DAY 94, 95- Thanksgiving, JFK, & a Birthday…

Day 94- A Day off and Thanksgiving… 
I knew that I would have some of these days where because of the Holidays I would be forced to have “days off” and I will admit that I might have needed a bit of a day off.  That in part was the reason I was pushing to get to Dallas.  I found a great rate over the Holidays here and at that rate I could afford to take a day off and not feel pressured to make the most out of my day.  Sometimes, I push myself more because I want to get the most for my money while I’m traveling.  I basically hung out in the hotel room during Thanksgiving after running down for the continental breakfast.  I did find a Walgreens nearby that was open and grabbed some junk food.  It was junk food and movie day.  I also did manage to start a watercolor but it still needs some work.

DAY 95- JFK AND a Birthday…

It was my birthday and also the largest shopping day of the year.  I wasn’t going to any malls so I figured I would be safe going to the 6^th Floor Museum in Dallas.  The 6^th Floor Museum is in the Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy as his car turned the corner and went by the grassy knoll.  It’s the same floor as they found the gun.  I drove downtown and found a parking lot space for the cheap price of $5 for the whole day.  Then I walked to the 6^th Floor Museum to discover that there was a line out the door and around the corner.  The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for this museum.  They were expecting about 2000 people to go through the museum that day.  Go figure that's the day that I decided to go too.  I got in line and it was moving slowly.  I was told it was about an hour and 15 minute wait from where I was at.  Okay, I didn’t have much else planned and really wanted to see this.

Photo- Book Depository building in background and an "X" marking
on the street where the first shot was fired at JFK.

I finally got to purchase my ticket from a black woman that was calling everyone Sugar.  “How are you today Sugar?”  “Well, thank you Sugar!”  There were two guys from New York in front of me in the line and I asked them if that was a southern thing to call everyone “Sugar”.  They laughed, but the line wasn’t over yet.  There was a line for the audio that they handed just before you went in the elevator and waiting for people to come down the elevator.  There was a limit as to how many were allowed on the 6^th floor because of the fire codes.  No photography was allowed except for the 7^th floor which you could visit.  There’s art and etc. up there I was told.

Up in the elevator I went and arrived among a gaggle of people with audio tour devices on their heads.  Things were moving slow.  I inputted the first number and looked at the photos as they talked about it.  There were excerpts from newscasters and quotes from people used in the recordings.  The museum first went over Kennedy’s family life and then his campaign.  Then they covered the things that were going on while he was first in office.  It was all the background of what built up to the time when he got assassinated in Dallas.  They had televisions with newscasters and video from the time. 

Just before we got to the famous window corner area they did the shots and showed time lapsed photos of the assignation.  Then, they had boxes on display in a windowed off area where Lee Harvey Oswald had been with the gun.  You could look out of the windows next to it and the most of the way down on to the grassy knoll area.  It was all very fascinating. 

Next, it went into the story of what happened and showed video of the aftermath.  Walter Cronkite talked about how he had to announce on the news about Kennedy’s death.  They showed the video of Oswald being shot.  They went on to explain the process of the investigation and why some still believe to this day that Oswald was not the actual man that pulled the trigger.  At the end of the 6^th floor you are given the opportunity to make comments about the museum or your memories of Kennedy’s death.  Kennedy died before I was born but I did write a short comment about my experience and thanked them for the museum.  It was a powerfully moving experience.

Photos- Large photo of John F Kennedy and upclose this large photo
is a series of smaller photo images of him...

I walked up the stairs to the 7^th floor where there were two cool large photos of John F Kennedy and Jackie.  The photos were made up from a series of smaller photos of John F Kennedy.  It was pretty cool but unfortunately my camera wasn’t working right at the time and I couldn’t get photos of them.  I also tried to take some photos from the same window as Oswald shot from but a story up.  I had to figure that the trees below have grown taller since the 1960’s.

 Down the elevator I went and the exit goes through the gift shop, of course.  I’ve discovered that this is common with most museums to have the exit through the gift shop.  I purchased a couple of postcards and asked directions for the Dallas Holocaust Museum which was nearby.  In fact, it was almost right across the street.  I went across the street and around the corner and there I was at the Dallas Holocaust Museum.

I went in and paid the entrance fee and got an audio tour devise.  A gal explained how to use the audio tour and then I was off on a self-guided tour through the Holocaust Museum.  The first picture is one of Albert Einstein and says his quote about the world being too dangerous to live in—not because of the evil men do but because of those that stand by and let them do it.  This was rather the theme of this museum.

