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| Photo- The outside of the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, TX. |
I learned more about him at the Buddy Holly Center in
Lubbock. I went in and paid the $5
entrance fee in the gift shop and was told about the Center. I also found out that my entrance fee was
good to get into another museum in the area that I was planning on going to. Bonus!
I watched a short film about Buddy Holly and all of the boundaries that
he had broken in his short career. He helped
open doors for independent control of music and recording for future
rock-n-roll stars. He influenced the
likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Elton John. Buddy also experimented with using different
instruments and noises in the recording of his songs. The short film also featured the Big Bopper
who had also tragically died in the same plane crash.
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| Photo- The local postman who was going by insisted to take my picture with the glasses because otherwise how would I prove I had actually been there. |
Then, I went into a room where there was a timeline and memorabilia
from his life. There were photos,
shirts, jackets, and one of the famous Fender Stratocaster guitars. There were letters from fans asking how much
it would cost for him and the Crickets to play at a dance or a venue. It was a window into a very different time of
music careers. I was also very amazed
because there was even the pair of glasses that he was wearing when his plane
went down. It was all very interesting
and it made you wonder what it would have been like if his musical career had
been longer.
In another room were photos from his life and of some of his
musical comrades who had not been in the airplane accident. Some of them had gone on to musical careers
by themselves with mixed results. Each
year some of those musical comrades have a musical reunion at the Buddy Holly
Center sometime in the summer. There was
also an additional gallery room which features local art from the area. The current exhibition was the Day of the
Dead.
In the pamphlet materials available at the center there were
other sites that pertained to Buddy Holly’s life that you could visit in the
area. You could drive by the home where
he grew up, visit the grave where he’s buried, and take a photo next to a
bronze statue of him in Buddy Holly Square which was across from the
Center. There were other places that you
could swing by or visit on the list that were still around in the area. There was a West Texas Walk of Fame which
featured other musical artists like; Tanya Tucker and Mac Davis. They have quite the musical history in
Lubbock.
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| Photo- The Silent Wings Museum housed in the old Lubbock Airport. |
Next, I jumped on to I-27 north for a few exits to the other
museum that I wanted to visit for the day.
It was the Silent Wings Museum which is located near the current Lubbock
airport and rather looks like the museum took over the old airport. This museum is the story of the World War 2
Glider Program which played a key role in World War 2. It is the only museum in the world dedicated
to telling the story of the gliders.
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| Photo- Inside the Hangar Gallery of the Silent Wings Museum. |
I showed my already paid ticket from the Buddy Holly Center
and that got me into the museum. I first
started down the hall and to the left where there’s a 14 minute film that
explains about the glider program. The gliders
were a silent way to deliver men and other supplies into combat zones or
possibly even in behind enemy lines during WW2.
During WW2, there was a South Plains Army Airfield (SPAAF) near where
the museum is now that served as a training facility for the glider pilots. It’s
estimated that 80% of the more than 5000 WW2 glider pilots graduated from the
SPAAF facility. Great deals of these pilots were older and had
not been drafted because of their age or other reasons. Now they were training to fly the gliders as
well as learn how to fight because a glider was basically a one way ticket into
a combat zone. These were a special
breed of patriotic men that flew these gliders and they earned their silver “G”
wings which is their symbol.
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| Photo- The very tight "Blue Box" that they used to train the glider pilots. |
After the film I wandered around the museum. In the large Hangar Gallery there were actual
restored gliders and what is called a blue box which served as a trainer for
the pilots. It looked like a very small and
tight cockpit to me. They had a Combat
Gallery which contained different of examples of the uniforms and weapons that
these men would have used on their mission.
There was also a description of some of the actual missions. Then there was a Timeline Gallery that had
key events in aviation history that led to the WW2 gliders being used. The gliders had a short history in war
because of the eventual development of the helicopter that would serve the same
need in further combat history.
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| Photo- A very fun and good place to get a burger in Lubbock, TX. |
Before leaving Lubbock, I grabbed some lunch. I ended up at a place called Wild BurgerGrille. It’s a fun funky burger joint
that specializes in burgers. You have a
choice of having beef, bison, or chicken with a list of possible toppings on
your burger. They have a list of already
devised specialty burgers that you can choose from that you can order with
beef, bison, or chicken. I chose one of
these called Green Chili Cheeseburger which is green chilies, sharp cheddar
cheese, lettuce, roma tomato, with a spicy mayo. I opted to try it as a bison burger. It had been years since I had a bison
burger. The burger came with a choice of
fries and I chose the garlic parmesan fries.
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| Photos- The fun interior of the Wild Burger. |
While I waited for the food, I looked around Wild Burger’s
interior. It features quite a few large
paintings of famous people in a fun playful psychedelically colorful way. There was Albert Einstein with his tongue
stuck out. Amelia Earhart’s painting
featured her blouse unbuttoned down quite a ways and leaning proactively. Then
there was an Animal House scene where John Belushi is wearing a toga. It was a fun laid back type of atmosphere. I asked the server if this was a chain
restaurant in the area and she said no but there was just one right now but they
were working on it. The burger and fries
were wonderful when they arrived at the table and everything was very fresh too. The server was very friendly. While I ate, I watched people come in and one
of the staff would say I a heavy southern accent,” Hi Ya’all! Where ever you
would like to sit and someone will be with you soon!”
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| Photos- Windmills and oil rigs on the Texas landscape. |
After lunch, I found myself driving south easterly towards Abilene,
TX. The landscape was still a bit flat. Here and there off in the distance I would
see fields of windmills turning slowly in the Texas wind. As I got closer to Abilene, the landscape
started to get bluffs and some hills. I
was starting to get closer to Hills Country in central Texas. I was also seeing oil rigs out in the fields
too along with the windmills. I thought
it seemed a bit odd to see them together but I guess in Texas they were playing
both ends of the energy spectrum.
It was getting dark shortly after checking into the hotel and
I decided to play it close to the hotel for dinner. There was a great deal of construction in the
area and I didn’t want to risk getting lost in all that. I went across the road to a Chili’s
restaurant. I sat at the bar and ordered
an appetizer with a beer. A short time
later an older couple sat down next to me.
I struck up a conversation with Karen.
She was a fun southern lady that wasn’t a bit shy. It ended up that her and her husband were
staying at the same hotel across the street.
They were driving through on their way to see her daughter for
Thanksgiving. We talked and she gave me a list of some places to go see while I
was visiting her great state of Texas.
She wanted to buy me a drink but I thanked her and told her two beers
was my limit for the night. I said good
night and she wished me well in my travels.
