Texian Inn of Waco (Waco, Texas)

This picture is from Agoda.com, taken sometime in the 2000s or early 2010s.
Our Waco coverage coverage continues. While we previously discussed this at Carbon-izer.com, those items are being moved to Numbered Exits.

In reality, Texian Inn (at 115 Jack Kultgen Expressway) was demolished several years ago in the late 2010s and the place where I grabbed the picture from, Agoda.com, seems to have numerous other photos that clearly were not from the same hotel. Texian Inn opened in March 1985 to great fanfare as the hotel chain spread throughout Texas and beyond (they mention that at least one hotel opened outside the state with that name, though I can only confirm Albuquerque and Oklahoma City), with the hotel celebrating one year of business in March 1986. They opened a few in the major Texas cities, and even one in College Station. Within five years, the chain had folded and the motels were sold off (the College Station one, with the Waco one becoming Lexington Inn around 1990, Americas Best Value Inn in the early 2000s, and finally Executive Inn & Suites (around 2015-2016) before being torn down in 2017. Soon after, the Jack in the Box next to it (connected to the parking lot), which had been there next to the motel's entire lifespan, was also torn down. (The restaurant operated from around 1984 to late 2017).

Unlike the College Station Texian Inn it at least kept its original stone facade to the end.

The replacement SpringHill Suites by Marriott was under construction in 2019 and opened in the early 2020s.

UPDATE 05-17-2026: Added address, removed 7-Eleven/Arby's mention

Italy Truck Stop (Italy, Texas)

The weird blurriness of Street View doesn't do it justice, this was quite an interesting sight to see.
As part of a rework of Carbon-izer, I've decided to rework my page, currently (soon to be formerly) Italy in 2014 (archive version). It was designed when I had a different vision of the site. It will focus on Starship Pegasus exclusively in the future...

In the meantime, let's look at the other eye-catcher of the town.

I went to the Dallas-Fort Worth area twice in 2014, and both trips were enjoyable. One of them was for an academic-related function yet still had some time to kill. I mentioned in that article that I wanted to write about Italy, Texas, and this is that article. (I hope by now you realize that this is referring to Italy, Texas and not the country). The particular 2014 trip to Dallas-Fort Worth was with my family and took a meandering route, so that Italy was only seen on the way home. A McDonald's in a truck stop wasn't unusual, but what was unusual was the motel rooms cantilevered over it. I only saw the "hotel above truck stop" once before (Orange, Texas), and I thought it was weird/cool then. A hotel in a truck stop was rare enough but McDonald's? Didn't see that coming. Additionally, it also featured a second restaurant, a Grandy's (practically extinct south of Dallas-Fort Worth, even then) and on top of all that, included a Stuckey's store-within-a-store inside the Exxon "Tiger Mart" (#32), all located at 101 L.R. Campbell Road.

In 2017, McDonald's moved out to a stand-alone location on the other side of the Interstate at the old Starship Pegasus site (see next section) and by spring 2019, Grandy's (ever shrinking) was out, and while the Stuckey's "branding" (mostly just some merchandise, which I don't remember seeing) remained, it had lost two restaurants and just wasn't that special anymore. Moreover, in 2015, Love's had opened a new travel center catty-corner to it, featuring a Carl's Jr. (which, despite the closure of most Carl's Jr. restaurants in Texas, is still there).

However, it was down, but not out. By the end of the year, Denny's had opened up in the parking lot of the Exxon and the McDonald's side was filled with Golden Chick. By 2021 it did gain the Pilot branding but only for the diesel bays in the back, not for the main gas station in the front, and not for the convenience store. Finally, tax records indicate Einstein Bros. opening inside the gas station, presumably replacing Grandy's but if Pilot's other Einstein Bros. kiosks are any indication, this isn't much of a bagel shop like the real ones are, and doesn't use much kitchen equipment.

Sales tax records indicate McDonald's opened in 2002, so I have to assume that's when the truck stop opened.

CEFCO Travel Center #48 (Temple, Texas)

From Google Maps Street View with some extra saturation.
This truck stop appears to date back to 2000 as "Southwest Travel Centers" with a Wendy's, with CEFCO taking over around 2001 as store #48, with the address of 12310 NW H.K. Dodgen Loop. It was a Shell (though likely a Texaco prior to 2003) and converted to the CEFCO brand between September 2019 and spring 2021. Most other CEFCO stores had converted back around 2016.