 It then started off with an over view of the time period from late 1930’s to the mid 1940’s.  There was an area where there were cement columns to represent how many Jews died during each year.  The tallest cement pillar was 1944.  The next tallest year was about 1/3 shorter and that was 1943.

Photo- Photos from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising inside the Dallas Holocaust Museum.

Then the museum focused on three different events that occurred on the same day during WW2.  The first event was when three men armed with one gun and a hanging lamp stopped a train bound for a death camp.  They saved about 200 lives that day.  They risked their lives for others.  The second event was when the Jews in Warsaw’s Ghetto had HAD enough and rose up in revolt against their oppressors fighting asserting their human dignity with every ounce of their being up to death.  

Then the third event in sharp contrast was a conference by British and American diplomats in a plush Bermuda hotel that was meant to stonewall and placate protesters about the Jews in Germany.  This conference hid their inaction and deflected questions about what they were doing about these poor people’s plight.  This was a show that inaction can do more harm than help.

Photo- You could place a candle or rock in memory of someone that died in the Holocaust.

Next I went into a room where you were invited to take a rock or a candle to place on a large memorial tablet surrouneded by short stone like pillars.  It was very quiet and people were whispering prayers.  The next room was a theater area where they were showing a series of parts of interviews from holocaust survivors.  Some of these I found very powerfully moving; one especially had my heart in my throat when the victim told of how he would eat each day with his dad in one of the camps.  The dad would not eat and wait for his son to finish eating.  Then, he would ask his son if he was still hungry.  The son would tell his dad no because he knew that his dad would give his whole meal to his son.  But the son knew that his dad also needed the food too.  The son said he argued with his day like this for everyday that they were in the camp and he said it was very hard because they (both him and his dad) were very hungry because the Germans didn’t give them enough.  I had to leave shortly after that because I just couldn’t handle it emotionally.

Photo- The JFK Memorial in downtown Dallas.

After exiting the Holocaust Museum, I walked over a couple of blocks to the John F Kennedy Memorial.  It was this strange boxy semi-enclosed area.  The plaque gave the description that it was to symbolize and open coffin like area only with an opening to a life that could never be contained in a box because it affected so many other lives.  Okay.

Photo- This is the place to "cowboy up" in Dallas. 
It has everything a cowboy or girl could ever need.

Next, I walked around the Dallas downtown area.  I went by restaurants, shops, bars, and look at Christmas lights.  The Christmas lights were very fun in downtown Dallas.  I ended up going into a couple of the shops.  One in particular, I found rather interesting was Wild Bill’s Western Store where you could purchase any cowboy or cowgirl gear that you needed from custom leather boots to custom hats; they had you covered.  I grabbed a beer and a steak in one of the restaurants in the area that didn’t run you an arm and a leg.  I enjoyed my steak and beer while watching two different football games simultaneously.  Now this is the life and a wonderful way to end a birthday!

Photo- Christmas Lights in downtown Dallas.

 

DAY 93- Abilene to Dallas, TX…

I woke up to a HUGE loud bang against metal at 5AM in my hotel room in Abilene.  A cowboy had dropped his heavy overnight bag into his huge diesel pickup truck that was parked right out front of my room.  BANG!  5AM in the morning and I already felt like I had a heart attack!  A few minutes later the whole room was vibrating when he started up his truck.  Shortly after that I heard more cowboy boots thudding around and more loud pickup trucks starting up.  These cowboys liked to start their days early around these parts.  I looked out the window and the 75% of the parking lot that had been pickup trucks last night were gone. 

I decided to start a pot of coffee and get ready for the day too.  I got on-line and figured out what there was to do in Abilene before I started my drive to Dallas where I would spend the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I found out a few possibilities and headed up front for breakfast and a bit of assistance for directions. 

Photo- Frontier Texas a FUN place to visit and learn about Texas Hertiage.

Off I went towards historic downtown Abilene; I stopped southeast of it and went into Frontier Texas!  It’s a western heritage center that focuses on the frontier time period of Texas history.  It’s done with a new level of technology.  I went in paid the $8 entrance fee and wasn’t sure what to expect.  I was handed a map of the museum and before I knew it this southern Texas older gentleman was taking the map out of my hands and very nicely explaining what the museum was and how it worked.  He seemed impressed that I was all the way from Salt Lake City and wanted to ensure that I had a good time visiting Frontier Texas.  He was very sweet.

