Texas in October -- 2007

Trout had a very busy fall this year, but we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Panhandle of Texas to see my Uncle BD and Aunt La Moyne. We mostly went to see them, but Trout also had a job to do. His challenge was to make my uncle's 1967 Chrysler Imperial functional enough to drive to the local mechanic for more serious repairs.

When we go to visit, we usually stay at the house in Littlefield. Uncle BD and Aunt La Moyne divide their time between it and a more recently purchased house in Lubbock, the big city of the area. We planned to drive straight through from Tucson to Littlefield, but we both pooped out in Roswell, so we spent the night there and got to Littlefield about noon the next day. We found some good places to eat in Roswell, but this one wasn't one of them.




I realize that for most of you, this part of the world is very foreign. That's probably true for most of Texas, too. It is more like OK or KS or NB than the rest of the state. For orientation purposes, here's a picture of the map of the area. Littlefield is northwest of Lubbock, just to the left of the crease in the map. It's where my grandfather moved the family after they left OK almost 80 years ago.




The terrain where it isn't cultivated is grassland. This is a typical Panhandle farm to market road.








Where the land is cultivated, we mostly saw cotton...





And more cotton...



Or milo, a feed grain similar to sorghum.







This is milo closeup.





Sunflowers are also grown in the area, but more across the border into New Mexico. These are in New Mexico. I was used to seeing miles and miles of cotton and milo, but I'd never seen miles and miles of sunflowers before. These were getting close to harvest.

These were not quite mature enough yet.

This is Little Anthony, as we came to call the Imperial.





This is Trout under the hood.




And here Uncle BD watches while Trout wrenches.






While they worked, I took time to drive by my grandfather's house. It was built in the late 50's.

And it had a unique backyard wall.

I also put flowers on my Granddad's grave.

Trout is closer to Uncle BD and Aunt La Moyne than he ever was to any of his own aunts and uncles.

I don't look so much like the Garland side of my family, but my mother and uncle really resemble each other -- and their father.

This is a picture of my mother and me at a restaurant in Germany. You can easily see the resemblance among her brother above, her, and her father below.

This is my granddad, BD Garland, Sr. His name was really Bunk Dodson. Uncle BD's isn't. It's just B.D.

This is me with Uncle BD and Aunt La Moyne.

After Little Anthony got back on his tires and we got some visiting done, we headed on back to Tucson. Before we left, we took this picture of the relatively new Mormon Temple in Lubbock.


And we headed on into NM on this road.



I don't know what it is about it, but I always feel at home there. Far away on the hill here you can see a windmill farm.

And we passed this garden wall again enroute. This time we got a picture.

We went through Lincoln, Billy the Kid's hideout and worth another visit, and spent the night in Silver City, a great drive but the town was a disappointment, before we got on I-10 and headed west.