I had previously written about this on Carbon-izer, though there needs to have some updates made. The Wendy's was still there as of March 2025 but I'm afraid I didn't check it in December 2025 when I was there at that intersection, but as of March 2026 it is reported closed, presumably because Casey's wants to convert CEFCO to their own thing.

Melodie Drive (West, Texas)

KD's Smokehouse was a relatively short-lived. (See article for source).
Originally this was part of the "I-35 in Waco" page and today we're covering two businesses on Melodie Drive, a street in West, Texas that acts as a two-way road for the businesses behind it as the frontage road itself became one way. The first of two businesses that we will cover is 114 Melodie Drive: The hotel opened as Czech Inn in January 2006, built by Jerrell Bolton (who owned the car dealership behind the hotel), with its address, 114 Melodie Drive, named after his late wife Melodie, murdered in a 1985 robbery. In the first half of 2013 it was rebranded as a Best Western amidst the construction of I-35 and around 2018 or 2019 was rebranded as a Holiday Inn Express & Suites, which it still is today.

While there's still a bit of vacant space that could be used for something in the future, 214 Melodie Drive was developed around 2007 as KD's Smokehouse. The advertisement seen at the top of the page is from the August 2009 issue of Waco Today (as KD's), but it closed around 2011. In November 2013, it was renovated and reopened as Slovacek's Travel Center, an Exxon station much like their flagship plant in Snook, but much nicer and featuring sausage, kolaches, and all the convenience store fixings. There's also a dog park on the premises, though plans to add a 40-foot fire hydrant were dropped at some point. There's an article regarding the opening of Slovacek here. In early 2022, "Slovacek's Etc." was built in the south end of the parking lot. It appears to be some sort of store selling outdoor furniture and goods, though I can't find much more on it.

Lastly, there's the Golden Trails Senior Apartments that opened around 2021 at 314 Melodie Drive, but that's the least interesting of the other two here.

Lacy-Lakeview Safeway (Lacy-Lakeview, Texas)

Picture courtesy MCAD, used with permission.
Depicted above is the original Safeway of the Lacy-Lakeview area, originally with its address (at least according to tax records) as 110 E. Loop 340, and operated as a Safeway from 1976 to 1986. In 1986, the Safeway moved directly next door (you can see part of the supermarket building to the right) with the address of Safeway being 4501 Interstate 35 and this one being 4501 Interstate 35 North, and in 1990 reopened as Schulman 6 Lacy-Lakeview. In 2000, this theater closed and around 2014, the long-vacant building was torn down. Construction on the new plaza (originally Providence, later Ascension) began soon after, and opened in May 2017 as the Lacy-Lakeview Medical Plaza with a new address, 1130 N. Loop 340.

Meanwhile, the Safeway operated until 1989 when it was rebranded as AppleTree, and in 1992 the store (along with the other AppleTree in Waco at the time) was sold to Winn-Dixie, with AppleTree closing in July and reopening as Winn-Dixie a few months later. This was closed in 2002 when Winn-Dixie pulled out of the state. There it idled vacant (like the theater) for close to a decade until Atwoods finished its own remodel of the store and opened in January 2011. Atwoods (and the grocery stores before it) was 46,000 square feet but in 2021 Atwoods began an expansion that took the store up to 62,000 square feet.

This article's contents originally appeared on Carbon-izer.com.

Tanglewood Farms (Waco, Texas)

From Waco Tribune-Herald in the vacant Playhouse Cafe days (c. 2001)
While it was part of the original plan for this site, it will be difficult to work the 80+ entry "Interstate 35 in Waco" page into smaller sites for Numbered Exits. Tanglewood Farms was built in 1978 at 221 S. Jack Kultgen Expressway in Waco, soon gaining a positive reputation for its homemade biscuits and good breakfast menu. It changed hands in 1991, but business declined, cut into by things like Cracker Barrel further north and the Shoney's on the other side of the freeway. The site was soon re-developed with the Texas Playhouse being built next to the site, and the restaurant itself becoming the Playhouse's restaurant component, Playhouse Cafe, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but it was short-lived and closed in 1999. In 2001, it was reopened as Magic China, which would open there (ultimately relocating from 1616 Wooded Acres Drive), and operated until 2015 (planned to relocate, but never did).