Photo- Inside the Frontier Texas an example of a covered wagon.

I had to wait for a few minutes for the next starting time.  Frontier Texas has a series of holographic spirit guides that take you through the history.  It was an amazing experience where these 6 historical figures took you through the history by telling you about parts of it.  In the first room, a hologram of Buck Taylor briefly introduced the spirit guides that you would be meeting as you went along.  In the second room, Buck Taylor’s hologram gave you a general overview of the Texas history; the big picture as it was called.  Then, I went down a hall where I went on to meet another spirit guide a Native American Indian that talked about the history of his people and what the land was like before all the settlers came. 

Photo- A community tooth brush!!??!  Ewwwwww!!

There were items to read and interactive things that you could along the way too.  I walked through a tepee and then met another two of the spirit guides.  These two were kind of having an interactive conversation with each other and it was very informative.  Next, I turned a corner and met a Captain Marcy.  There was a series of buttons in front of him that you could press to get answers to questions.

Down another hallway you got to meet another spirit guide who was a cowboy that moved cattle on a trail.  Though, there weren’t any real trails at that time.  He talked about the dangerous life on the trail.    Then, across the room on the other side you met another spirit guide who was a former slave that had been freed in hopes of locating his family that had been taken by Indians during a raid.  He ended up finding them and ended up going into the business of delivering supplies to pioneers. 

Then, I waited for a few minutes to get into the theater area where a presentation takes place.  It’s an amazing presentation where you sit on chairs that could be spinned in 360 degrees.  The theater show goes on all around you and it’s a wonderful presentation about the frontier Texas life.  After the theater show there was one more spirit guide that you met that I found interesting in that the woman who had managed to escape from Indian capture seemed to go through quite a few husbands on the frontier. Her first husband had been killed in the Indian raid.  She remarried and the next one went to check on the horses in the barn and didn’t come back.  She remarried again a military man this time that ended up being killed in action with Indians.  Then, I was at the end of Frontier Texas and was deposited in the gift shop area.  It was very worth the $8 entry fee.

Photo- The outside of the Grace Museum which is a restored hotel.

Next, I drove further into historic downtown of Abilene and located the Grace Museum.  I parked the car and walked in.  I paid the $8 entrance fee and was admitted to the Art Museum.  There are three floors of art.  On the first floor there was a featured exhibit called Wild Things.  There were two different artists displayed in this exhibit; one was Billy Hassell who painted colorful oil paintings with wildlife represented in them and the other artist was David Everett who had some amazing three dimensional wooden carved and colorfully painted sculptures.  On the second floor of the art museum there was a Texas Impressionism Exhibit titled Branding with Brushstroke and color, 1885 to 1936.  It featured several local impressionistic artists that had been in the area when Texas was just coming into being made a state.  The third floor featured a black and white photography exhibit by David H. Gibson called Quiet Beauty.  It was a wonderful art museum to visit and quite high quality for such a smaller town area.

Photo- The inside of Cypress Street Cafe in Historic Downtown of Abilene, TX.

I walked next door to have lunch at the Cypress Street Station Café.   It was a wonderful older building that had been remodeled to be a restaurant and featured a white tin punched ceiling.  I had the special of the day which had a beef quesadilla, chicken chimi, and a fresh salad with fresh sweet salsa vinaigrette.  It was a wonderful meal.  After lunch, I walked through a Texas gift shop down the street where it had anything and everything that was Texas.  It was fun going through but I just window shopped my way through it.

It was time to start heading towards Dallas.  It was basically a straight drive east on I-20.  It was a fairly heavy traffic day on the interstate and I think it was due to everyone heading somewhere for Thanksgiving which was the next day.  I set my cruise control for a bit below the speed limit and just went through with the flow.

Construction was a nightmare when I got into Dallas.  The exit that I should have taken was under construction and when I got off the interstate to try to back track the streets were curving every which way that I ended up getting totally lost.  I was lost about an hour and a half amid the Dallas Wednesday night rush hour traffic with construction.  I will say that it was really rather frustrating.  I also discovered that it was similar to driving in Salt Lake City in that if you put your blinker on they wouldn’t let you over.  I started driving like I did in Salt Lake City and just started to head over as a space appeared.  It all kind of reminded me of when the SLC was preparing for the Olympics and we had the Toboggan run going on with I-15.  I finally did manage to find the hotel and I opted to stay in the hotel for dinner.  I had enough of Dallas driving for the day.

