maple in the '70s. I doubt that many live there now.
I have family in Lubbock , Have the Soccer Box , say Hi , Sure was poor towns this time and so dam flat the country , Thanks Happy New Year to you and your wife
I grew up near or around those rural areas. Back then bootlegging was a "business" then you had whiteface farms who housed temp migrant workers then all those migrants moved to Sundown,Texas. Farming
Cotton,maze and peanut were prominent crops and of course alcohol,gambling,cock fights and horse racing were also a strong source of income for some.
Good old days
Great video. I like that you share the statistics. ❤
These towns are the Hollywood Hills of Rafah and the Martha’s Vineyard of Sariwon.
Take a ride through those neighborhoods.
I grew up in Hobbs NM. I had never heard of Bledsoe. Thanks for sharing.
I have been to Hobbs. My Aunt lived there. I gave ntp been there in over 20yrs. Maybe Nic will visit someday