I am listening to Roy Orbison's "station" on Pandora via Google Home, as I write this. I love the memories this music provides, well, most of them. The music definitely provides a beautiful background for the memories of our road trip
Bob and I headed out for Ft. Stockton the morning of August 21st, my brother's birthday. We had decided to go somewhere a little different than the normal drive around Central Texas. We were celebrating his cataract surgery and the fact that he could, once again, see clearly. Trees actually have leaves!! Chrys and Karen would check on Bella, so off we went--headed to West Texas.
Bob loves to take the road less traveled, so we headed north on Hwy 183, and then NW on Hwy 29. The drive beautiful, but NW when we wanted West? My ,mind was having a little trouble with the direction, but Bob was quite sure of where we were headed. We started off with talk radio on, but soon turned it off so that we could talk. Of course, we settled all the world's problems, and thought of ways we could help others. The normal everyday talk! Once we settled all the problems, we got
quiet, so I asked him to turn on our play list. He showed me how to do it, so I could learn this valuable tidbit. :-)
We listened to all our favorite 0ld artists, and memories surfaced. We spoke of the various artists and what we remembered of them. Roy Orbison held the greatest focus. We talked of the wreck that took Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ricky Valens' lives. I told him of how I cried when I heard the news. That day was and is called the day that music died. Waylon Jennings, a member of Holly's band, gave up his seat on that fateful flight. He lived to become great in his own right, and played Luchenbach with Willie and the boys. The music kept us mesmerized until we found ourselves near Ft. Stockton, on I 10W. Wow, how time flew! The plateaus or mesas, what ever you want to call the mountains along I 10W are amazing. In one state one can drive from the beaches, through hills, piney forests, mountains in the panhandle, and the vastly different mountains and deserts of West Texas. I am very pleased and proud to call Texas home.
Plateaus/Mesas from I 10.
Once in Ft. Stockton, we settled on a motel and then headed out to find "lupper," Bob's word for
a late lunch or early dinner. We settled on DQ and had a sandwich---no ice cream! Once we ate we headed for the original fort area. This historic fort is located on the east side of town. The site still contains three of the original buildings of Officer's Row, the original limestone Guard House, the original parade ground, and two reconstructed Enlisted Men's Barracks. This piece of history was home to the famed Buffalo Soldiers, beginning in 1867. It had been abandoned in 1861, due to the Civil War.
Reconstructed Building
Copies of original photos of the Buffalo Soldiers
Once we left the Fort area, we headed to the Annie Riggs Memorial Museum. This was a hotel originally built by a group of business men in 1899, and it was run by Annie Riggs, a pioneer woman in the truest sense of the word. It is an adobe building with Victorian detailing.Walking in one is met by pictures of the stern faced sheriffs of the time period. Sheriff A.J. Royal's desk is used for signing in and whispers of his 1894 murder--a very bloody chapter in Pecos County history. There are thirteen rooms in all, and they house so many artifacts of that time period. I took so many pictures, but the one that amuses me the most is the one of a butter maker that was hung on a wagon and,while the wagon was being used, it swung so much it churned the butter! There were also several type writers, and one looked as if it could type a full page of a news paper. A flour bin hung in one of the original cabinets. WOW! And, of course a picture of Annie Riggs, a true pioneer.
To say I enjoyed this short but sweet trip is an understatement. I love history, and my fear is that our young people are not getting enough of it. The counties of Texas each have a history of their very own. Do we take the time to look and learn? Hopefully, some are.
