Navasota Exit TX-90 / TX-105 West (Navasota, Texas)

While not a numbered exit (it's just the name of the blog), I wanted to use this post to cover a few things about Navasota's main business exit, which goes to Anderson (to the west, TX-90 starts here), or to the east (TX-105 West) to Brenham.

One reason why this is important to me is that Navasota, growing up, represented something. If we were in Navasota for whatever reason, we were going on a trip, whether Houston or heading out as far east as Florida. Naturally, Navasota had a positive connotation even if there's really nothing to write home about.

This page covers from approximately from Alamo Drive to Dove Crossing Lane and is derived from this page on Carbon-izer.com. All of these are updated as of July 2024.

At the northeast corner (where the photo is taken from) is a McDonald's (8737 N. Hwy. 6) which was built here in 1993 (though the roof may have come later). It has since received a late-2000s/early 2010s remodel. The picture above, taken from me in 2006 (moving car, cheap camera, it's not a great photo), shows how the McDonald's looked just prior to the re-do. Note the original Chevron sign colors next door. Opened around 1988 with Annie's Country Store as the main store. A facade update was done in late 2020 with a minor expansion (soon after altering the roadside signage). Just out of view is Los Cabos Mexican Grill (8731 Highway 6) which it was starting around late 2021/early 2022. This restaurant was formerly Wrangler Steak House and later Las Fuentes Steak & Grill. Indications are it just changed names between November 2016 and June 2017, and started business in 2002.

The northwest corner of the intersection features Herrera's Mexican Restaurant (8734 N. Hwy. 6 Loop, also known as Herrera's Mexican Restaurant #3) which opened in 2019 to replace Erick's Mexican Restaurant (operated here previously since 2011). Various other Mexican restaurants have been here at least since at least the early 2000s and more prominently, a 7-Eleven/Exxon. The store at 1701 East Washington Avenue was previously Rattlers' (originally "Jim's Express Mart" from 1992 to early 2000s rebranding), and was the first time I saw the new Exxon logo (lower case lettering, no blue stripe) in late 2017. By early 2021, with the Stripes (which bought Rattlers) takeover by 7-Eleven progressing, the rectangular sign has both 7-Eleven and Exxon on it, neither very large. Two doors down is a Burger King opened in December 2019 owned by Kolkhorst Foods; the Kolkhorst family used to own Rattlers' (it was sold to Sunoco in 2015 and came under the Stripes family before it was flipped a few years later to 7-Eleven) and promised to build a Burger King at least since the time of the sale.

The southwest corner features a Walmart. Walmart #293 (still a "Division One" store) opened here in May 1980. For years, it kept its "WAL-MART" lettering (no star!) even as it switched to brown paint in the early 2010s. The store finally became a true "Walmart" by the late 2010s with lighter blue paint (it was to be replaced with a Supercenter but plans have stalled). A drive-through only Church's opened in 1984 (it was a prefabricated model that Church's developed) in the Wal-Mart parking lot. This was closed in 2022. Going a bit further down there's a car dealership built in 2019 (Sterling Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, 9030 Highway 6), ErgoGenesis (1 Bodybilt Place, operational since 2002 and likely a former TG&Y Family Center—still looking into that), a closed Aaron's (9310 Highway 6 Loop, 2007-2020), and Tractor Supply Company (store #1130, 9320 Highway 6 Loop), which opened in or around September 2006.

To the southeast is a Shell gas station, Pizza Hut (9305 Highway 90), and Sonic (9249 Highway 90). The Shell gas station (9323 TX-90) was built here with a Domino's Pizza (inside) and a Popeyes adjacent (branded as Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen these days, address of 9319 TX-90) around 1999 (may have been branded originally as a Texaco), the Domino's here closed in the summer of 2012 (apparently, both being located in the back of a gas station and in direct competition with a Pizza Hut in a small market was not good for business). It has since been replaced with (relatively recently) Sum Yum Chinese Food. Both Domino's and Popeyes have been removed from the roadside signage. Going a bit south (which is impossible if driving now thanks to a late 2000s conversion of making the frontage roads one way) has a Days Inn motel (8965 Highway 6, Best Western prior to around 2024), Autotrust Repairs (9309 N. Hwy. 6 Loop), Mallett Brothers Barbeque (9339, built in 2009), and a Comfort Inn & Suites (9345 Hwy. 6) built around the same time.