Across the Texas Panhandle

First I have to say thank you all so much for reading our blog and keeping up with what we are doing....knowing that people are reading what we say means so much to us....Yesterday was such an eventful day! We saw so many places and talked to so many interesting people! oh yes, and it was so hot.....it was about 111 degrees in the Texas panhandle on Wednesday.....I am going to try to go in an order of what we saw, but I am going to say that the Caprock Canyons State Park is so beautiful....if you have seen it, would you leave us a message on the blog.....I thought it was breathe-takingly beautiful!! Some of the pictures we took are great and the others just don't do it justice!
Our first stop was at Esteline, Texas. There are no buildings left from the time Bud and Temple went through....but we did hear the story of the old hotel where they stayed...It was torn down in the 1940s...so it has been gone a long time....The lady that owned the place had it torn down, and then she moved an old barrack from Childress Air Base out and made it into two houses....our new friends at the Esteline Post Office were so nice....thanks Gayle and Aleen for taking a copy of the book to give to your local "historian"...and for the directions to the river....we had great fun looking around the Red River even though it was almost completely dry...we saw deer tracks across the bed and lots of different types of plants...lots of salt ceder and a cane looking plant that was absolutely beautiful....you could see the salt that was sitting on top of the sand and it made beautiful white patterns....all of the places weren't completely dry....we managed to get enough red mud on us that we took it with us the rest of the day....It was amazing to think about the boys taking all day to get from Esteline to Turkey....we say lots of the whitish looking rocks that we assumed to be gypsum....it was so hot on Wednesday that we understood why Temple wanted to drink so much water.....
Turkey, Tx was such a treat for us! It is the home of the Bob Wills Museum....it is in the same building as the city library...since the library was closed when we went by, we were in store for a great treat.....Loreen, at the museum, was willing to take the copy of Bud and Me---she was very friendly to us and even put on some great Bob Wills music for us to listen to as we strolled around... I really thought his music was great...I think I must get a CD...We were able to talk to Bob's daughter, Cindi....what a joy it was to talk to her...she is an artist -- the work she showed us was super! She even posed for a picture with us.....Thanks very much...We thought we were headed out of town, but at the west end of town, there is a monument to Bob...so we stopped to take a picture....A man named Israel came out of the place of business there and told us we should go to the Hotel Turkey....I am so glad he told us that, and I am so glad that we went....Although the building would not have been there when Bud and Temple rode through, it was a neat place with a neat story...Mark and his mom, the new owners, loved our story, and told us about a man over in Quitaque (the sign outside of town gives the pronunciation Kitty-Quay) . His mother was the first woman that was a member of the American Motorcycle Association, and she rode an Indian---which is the same motorcycle the boys rode to NYC in 1913! We were very fortunate...we were able to track him down....but our first stop was the local paper....although she was working to get the paper out and was on a strict deadline she talked to us and told us where the library is located....so we went down there and donated our book...Janice Clark...she reminds me of you! Thank you Arlene for receiving the book...the picture of us and your grandson was great...we will send it to the newspaper.....keep up the good work.... So then we were off to find Larry Henderson and hear the story of his mother and the Indian Motorcycle....we stopped at the grocery story and talked to Albert Castillo....he said that we just missed Larry...we were disappointed, but stayed and talked a minute with them in the store...we bought some ice, and just as we were putting it into the car, Albert tells us that he sees Larry across the street....I just love small towns...Albert hollers at him, and Larry comes over and entertains us with a few stories of his mom during her days of riding motorcycles! We walked across the street to see the headgear that he keeps on his bike that belonged to her...We got some great pictures...Thanks Larry
By this time, we were really pretty hungry...we ate at a little place east of the grocery...the Caprock Cafe...it was really good food....There were three local men that we were able to tell our story to....One of the men had been a teacher and administrator for many years...Donna said she wouldn't hold the administrator part against him.... LOL They assured us that we needed to take the time to go to the Caprock Canyon state park.... They were right.... The park is so beautiful...if would be great to come back to this area and spend several days prowling around the park...I do think the passengers were a little nervous when we went down some of the steep hills.... It was 111 degrees when we were out in this area though, so we did spend most of the time in the car..... It was getting late, but away we went to Silverton...I was really excited to see the old jail in Silverton, because it was built in the late 1800s...that meant that Bud and Temple would have seen it when they went through Silverton....since all of the buildings were closed, we drove by the 1st Baptist church-- it was about 6:20...I asked some people what time church started and they said 6:30, so I knew that we would have time to give a book if they were willing....it is the best story...Tracy Hill you will love this... The lady, Ruth Reed, said I know where Falls Creek is, (that was the shirt I was wearing) because my sister-in-law goes there...her sister is from Perkins!!! isn't that hilarious...I told her that we were so close to Perkins....Her son, Tyler, signed our book.... He said he would because his friend, JJ, wasn't really from Silverton....I hope they will read the book before they give it to the library.... They looked like they would enjoy reading it! Thank you for letting us give you the book! I wished we could have stayed for the service, but we went a long way before stopping for the night! In Clovis, NM Donna said that she had a craving for ice cream...we pulled into the McDonalds but they only had vanilla cones, so we decided to try our luck a different place...just then we spied a police officer pulling through the parking lot across the street...he stopped and his partner got out to go inside...but he stayed...so we cruised over there and asked for directions to somewhere else to get ice cream...he mentioned several places, but the one that stuck in our minds was Dairy Queen...it had been a long time since any of us had eaten there.....It was really great...I had a dipped cone, Donna had a Peanut Butter Parfait, and Matt had some Oreo dessert....it revived us enough to head toward Roswell.... I am thankful that we are here during the first part of the journey....Matt and Donna had me howling with stories and jokes about Aliens and UFO's....I must admit the town of Kenna does seem a little odd...we only saw the signs...but no evidence of the people..... (I am sure the town is just off the highway, but they had fun with the stories) Near Kenna there are a group of towers with blinking red lights...we watched them for many miles...we said that those were the glowing eyes of the wolves like the boys saw between Portales and Roswell......
Finally, we arrived in Roswell....Matt said...Look mom, there is a UFO...... and I said very funny...but he was right...there is a big UFO painted on the Wal-Mart---too funny----
We will look around here for a little while, and then head to Santa Fe today....
Oh yes Mike, we took some pictures of swallows for you....and yes, they are perfectly safe!
Gordon--we taught Donna how to take a "trip"---Brother Mich do you know how to do that? and Matt says that he has learned lots of new games at Base Camp...I think we will be in for a treat today....
More later.....