DAY 92 - Buddy Holly, Silent Wings, & Wild Burgers...

Lubbock, Texas is the birthplace of Buddy Holly the rock-n-roll singer who tragically passed away at the young age of 22 in an airplane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.  Growing up in Iowa I had heard about the crash and had enjoyed some of Buddy’s famous songs like; Peggy Sue and That’ll Be The Day.  Buddy Holly and the Crickets had four hit songs in their 18 month short lived career together.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!”

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.

DAY 91- Cadillacs, RV's, & Horses...

I decided to wake up early and get over to the famous Cadillac Ranch before the sun had risen much in the sky. I thought that it might make a more interesting photo with the angled light.  It was turning into a pretty sunrise as I drove the 2 miles that was practically a straight shot from my hotel.  I was the only one out there for all of 5 minutes. 

Photo- Cadillac Ranch with the sunrise behind it.

There was just a little gate out by the frontage road and then a dirt track that was about ¼ mile into where the ten cars were buried nose first into the Texas dirt.  The hotel clerk wasn’t lying when he said it was open 24 hours a day.  There were two spray paint cans sitting out and the other two, a cyclist and a gal in a van, asked if they were mine and then tried them to find that they were empty.  I hadn’t even been aware that you could graffiti the cars if you wanted to.  Of course, it was bring your own paint can if you did.  I just kind of marveled at why anyone would bury cars like these.    

Back at the hotel, I got ready for the day and got directions for the other places I wanted to go visit for the day.  The hotel didn’t provide a free breakfast at this one so I headed out hoping to find a place to get a cheap breakfast like Denny’s or something like that.  I ended up at the Waffle House, which is a chain in the south here that’s a bit of a dive diner but it’s a cheap breakfast.  I sat at the counter and ended up striking up a conversation with a guy from New York who was in Amarillo for business. 

It was rather funny because it seemed like he was glad to be talking to someone not from Texas.  He started in talking about how they talk slower down here and between that and the accent he keeps on having them repeat what they are saying.  He also said that they were mostly the blue collar type and he didn't fit in well with them.  Then, they kind of complain that he talks too fast too.  He went on and told me a story about how an old high school friend had passed away.  His friend had been a Dallas Football fan and wanted his ashes spread around at the stadium in Dallas.  He just got down doing that this last week with other friends.  Then, we somehow got on the subject of Donald Trump and how many wives he’s gone through and I almost laughed out loud when the guy said that Donald wasn’t very good marriage material.  I’ve heard women say stuff like that before but I never heard a guy say that before; just when you thought you had heard it all.

Photo- The outside of the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum in Amarillo.

Next, I was on down I-40 a little bit further for the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum.  The headquarters for the American Quarter Horse Association is right next door to the Hall of Fame and Museum; nice how that worked out.  As soon as I got out of my car, I’m greeted with some amazing horse statues.  I went in with limited knowledge of horses having only done my first horseback ride literally a few months ago.  I paid $5 and was directed to first go see the film.  On the way to the theater where they show a 17 minute film on continuous loop through the day, I walked through the Hall of Fame.  I will say that I did recognize some of the names and faces which rather surprised me.

Photo- The American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame.

While I waited for the film to restart again, I looked at some amazing horse oil paintings on the wall in the theater room.  The film was about a little girl and her horse; from there it talked about how much of our great country was built from being on the back of an American Quarter horse that has a great deal of versatility in what they can be used for.  I found it interesting because I never thought about what all that a horse could do.

Photo- A comparative of a man's lungs to a horse's lungs in the educational gallery.

Next, I went into the educational gallery area where there were fun kids interactive things to do in where you learned more about horses.  It went over the lineage of the horses and how the quarter horse came into being.  It went over the care of horses, the anatomy of horses, and possible careers in horses.  I was the BIG kid and I found that I was even possibly learning just a bit.

From there I went upstairs where there was a timeline about the history of horses from the late 1500’s up till almost present day.  I especially liked how in the timeline they would list other things that were going on in national or world history.  It kind of helped to put a historical perspective in it that made it easier to understand; at least it did for me.  I swung quickly by the gift shop, got a couple of post cards and I was off to the next place on my list.