After that, it was torn down and replaced with Premier ER & Urgent Care - Waco, meanwhile, the Playhouse itself became a restaurant.

Hooters at the Selma Town Hall (Selma, Texas)

Picture from Loopnet. I messed up...I didn't mean to do "breakup" entries in a row, so I'll do two original entries in row this time. The first of these is Selma, Texas' city hall, built (per BCAD) in 1929 and was operational through the 1970s (if not the 1980s) before being renovated as City Hall Grill (15412 Interstate 35 North), operating from around 1993 to 1999. Unfortunately the eBay page I archived didn't save more than a thumbnail but you got a discount if you had a paid traffic ticket, paying homage to Selma's history of a speed trap. Around 2002, it became Hooters. It's very distinctive looking...when I passed by it I knew it definitely wasn't built as a Hooters, thinking it might've been some large Mexican restaurant that went under some years before, not something from close to a century ago.

The "McSchlotzsky's" (San Marcos, Texas)

Picture by author, 2019
Much like how I covered Hempstead's abandoned Shell or the Schulenburg McDonald's, this one is a page I made previously on Carbon-izer. The Schlotzsky's Deli here operated from about 1999 to 2004 and became a McDonald's in 2006, but kept the interior layout and much of the decor of the old restaurant. Check it out here. A more recent renovation from the early 2020s made it look less like a Schlotzsky's but still recognizable.

It is located at 4060 S. Interstate 35.

Failed Jack in the Box and Commercial Circle (New Braunfels, Texas)

Source: Crexi
This failed Jack in the Box at 3211 Commercial Circle only operated from around 2011 to 2018, and it's not hard to see why. It's also not easy to see the Jack in the Box, even from the highway frontage road.

It's neighbors are New Braunfels ER & Hospital (3221 Commercial Circle) and Shipley Do-Nuts (3201 Commercial Circle), the latter has done much better than Jack in the Box has.

QuikTrip Waco (Waco, Texas)

Newspaper article from 2021.
We're coming to an end to covering Carbon-izer's "Other Waco Roads" with QuikTrip on 2350 S. New Road, of which I've attached an article from 2019. It should be noted that the final product that opened in July 2021 connected to the parking lot of Hooters, not the Carl's Jr. restaurant. There's still a missing portion of parking lot that they haven't built out yet. (See the main map). Coincidentally, by the time QuikTrip opened, the Carl's Jr. which expected to benefit was closed. The Hooters (3921 Jack Kultgen Expy.) opened in January 2006 but closed in the chain's big purge in June 2024. I photographed the local Hooters in Bryan at Brazos Buildings & Businesses.

UPDATE 01-18-2026: Some minor updates.

Burger King on Interstate 35 (Waco, Texas)

Unknown source—if it was Loopnet it's not there now. Located at 1500 N. Interstate 35, this restaurant was built and opened in 1991 as a Burger King and closed at YE 2019 or early 2020 based on my estimations. After renovations, it re-opened as the Waco original "Hawk's Hot Chicken" in early 2021 but it closed around fall 2022.

As Hawk's the building was modified but you can immediately see one of the problems of the new restaurant with Street View; construction of I-35 cut off their main access for a time.

Jakes Burgers opened a year after the demise of Hawk's, and as of January 2026, still operates. Sharing the block are two other restaurants. Schlotzsky's Deli, as the chain was known back then, opened at 1508 I-35 in 1996. Since then, it has has just had updates as corporate policy has dictated (to the "lotz better" prototype in the early 2010s, which dropped the "Deli" name, and immediately next to that is Fuego Tortilla Grill (1524 S. I-35). This taco shop was built on the site of Legends Cycle, which moved out in the early 2010s. Prior to that, it was Euro Shop, which was another motorcycle dealership until the partnership disintegrated and the business partners went separate ways (that was 2011), and back in the 1990s was Harley-Davidson of Waco before they moved in 2003 (see further down in this page). It had moved here from 928 North Valley Mills Drive. In late 2013, the building was torn down, and the new Fuego Tortilla Grill opened in August 27th 2015, the fourth location in the chain and second in Waco, though Fuego's dual-location presence in Waco only lasted a year.

(Adapted and expanded from Carbon-izer.com).

UPDATE 01-18-2025: Added Fuego and Schlotzsky's.