Landscapes Part II

It was an unexpectedly different journey across Texas.  Northeast Texas is not what most people think of Texas.  Dallas is 100 miles to the west and Houston 200 miles to the south.  This region is still primarily an agricultural society—lots of cotton and other crops and cattle grazing (now in parched, brown fields), with an occasional oil or gas pump, lazily going up and down. 

The GPS took us on the back roads and through a lot of dying towns and deserted small farms.  The towns all have their corporation signs, listing their population—700 here, 2000 there.  But the common theme really seems to be a dead or deserted downtown. In the countryside, there are a lot of abandoned houses and homesteads; it seems either agri-business or the draw of city life has drained the life from the area.

What was different is that on the state, county and farm roads, we saw very few franchise giants—seems like we went 200 miles without seeing a McDonald’s, and coming from the East coast where you see them at nearly every interstate exit or city street corner, it was somewhat surprising.

We stopped in Tyler, Texas to visit my high school buddy, Jay Field, and his wife, Laura.  They live in a lovely, Spanish style home on a large manmade lake outside of the city.  They have been there 15 years and in that time, they have rebuilt and remodeled much of the house, most of it done to perfection by Jay.  

Jay & Laura's Boathouse sits high & dry these days.

Laura is a retired art teacher, and Jay’s current project is building her a studio.  Their delight is their grandchildren—twins (boy & girl) who are almost three. Having recently joined the ranks of grandparenthood—we can understand and empathize with that special feeling. It was great to reminisce—and we promised to be better about staying in touch.

Jay, Laura, Larry & Sue

We left there and drove north about 100 miles to Pickton, where my Aunt Gladys lives by herself in a mobile home.  She was delighted to see us and made us a good chicken dinner.  We had a wonderful evening visit, a comfortable bed, and she sent us off on our journey with lots of hugs and hopes that we would visit again.  Aunt Gladys reminds us so much of Larry’s dad, who died six years ago—she looks very much like him and when we close our eyes and listen to her, we can hear Dad talking.  They share a wonderfully dry sense of humor, sparkling blue eyes and a chuckle that starts deep in the chest.  

Driving west from Pickton, again the GPS took us on the back roads, away from Dallas, although more than 50 miles outside of the city, you could see where the city is expanding into the countryside.  Near Denton there seemed to be thousands and thousands of large new homes, plopped down in the middle of former pastures and fields.

At lunch we stopped at Bono’s Chophouse—great find.  We shared a jalapena marinated steak—delicious—deep in the heart of the Texas panhandle. What could be more appropriate?

We arrived in Amarillo late on Wednesday evening, and our time there was interesting.  We found out that Palo Duro State Park was just a few miles south of town. Palo Duro is the second largest canyon in the U.S.  After stopping for breakfast at McDonald’s (never to be forgotten…as you will hear) we made the drive to the Park in about half an hour, paid our entrance fee and found the very nice Visitors Center.  The exhibits there were very informative—the road through the canyon and the Visitors Center were built by the CCC in the 1930s.  The history of the canyon’s geology and anthropology--populated by Native Americans who were driven out by the U.S. military—fascinated us so much so that we bought a video about the Indians and early settlers of the region.

As we were preparing to take the driving tour of the park, Sue realized that she had left her purse at McDonald’s.  She was in state of total panic as we drove back to the restaurant.  Believe it or not, the purse was still where she had left it.   Travel tip: put your important “plastic” in a separate small purse with a long strap that you can keep on your person; and leave all the rest of your junk in the bag.  If you forget the bag, it holds nothing but easily replaceable stuff.

After calming down, we went back to the park and enjoyed our drive through the amazing scenery very much.  Thank you, CCC !

Palo Duro--truly spectacular!

Leaving the Park at 4:00 we drove toward northeast New Mexico and then into Colorado.  Again, flat, dry landscape for as far as the eye could see.  Cattle grazing in some of the fields; where irrigation is available, you see circles of corn or other crops.  Lots of abandoned homesteads and farms.  Although you wouldn’t think that a state line would make much difference, the scenery really changes drastically after you cross over into New Mexico.  We really enjoyed the drive to Raton from the New Mexico state line—there is even an extinct volcano which might be fun to explore some time. We arrived in Trinidad, CO around 7:00 Mountain Time—about four hours after we left Amarillo! We are excited about getting to Denver soon!