Photo- The outside of the RV Museum.

The next place on my list was Jack Sisemore’s Traveland RV Museum.  I know this was a bit off the wall to say the least but it was partly because it was off the wall and different that I decided that I HAD to go check it out.  The RV Museum is in a back warehouse area of a current RV dealership but they are more than happy to direct you out to where you need to go and they are very nice about it too.

Photo- The Flxible that was used in the RV movie that Robin Williams was in. 

On the outside of the warehouse that houses the museum there’s a HUGE painted sign that says Jack Sisemore RV Museum.  The Sisemore Family began restoring and collecting unusual RV’s over 25 years ago and they’ve built a museum to display them.  They are several gems among the collection but the three that really stood out to me were: the 1948 Flxible that was in the movie RV in which Robin Williams was in, the 1921 Ford Lamsteed Kampkar that was ready to mount on the side of a model “T” Ford chassis which would “comfortably slept 6” (No way would 6 fit in there), and the 1946 Tear Drop Kit that I could very well find handy myself on my current trip.
 

Photo- The Lamsteed Kampkar-- It's advertised as sleeping 6 comfortably...
Where? And How?

The RV Museum was definitely built with love and a passion for the RV and it did feel like a bit of a walk into the past.  It’s open Monday through Saturday from 9AM to 5PM and is free to the public.  It’s also just a short bit off of the freeway too; which worked in nice for jumping back on the freeway and heading to Lubbock which was my next stop in Texas.

Photo- The 1946 Tear Drop Kit-- Now I could use one of these!

It was another section of flat boring drive through Texas on the way to Lubbock.  I will say this that Lubbock once I arrived was very, very easy to figure out how to find places; the streets were numbers or letters and very consistent.  I found the hotel got checked in and asked if there was a good BBQ place nearby.  All of the gals behind the counter just looked at me.  Well, I said I thought I was in Texas and might try some of you famous BBQ.  To which I heard one of the gals was a vegetarian and the other didn’t like BBQ.  Great I thought!  I think I need to rethink this asking the hotel staff where to eat.

Photo- Bigham's Smokehouse a local BBQ place in Lubbock, TX.

One of the other gals that they brought up front suggested a place nearby called Bigham’s Smokehouse which was a few blocks away.  That’s where I went after I ran my bags upstairs.  There were only two tables when I went inside this rustic wooden restaurant but there were cars going through a drive through on a regular basis.  I looked at the menu and then asked the guy behind the counter what was popular in the restaurant.  He said that the brisket was the most popular item on the menu followed by the pulled pork.  I ordered a two meat combo plate with onion rings and a drink.  I carried my full tray over to a table and ate.  The brisket was okay but I thought that the pulled pork was really the gem of this place.  But you have to consider that’s coming from a Yankee! J

DAY 90- Three Months, Roswell, & Amarillo by Nightfall...

It was day 90 and it’s kind of hard to realize that 3 months has passed.  The time has just flown by.  I’ve done a lot in those three months; visited 11 national parks/monuments, went horseback riding for the first time, gone on a scenic motorcycle ride and boat ride, almost worked my way through 6 states, been on parts of Route 66, tasted a bit of wine, did a bit of gambling, tasted some wonderful food, visited a presidential library where I walked on an old Air Force One, biked some interesting spots, driven through some wonderfully scenic areas, did some hikes, attended a wedding, gotten stung by a bee, and several other things.  The list could go on for a while.  All these things I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t taken that first step and said to myself,” No excuses; I’m doing this!” 

I’m really glad I did that and sometimes I admit I get a little bit uneasy because I’m SO out of the box that I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to fit into a box again.  Where does this all end?  I’m very unsure and I never really thought about an “exit strategy”.  I just jumped in with both feet and never thought too much further.  I’m just going and living in the moment day by day.  I meet new people almost every day and have some of the most interesting conversations. 

But I know that this will need to come to an end.  The money will run dry and I know that over time I just can’t physically continue this pace of going and going and going.  Sometimes, you just need to stop and pause; give yourself sometime to evaluate where you have been and where you need to be.  I’ve got this going on in the back of my mind; mainly in the evening times before I fall asleep.  I ask myself—what do I really want to do when I grow up.  It’s silly but in essence this is a HUGE growing period for me and I’m not sure where I’ll be when I come out on the other side.

