A Jogging Tour: The Aggie Files, Part 2

The water tower, I've decided, is the defining feature of the Texas landscape -- at least, this Texas landscape. I suppose if I drove out into the countryside I might see oil derricks or some other vertical structure, but around here the things that catch my eye are the water towers, sticking up like monuments from the flat landscape.

I'm staying in Bryan, which has the water tank pictured above. In nearby College Station, Texas A&M has its own signature water tower:

A jogging tour this morning around Bryant revealed all sorts of things. The hunting supply store, crowned with a mega-trophy:

This lovely bit of folk art on a mechanic's shop:

Yosemite Sam, hanging cars up to dry.

Texans are very proud of their flag, and rightly so. It's so much more striking than those of many states:

I'm sort of an aficionado of funny business names and was happy to find a few just a short jog from my B&B. There was this great hair salon:

And there was this inscrutable establishment:

Washington, D.C., is the national center of so many associations that I was surprised to see one here. And what is the American Backflow Prevention Association, anyway? Well, it's a group devoted to keeping drinking water from getting mixed up with nastier water. They even have a mascot, Buster Backflow. Download your comic book today.