9/23 High Tailing it East – Lubbock in the Rear View Mirror

Stayed in the Santa Fe Courtyard Marriot last night and woke to coffee and a shower. After breakfast with Dave C. we headed south to meet up Interstate 40 for the long haul east. It didn’t take long for the intrepid adventures to shelve the idea of ‘no more fun’ so we fell back to Plan B, which was originally Plan A and decided to hit Lubbock after all. This meant leaving the interstate. We traveled the non-Interstate roads and still could not drive at the 70 mph speed limit.

We headed through Ft. Sumner, the site of Billy the Kids grave site. We paid our respects and then grabbed a shake (huge and tasty). From there we traveled Rt. 84 through canyons and desert. Once in Clovis NM, Tom H started reliving his days as Well site Geologist. The closer we got to Lubbock the more Tom recalled stories. Once in Lubbock we paid respects to Buddy Holly, took in Texas Tech and Tom’s old Landscape Architecture classrooms. We had a beer at Crickets – presumably named for Buddy’s back up band despite the young bar girls poo-pooing the idea – kids today. We went by the previous Hutchings’ homes around the campus and not much has changed.

Early evening we met up with Mark & Bobbie Maxey, Wiley Sides & John and Shari Cobb, kids, dogs, horses, prairie dogs and cats. It had been 18 years, but everyone looked great and it was really good to catch up. It was also good seeing Stan, Bobbi’s Dad who has an apartment on the Maxey mini ranch. We drank a few beers, relived old times and sat under the wide open skies of west Texas. The laptop was pulled out and Tom gave a slide show of digitized old pictures from the old Lubbock days - a big hit to be sure and Wiley made Tom promise to send the pics. Toj enjoyed himself thoroughly and was made an honorary Texan for a night. We spent the night at the Maxey’s and headed out early. At the same time Mark and Wiley left for a Guadalupe mountain backpacking trip. Thanks to everyone, now it’s now your turn to visit Washington.

Big John and Little Rock

Woke up late and we are determined to make it to Memphis. The biggest choice today was when to hit the Interstate. We put it off as long as possible. We drove Rt. 82 across North Texas. We hit the 6666 Ranch at Guthrie, the site of a wildcat well Tom worked many years ago. Disappointed that the old diner in Guthrie has turned into a mini-mart – progress is everywhere. We continued east through Wichita Falls, Paris and Texarkana. We finally hit the interstate at I-30. Had dinner in Hope, AR; but no Bill, so we moved on to Little Rock. Switched to I-40 for the long haul. The long haul, however, has been made palatable – if not fun – by staying on mostly non-interstate roads.

We made it to Little Rock tired, weary and thirsty. Little did we know, Little Rock is a rockin place. We discovered the Riverfront downtown and we were truly amazed. It was Georgetown on steroids. Live music everywhere. We ended up in the Underground listening to The Big ______ Band. This guy was larger than life and 3 time more entertaining. Hung out with Carl, a pilot from Sweden who was way laid over due to hurricane Rita. Carl, congrats on your upcoming marriage and thanks for the beer, sorry we could not take you up on the shots. The TV behind the bar was showing images of the hurricane with an incredible band and a room full of people dancing; it all seemed was a little weird.

We crashed in a Wal-Mart parking lot. They have a policy to let RV’s stay overnight. We were not there for the natural beauty or the shopping. We chose a dark corner popped the camper top, and got an early start in the morning.