Okay, so with all that being said let me get going on what my day 90 was like…

I woke up to rain in Roswell, NM.  Ugh!  I managed to keep a bowl of cereal down this morning; that was a plus.  I’m wondering if it was something I had for breakfast or dinner the prior night that had caused yesterday’s sour stomach.  I had just gotten done with the shower when my hotel room door was opened by a maintenance staff.  Another two minutes later and he might have caught me without my towel.  He might have gotten a REAL eyeful!  LOL!  I think he was more embarrassed than I was; he quickly apologized and said that the front desk said I had checked out.  He left quickly closing the door behind him.  I had gone down stairs earlier to return a movie I had borrowed from the hotel and put an extra bag in my car but I wasn’t checked out yet; someone had jumped to conclusions.

Photo- The International UFO Museum and Research Center.

Later, I dropped off the keys at the front desk and said that the maintenance guy could now get in my room to fix whatever needed to be fixed.  They were all sorry for what had happened but I kind of found it a bit amusing.  I asked one of the gals for directions to the International UFO Museum and Research Center.  Then, I was in my car driving along the rainy Main Street area of Roswell.

I will tell you that most of the businesses rather play up the space alien stuff here in Roswell.  You’ll be driving along and a fast food sign will have a space alien holding the enter sign or there will be green statues standing on each side of the door.  Green aliens with HUGE black eyes are a common sight in Roswell.  I drove along to the old part of Main Street to the old theater that is now the place where the International UFO Museum and Research Center resides.  It’s rather hard to miss this place; and there are another couple of places nearby that stand out too.  I narrowed it down to just visiting this one place from doing a bit of web surfing the night before I found this place seemed a bit more authentic and interesting than the other tourist traps along the main drag.

Photo- It's set up to let you decide what to believe.

I paid the $6 entrance fee and started off in the Museum area.  There was a timeline of newspaper articles and pictures of UFO experiences in other parts of the world starting with the 1940’s.   Then, on July 4^th, 1947 the Roswell experience happened.  There was a timeline of the next days, then weeks, then months afterwards.  Some of it was newspaper articles, some of it contained copies of signed affidavits from those that saw what happened.  It was all laid out in a fashion to let you decide what happened in Roswell.  To tell you the truth, it made me wonder about all of the possibilities and I’m undecided.

There was space alien art done in one corner and then the museum worked its way through the subjects of what a UFO is.  Then it showed photos of what people thought were UFOs; some of the photos had been examined and disproved for one reason or another, but others, well, they just don’t know.  Then, the museum covered the subject of space aliens being in art of ancient cultures and showed some examples.  Next, were the crop circles and the theories and possibilities.  It was all very interesting and rather entertaining.  They had a space ship with aliens out in a large open area that would periodically start making noises, lights would flash, and fog would come out.  But is there other life out there?  I think it’s egotistical of us to think we are the only ones but have they already tried to contact us.  I don’t know.

Photo- A fun little alien invasion within the
International UFO Museum and Research Center.

I went back through Roswell to head north; the goal was to be in Amarillo before night.  Hey, isn’t there a song about that?  I stopped before I left rainy Roswell at a place called the Rib Crib; a BBQ place that I would hope to have some of that famous Texas BBQ.  Though, I have to admit that I’m a HUGE fan of Kansas City BBQ so it’ll take a bit to dissuade me from that.  Well, it turned out that this was a BBQ chain and quite a few of their restaurants were in Kansas.  They even had one in my home state of Iowa; Mason City.  Well, I wouldn’t therefore classify this as Texas BBQ.  Oh, well but then again what did I expect… I was still in New Mexico.  Hello!??

The drive from Roswell to Amarillo was rainy and very, very flat.  I thought that Nebraska was flat but in comparison Nebraska is interesting because they have ponds and trees that they plant almost everywhere there along the highways.  This was barren and flat.  There were abandoned houses along the way, and a lot of people living in trailer homes out in the middle of nowhere; literally.  The rained started to clear up more as I got closer to Amarillo.  Just after the town of Hereford, there was a HUGE cattle holding pen area along the railroad.  It was a pretty smelly stretch for about 1 mile there.

Photo- A section of flat Texas.

The landscape did have a few hills getting up to the plateau that Amarillo is on.  I got to my hotel in Amarillo and got out of my car and there was that mild smell of cattle that permeated the air.  As some people would say, that’s the smell of money.  It’s not a new smell to me; growing up in Iowa which is second to Texas for beef producing I’ve gotten my fair share of smelling that, especially attending an agricultural college in Iowa.  But I have been living in a city in Utah for almost 23 years and have forgotten what that smell is like.

