Two Panhandles

Jack just finished a very good book about Kit Carson (Blood and Thunder by  Hampton Sides--thanks to Lynne Friedmann for the book) so he wanted to stop at the little Colorado town named Kit Carson as we drove by and find out how it happened to be named after the famous scout, mountain man, and military leader. Very skimpy info was available on the town's website, but we figured we'd look for a museum or something when we got there. The town was small and not very prosperous looking, but it did have a well-maintained museum in the old train depot. But, shucks, closed on Fridays!! (Open every day from 9 to 5 EXCEPT Friday--we have a lot of luck like this when trying to see museums and out-of-the-way stuff on the spur of the moment.) We peeped in the windows and read all the markers outside the museum, but they were kind of vague and we weren't able to find out if Kit Carson was actually through here or lived here at some point. We did see that the railroad came through here not long after Carson died in 1868, and speculated that they just named the town after him as a memorial and mark of respect for a famous man.

The Kit Carson (town) Museum

Kit Carson Museum - Carol takes a peek inside to see what we missed.

We needed gas and drove slowly (only took about 3 minutes) through the main drag of Kit Carson and at first thought the town had no gas station at all. But then Jack spotted a generic FUEL sign at a run-down looking building that looked closed, with grass growing up between cracks in the concrete. There was a single gas pump standing in the parking lot. Sure enough, it was on. The building itself was locked up and torn apart inside, and no one was around, but you could pump gas!

Self help gasoline in Kit Carson, Colorado

The town had a cafe and we stopped for Second Breakfast. They had some FABULOUS homemade fruit pies: Jack had blueberry and I had strawberry/rhubarb.

On our way to the Texas panhandle, we drove through the Oklahoma panhandle, and Jack targeted another town for a stop. Since we watched the Ken Burns Dust Bowl series on PBS, we've wanted to see a Dust Bowl museum somewhere and the town of Boise City, Oklahoma was Ground Zero of the Dust Bowl. So we thought we might find a museum there. Again, didn't see much info on the internet but decided to stop anyhow. However, we forgot that we lost an hour when we crossed into Oklahoma and it was 4:05 pm when we pulled into the town museum parking lot. And, of course, the museum closed at 4 pm! Fooey!! Not our day for museums. We found the town library, which was still open, and talked to a knowledgeable librarian. She said the museum did have an excellent Dust Bowl exhibit (including some actual dust saved from the 1930s storms) and it was too bad we missed it, so Fooey Again! The librarian had created a shelf of Dust Bowl books, including some that featured some folks in their town who lived through the Dust Bowl, so we browsed through the shelf and learned a few new things about that terrible time.

The Boise City, Oklahoma museum we missed. Would be nice if they posted their hours on the web.

Moving on down the road, as we approached another tiny, dusty western town, Jack said "A taco would taste good about now." Just then, a small brick nondescript building appeared with a large sign saying TACOS and nothing else on its roof. Normally we wouldn't have stopped because the building looked so ill-kept with peeling paint, weeds outside, and cracked concrete, but we considered it a sign (get it?). Inside looked clean and acceptable. Just one nice lady was manning the place and a  handlettered sign said "Homemade tamales, $1.00". I have a weakness for tamales so that's what I ordered and Jack got his taco. The tamale was so good I went back and got a couple more. The lady had to leave for a dental appointment and she needed to close up, so she kicked us out (nicely) and we ate the tamales in the van. Glad we stopped.

Best and only tacos and tamales in this town.

We made it to Amarillo, TX just behind a drenching rainstorm that had some of the roads flooded. We had decided to stay at a KOA in Amarillo that night (Friday night) and drive on into Canyon to granddaughter Jennifer's place on Saturday morning, since she was working late on Friday. However, the driveway into the KOA looked like a huge river was running across it, so we parked down the road a piece and waited it out. The water was down enough to drive through when we went back and we had a pleasant night at our campsite.

We headed down to Canyon Saturday morning and met up with Jennifer at her apartment. We also met her cute puppy (7 months), Cosmo. She had the day off so we ran some errands with her and caught up on "life stuff." We took the pup to the nearby dog park and let him run with a couple of other doggies, which was fun, and then went shopping for some groceries. Jennifer's boyfriend Austin was working at a Thai/Laotian restaurant so went there for lunch and said hi to him. After that we hung out, did some work, and chatted. The plan was to pick Austin up from his job in the afternoon, and then have dinner at the Italian restaurant in Amarillo where both Austin and Jennifer work, Napoli's. (Austin had to work that night also, but Jennifer was off--Austin was our waiter.) Great restaurant! Nice Italian ambiance, including a wonderful outside patio that looks just like Italy! The food was delicious and the staff was friendly and welcoming. A lovely evening. Went back and watched some Netflix and finally hid the sack around 11:30 pm.

Austin, Jennifer, and Cosmo.

Jennifer needs a car because unfortunately her car was totaled a week or so ago when she swerved to avoid an animal in the road and hit the guardrail, so on Sunday afternoon we drove to Amarillo to look at cars--not realizing that Texas Blue Laws forbid car dealerships to open on Sunday. Interesting. We managed to look at a few cars in dealership lots but didn't see anything too enticing in the price range. So we went back home, made some yummy soup, and searched on Craig's List.

We bought tickets online to the outdoor musical TEXAS!, which is presented in the Palo Duro Canyon state park nearby, in the evening. This extravaganza has been running for years and years and is an award-winning attraction of the Amarillo area. We headed over to the canyon amphitheatre about 7 pm (the play starts at sundown), taking some picnic snacks with us. It was really enjoyable. The evening was cool with a nice breeze (after the sun was good and down) and the play is staged against a majestic backdrop of the rocky canyon wall. It begins with a man on a horse carrying the Texas flag appearing at the very top of the 600 ft canyon bluff--spectacular! The choreography and singing/dancing/acting was great, but we thought the best thing was how the production used the whole immediate environment as the stage. People on horses were always galloping around far in the background or up on the cliff; a prairie fire started up in several spots (so realistic it was downright scary--real fire, BIG), and a pretty convincing steam train came through at the end, carrying a bunch of people on it. The finale was a patriotic fireworks and water fountain display, and video/multimedia projection against the red rock cliffs. ZOWEE! Everything is bigger in Texas! A lot of university students are in this production. They did a great job.

Austin, Jennifer and Carol having a snack before the show while Jack snaps the photo.

Waiting for the show to begin. The amphitheater is in the Palo Duro Canyon near the town of Canyon, Texas

A forbidden photo of the finale of TEXAS.

It was an enjoyable visit with Jenn and Austin and we hope to see them in Oriskany before too long... Now heading to Cypress, Texas to visit the rest of the family, including granddaughter Sarah and new great-grandson Aiden!