Sunday in Huntsville
Well, it’s different here!
Everything is BIG. Think big…and then think bigger than that. Add a bit more large-ness, then times it by 10. That’s Texas.
Signs, cars, roads, dead animals (sad face), sunshine, FOOD, people (awkward), birds (I saw a bird of prey today with a wing span that was probably my body length…), the list goes on.
We moved motels because we basically felt unsafe. I worded it politely when I arrived last night but I was basically picturing murder scenes; classic horror film action.
So once our motel-moving was done, we hit Huntsville.
It’s funny over here because you don’t walk anywhere. There are rarely sidewalks (pavements) and you have to drive everywhere. I think we have both mastered driving on the other side of the road now as well as adhering to the new road rules (stop signs mean stop).
We had an authentic Texan brunch here at Cafe Texan. It couldn’t have been any more American, the toilets were even labelled Cowgirls and Cowboys. It was then that I wished I brought my hat…
It didn’t take us long to find the ‘Huntsville Unit’ – the main prison which is where they execute the prisoners from death row. SURREAL.
It felt really bonkers to walk and drive around this town, which felt like a Back to the Future film set and then wind up stumbling on the very place where they execute people.
It’s still not sinking in.
After driving around the prison several times and photographing whilst avoiding being shot we decided to drive out towards Livingston – where the prisoners live, on death row. Tomorrow we’ll be doing this drive and documenting it properly for Steph’s show, I think it’s going to look quite cool.
Today we got a couple of promotional images which I think came out quite well for this point in the process. On top of that we stopped at this unique place for a drink (which they gave us for free! We must be quite likeable, or Texans are just friendly) on the side of Lake Livingston. It was totally surreal to feel as if we were on holiday, whilst stopping on the side of the same road that is the prisoners’ last ever journey. And it will be someone’s last journey on Tuesday… totally surreal.
Anyway, I was happy in the moment and foot-tapping as they played fleetwood mac songs and I had the sunshine on my facial features 🙂
Back in the hotel motel holiday inn I spent some time editing some imagery, eating hummus and drinking lite beer before we headed out for some oversized food and drink. We walked, which is a big Texan no no, but we did it and I think it helped the digestion.
I look forward to blogging some more Texan adventures tomorrow 🙂
Thanks for reading… I hope someone is…
…if you are, thank you for your time. And I hope you’re finding it interesting.
Rx