I ended up asking the hotel clerk about a good BBQ place and he was directing me to Famous Dave’s which is a BBQ chain that is all over the west.  I was looking for more local.  He told me of another place but it was closed on Sundays.  Then, I said that maybe I should just try an Italian place to which he gave me a suggestion of another chain restaurant.  Please don’t tell me this indicative of the people in the south that they love chain restaurants because then I can skip half of Texas in one fell swoop. 

Photo- The sunset from my hotel room window.
I made it to Amarillo before nightfall.

I opted to go to a place down the road called Salt Grass Steak House.  I’m sure it was another chain restaurant but I will admit that I had never heard or been to one of these before.  It wasn’t too bad.  The steak was good, cooked to order and I had sweet potato fries alongside the steak but they put maple syrup on the sweet potato fries which I thought was a bit too much sweet.  I ordered ranch dressing for the fries and the server looked at me funny.  I was half tempted to explain I was a Yankee to see if that might explain my strange behavior.  I have the feeling that I’ll be falling back on that excuse as I go along.

DAY 89- El Paso & Carlsbad Caverns...

The day didn't start out good.  My stomach rejected breakfast shortly after coming back up to the room.  I had a headache and I still had a 5 hour drive planned to get to my next hotel room for the night.  I swung by a nearby Wal-Mart for some Tums and then swung by a gas station where I amazingly paid less than $3 per gallon of gas.  I started the drive to El Paso, TX which is only about an hour’s drive southeast from Las Cruces. 

About 40 miles down the road the traffic started to pick up.  I entered into Texas with the sign “Drive Friendly the Texas Way”.  I was within a few miles of El Paso, TX.  The speed limit dropped from 75mph to 60mph.  I took the exit for the downtown area of El Paso.  I had about 1.5 hour to spend before I needed to be back on the road. 

Photos- Downtown El Paso.

I drove by the visitor’s center but didn’t see a place to park.  I drove around the block and managed to find the closest parking spot along the street.  The meter wasn’t taking any money and it only listed certain days for free.  I moved my car up two stalls and tried another meter; and found the same thing again.  I just figured I would take the chance of a ticket and walked to the visitor’s center.  I walked in and asked the gal at the center about the meter.  She said that she thought that it was free today and that if the meter wasn’t taking money that it probably was a free day.

I then told her that I only had short time to spend in El Paso and asked what she would recommend as a quick sightseeing thing in the area.  She suggested the historical tour of downtown.  I immediately crossed the street and started following the brochure.  But then I got side tracked and found myself about 2 blocks from the Mexican border and in a part of the downtown area that was filled with all kinds of shopping activity. 

Photo- Spanish section of downtown El Paso,
they've got Elvis inviting you to sell your gold!

It was like being in Mexico; everything was in Spanish and everyone was speaking Spanish.  Women had suitcases that they were pulling along with them as they were shopping.  I was trying to figure out if it was because they were buying so much that it was easier to get it home or if it was a case where they had walked over the border and were on their way to somewhere else for the night; naïve of me I know.  But it was all very interesting people watching and they didn’t even seem to mind or notice me walking along in the area.  There were some good prices on some of the stuff; I will say that.

Photo- Spanish section of El Paso's downtown, a hive of activity
with a Mexican singers moving along.

I walked down one side of the street and about half a block before I got to the border I turned around.    There was a solid line of cars with Mexican plates and some Texas plates too out on the road.  I walked back to the historical part of the downtown which seemed bland compared to what I had just seen.  I decided it was time to get back on the road.

Amid the El Paso traffic, I managed to find the exit I needed for the highway 62/ 180 that would take me to Carlsbad Caverns.  I drove east out of El Paso through a fair amount of heavy traffic.  Before I knew it, I was climbing out of the El Paso area and heading further east into a rocky layered terrain with curvy roads.  It looked like hills that had been lined with different colors; almost like sand art.  Then, I turned north after a while and got to a large flat area where there were mountains towering off in the distance.  The general direction of the road started towards those mountains and I kept on seeing a sign for a Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  Another national park?  I was already planning on going to Carlsbad Caverns National Park but I might be able to hit two in one day?  Bonus!  I thought to myself as I continued to drive north towards the mountains.

