“A mistake?”

“Yeah, the T&P railroad crew threw the wrong sign off the train. You see, they were supposed to throw off the Eskota sign but instead they threw off the Trent sign. So when they got out close to Sweetwater, on the Trent Brothers Ranch, they just threw off the Eskota sign where Trent was supposed to be.”

So goes the legend of how Eskota, Texas came to be named. Trent, located about 20 miles west of Abilene, survives but Eskota is just a ghost town. Only a few storefronts and some foundations remain beside a road in southern Fisher County, a few miles northeast of Sweetwater.

And that road?

That’s Eskota Road, at least that’s what the sign on Interstate 20 says. Why is this important? Well, Eskota, Texas was the birthplace of my mother. I never visited there except to drive slowly by on Eskota Road. She only lived there one year, more or less, and now the place is gone. But every time I pass through the area on the Interstate I see that big ole green sign, and something pulls at my imagination. You can't tell by the sign that Eskota fits the definition of nowhere. But to me it is a great unknown. Even the word “eskota” has no known meaning. And Eskota Road is the road to that unknown place. To reach it, whatever it is, you must strike out on that road, and see where it leads you.

And when the journey is over, that same road will lead me home.