So, mom and I spent some quality time together Saturday braving the swampy humidity and heat to go treasure hunting in Wharton County.
Now, I have to preface this with the fact that it was also the Wharton Countywide Garage Sale weekend, so, I was hoping to find something awesome.
And while I have no idea what mom was initially looking for, by the fourth sale, my sister, by phone, managed to ask us to look for side tables for her new office space.
Unfortunately, it seemed to be the Saturday of tables not being the right size and the on-again/off-again drizzling rain was enough to have most of the listed sales closing up shop without warning.
On the other hand in that experience, I found the oh-so helpful Google Map that was provided online was rather useless.
I mean, I’m trying to select designated sales to plot a route and each time I clicked on a new address the other point disappeared and I was forced to return to the initial map link to select a location.
Nothing irritated me more than having technology fail so splendidly!
Several times, mom and I just gave up trying to follow the maps and just winged it around in Wharton and El Campo.
During such scenic route explorations we came across two separate abandoned buildings that stirred our collective curiosity – one former church and another that we have no idea about.
I mean, I took notes about the properties on my phone with the urge to research them the moment I got home.
However, there were no designated numbers to denote the buildings’ addresses and the state of them was both depressing and intriguing at the same time.
Mom was wondering about the architecture and what the unidentifiable building was used for previously.
We shared similar discussions about a possible former assisted living type of facility or even an old school, but there was nothing left to identify the building and we were on a schedule.
The church in El Campo was easy enough because its name was carved into the masonry above the entrance.
Still, there’s nothing that can be found on it through Google so far.
Mom liked the church more because it still had 80% of its original stained glass windows and an interesting Art Deco sort of façade.
Plus, the church had a few faded “For Sale” signs stapled to the plywood-covered entrances.
I was still curious about the single-story sprawling place in Wharton that almost took over an entire city block.
And naturally, my overactive imagination started conjuring an assortment of bleak happenings that could make up the property’s sordid past – if any such past was real!
While I let my imagination run wild and we managed to scoop up a few unique finds while treasure hunting, I was anxious to deep dive into the Wharton County Appraisal District’s website and start poking around.
Let me tell you, it’s worse than our Matagorda County one and not very helpful – so, I’ve given up my quest for now.
If anything might come of this overall experience, I think it could be an idea for a short story or a hyper-focus that leads me down a different rabbit hole later on.
