We left Shreveport this morning with skies heavily overcast. It had rained during the night but when we left the hotel it was not raining and the road had dried up as well. We headed west on I-20 for a couple of miles then headed south into Texas. Around 11 AM we started seeing patches of blue sky and within a couple of hours we had mostly sunny skies with some scattered clouds. At one point mid-afternoon we ran through a shower for about a half a mile. The temperature dropped from 93 to 84 in about ten minutes, but within 30 minutes it was back up in the low 90's again.
We traveled on US 79 all day and a few miles north east of Austin is the small town of Hutto. For whatever reason this little town decided that concrete hippos would make fun decorations in front of businesses, homes, city government buildings etc. The Chamber of Commerce sells all kinds and sizes of concrete hippos, some small enough to set on the corner of your desk to hold business cards and some about 18" high and 42" long which would probably require a couple of people to handle. Some are unfinished concrete and some are painted up in various colors. Here are a few of the reportedly 6,000+ concrete hippos residing in Hutto Texas.
This dalmatian like painted hippo was in front of the fire department.
This very large hippo was in a small park area across the street from some old business buildings.
This brown hippo was in front of the Chamber of Commerce office.
This hippo with the heart tattoo on the hip was in front of a business.
This "Regions green" hippo was in front of the local Regions Bank branch office.
Here is one possible explanation for hippos in Hutto;
According to local legend, it was in 1915 that a circus train stopped in Hutto at the depot to take on passengers, pick up and deliver mail and possibly take on water and fuel for the steam locomotive. The circus train workers also would have taken this opportunity to care for their animals. At some point during this historic layover, the hippo got out of the railcar and made its way to the nearby Cottonwood Creek. This caused much consternation for the circus workers. Local farmers and merchants watched the commotion in amusement and with interest as unsuccessful efforts were made to extricate the hippopotamus from the muddy waters of Cottonwood Creek. It is said that the Depot Agent, who at that time would have been Hal Farley, Jr., telegraphed the communities of Taylor and Round Rock that were eight miles to the east and west of Hutto to the effect of: “STOP TRAINS, HIPPO LOOSE IN HUTTO”. After much effort the hippo was prodded from the mud and water that resembled its natural habitat and was reloaded back onto the train car. Soon afterward the Hutto School adopted the hippopotamus as its mascot and as early as 1923 the hippo appeared on official Hutto High School graduation announcements.