Photo- El Capitan in the Guadalope Mountains National Park in Texas.

Then as I got closer I noticed this amazing cliff face of one of the mountains.  This turned out to be the El Capitan and the Guadalupe peaks surrounding it.  It was amazing and I pulled over into a picnic parking area off to the side of the road to take a couple of photos.  Wow!  I drove a little bit further and around a bend where there were layered rock areas that the highway cut right through.  Shortly after that, I stopped at the visitor’s center of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. 

I talked to a gal behind the counter and it turned out that there were mainly just hiking trails in this national park.  It was all roads accessing trailheads from the outside of the park but there were no actual roads that went through the park area.  It was very non-developed and in the natural state of how it was years ago which was wonderful but bad for me when I just wanted a quick look through.  I had to make it to Carlsbad Caverns before the 3:30PM deadline.  Nope, I would have to save this park for another day in the future sometime.

Photo- The scenery climbing up on way to Carlsbad Cavern's Visitors Center.

I jumped back in my car and headed north.  About another 35 miles down the road I came to sign for the turn off for the Carlsbad Caverns.  Yes!  It was 2:40PM and I would arrive before the 3:30PM last chance to head into the caverns.  I quickly drove the last 7 miles up winding roads to the visitor’s center that is situated at the top of a mountain.  I changed shoes to something with a gripping sole because caves can be wet and slippery.  Then, I grabbed my National Parks Pass and headed in.  I got a ticket for the cave, paid for a recommended audio tour player, and got in line for the elevator.

Photo- The red number tells you how far down you are.
I couldn't pay much attention on the way down
but was thankful on the way up that the number was getting smaller!

The elevator goes 750 ft. down to the cave.  This I had not known ahead of time and that was a good thing.  I was a bit concerned about my still uneasy stomach and the elevator’s descent but my stomach was fine; it was my ears that kept popping as we went down in the elevator.  The elevator has red numbers that show every 50ft down or up inside.  It was a very smooth elevator ride.  We arrived at a small waiting room at the bottom with a line of people waiting to come up; and there are circular rotating push through doors on each side of the room.  They had to install these doors to help ensure the proper air circulation was maintained to help conserve the caverns.

The cavern was a very wet humid type of environment, and it was HUGE.  There was a map that showed a 1.2 mile walk along the outer edges of the “Big Room” part of the cave.  I started on the path; stopping and taking pictures and listening to the audio as I saw numbers to enter for it.  You could take pictures of the inside of the cave all you wanted to though they did ask that you be considerate of others while taking pictures.  I waited till a couple had some distance in front of me and then I played with several different settings on my camera to try to figure out what would work best.  There wasn’t much lighting and what there was of lighting was focused on playing up certain parts of the cave.  I wouldn’t know if any of these would turn out for sure until they were downloaded into my computer later. 

Photos- A few of the pictures that turned out of the interior of Carlsbad Caverns.

The audio went on to give a description of the size of the cave and it was giving a comparative of a couple of football fields that could be covered over with the estimated amount of water to fill the cavern.  The ceiling looked to be about 50 or 60 feet above me in some places and here I had been concerned about being claustrophobic in the cavern.  There was more than enough room.  I stayed on the well fenced path area and didn’t touch any of the insides of the cavern as instructed by the elevator attendant. 

I found it very interesting that we as visitors leave something behind that needs to be continually cleaned by national parks employees… It’s lint!  I thought it would be something on our shoes or perhaps Carbon dioxide that we left in the cave but lint?  They said that the environment was similar to being in a wet dryer and that is when the dryer forms/collects most of the lint in its cycle.  You learn something new every day!  I did manage to make the full 1.2 miles around the “Big Room” of the cavern 15 minutes before the last elevator heads up to the top the last time of the day. 

Next, I ventured into the gift shop and of course purchased a couple of postcards and a bumper sticker.  I looked at the shirts but none of them appealed to me; in fact, I thought some of them were rather creepy looking.  Also, I was a little unnerved because they had a mechanical bat toy flying around in the gift shop area.   I didn’t stay long and out onto the 7 mile descent I went to the main highway I had come on.  I still had another 54 miles to drive to get to Roswell where I staying for the night.  And thus, I was driving towards one of the premiere UFO Capitals of the world as the sun was setting.  I was really hoping that I didn’t get abducted along the way.