By Visiting the Heart of Texas
This past Saturday, I did a cross-country flight to go see another Texas county. We have been experiencing quite a bit of crazy spring weather over the past few weeks, so it was nice to have a day of good flying conditions. I chose to visit a place that has been on my Texas list for a while now- the city of Brady, located about 80 miles to the east of San Angelo. Brady isn’t just any ole’ city in Texas- it is the city that is closest to the geographical center of the state! With a population of just under 5500 people, “The Heart of Texas” was a destination that I definitely wanted to explore.
After a one and a half hour flight, my buddy Tom and I touched down at the Brady Curtis Field Municipal Airport. Upon securing the airplane, we hopped in the crew car and headed off to town!
The first place we checked out after lunch at Sonic was the McCulloch County Courthouse. Like most small towns, the courthouse was located in the center of the town square. Texas has some of the most interesting and elegant courthouse designs – and this was certainly no exception!
The design was somewhat similar to the Parker County Courthouse in Weatherford, yet had a taste of the one in Lampasas County, in Lampasas. Built in 1899, this was the second courthouse to serve McCulloch County, which encompasses over 1000 square miles. This courthouse was also added to the National Register of Historic Places back in 1977 – a distinction well deserved given the age of the building and the role it played in the history of the county.
On the grounds of the courthouse was a granite marker bringing light to Brady’s claim to fame – it being “The Heart of Texas”. While the actual geographical center of the state is about 20 miles to the northwest, Brady is the closest city to there. Here is where I got my stereotypical tourist photo taken!
After getting done exploring the courthouse, Tom and I walked around the town square. Compared to some of the other small towns I’ve been to, Brady seems to have a slightly bigger downtown area than most.
Although most of the businesses were closed, there was one antique shop that was open. This place, D&J’s Good Ole Days, was actually listed on TripAdvisor when I did my planning for this excursion. I didn’t expect it to be open, but since it was, we waltzed on in to see what they had to offer.
Out of all the small town antique shops I’ve been to, this one is the coolest by far. It spans the length of three storefronts, and is packed to the gills with trinkets and artifacts from mainly the 20th century. To look at all these objects and realize that each and every one of them has a story behind it is nothing short of incredible.
They even had a section for vintage oil bottles..who would have thought that would be a collector’s item? I’m sure the stuff inside was of much better quality than what is sold now. Hell, just the packaging itself looks cool.
I would have hung around this place for a bit longer, but it was about time to start heading back to the airport. Departing downtown, we passed by the city hall. Didn’t get a photo, but it was bigger than I initially thought. Usually the city hall of these small towns are nothing more than a tiny building, but this one was quite sizeable.
Once back at the airport, we realized that there was no self-serve fuel pump to refuel the plane prior to departure, and that the airport attendant had gone home for the day! The door to a big hangar housing a DC-3 airliner was open though, and I tracked down a guy and his pre-teen son working inside who helped me contact someone to come out here.
While waiting, they were gracious enough to let Tom and I climb on board and check the plane out! The DC-3 isn’t just any airliner – it was the plane that revolutionized air travel back in the 1930s. I was beyond excited to have the opportunity to check out such an interesting piece of aviation history.
A twin-engined tailwheel bird, it was capable of carrying anywhere from 21-32 passengers. This particular model was being restored after having sat here on the field for a few years.
The cockpit contained a mixture of both vintage and modern equipment. While there was some newly installed gear, such as the flight instruments and a panel mounted GPS system, there was plenty of the original design intact as well. The half steering wheel shaped yoke is something that isn’t seen anymore, and those thrust levers can only mean DC-3!
Talking with the guy there, he told me how he was working on restoring this plane for the owner. Parts were nicely arranged along the hangar floor, a seemingly endless project to get her flying again. From what I gathered, the light was starting to be seen at the end of the tunnel. The engine work was getting close to being finished, and the propeller was about to be sent off to a shop for an overhaul.
Before long, the fueler had arrived and got us all set for our journey back home. After paying the tab, we departed without having any further delays. Although the flight back was somewhat bumpy thanks to a low-level jet that was moving through Texas, we made it back in just over an hour due to a nice tailwind.
All in all, this was a very successful trip. Sure, there was a delay, but what I have found is that some of the rather memorable things I’ve done have stemmed from a delay of some sort. The things you see and the people you meet while simply lingering around the airport can sometimes be just outright interesting. In many of these small towns, there isn’t too much to do(if anything), but there was definitely quite a bit that was seen on this excursion! On top of that, I now have bragging rights about having visited a place that is super close to the center of the best state in the country!
