Lubbock, Texas – Day 1

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 45 miles from Littlefield to Lubbock, Texas. Once again continuing southeast in the morning hours has one driving directly into the sun. This condition makes it extremely difficult to read the road signs when you are in an unfamiliar area…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

The motorhome is now parked at Fraternal Order of Eagles Airee #4271 about eight miles south of downtown Lubbock. I’m parked on the side of the building where I’m plugged into electricity…

As always I like to show the view from the dinette window…

Lubbock is the birthplace of Buddy Holly. I’ll begin my explorations of Lubbock today. I expect to be here for several days..

Enjoying the interesting places is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Littlefield, Texas – Day 4

 Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

The motorhome is still parked at the Waylon Jennings RV Park. I expect to leave here later this morning.

Other than Waylon Jennings being born and raised here, Littlefield, Texas has a couple of other uniquenesses…

You can read all about Waylon Jennings by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waylon_Jennings

You can read all about Littlefield, Texas by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlefield,_Texas

First is a unique street grid layout. Here’s the history of how it happened from a local website…

As an additional incentive to get the railroad to build a depot in his proposed ‘namesake’ town, George Littlefield agreed to the stipulation set by Santa Fe that all main streets in the town would be headed toward the depot itself. This was agreed to, even though the railroad was to run northwest from Lubbock. So, the three main streets of the town go to the northeast, while all other streets were laid out as streets normally run in other towns, which is east to west and to the north and south, resulting in the weird angles and intersections in the main area of town, that causes ‘out-of-towners’ to lose their sense of direction.

That’s a true statement. For a small town, Littlefield is a confusing place to drive around. All of the streets run north-south and east-west, with the exception on three streets that run northeast – southwest as shown by this Google Earth image. RRD indicates the railroad depot…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Littlefield also boasts of having a replica of the World’s Tallest Windmill, which you can read about by clicking this link…
http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Wind-and-Water.htm

Here’s what the replica looks like today…

Finally, Littlefield has a cotton processing plant that claims to process enough denim to make 24,000,000 jeans a year. You can read all about this plant by clicking this link…
http://littlefieldtexas.net/index.php/doing-business/american-cotton-growers

In closing my visit to Littlefield, Texas, I offer these two final photos taken out of the kitchen window of the motorhome. Frist is of a full moon near a radio transmission tower. Waylon Jennings began performing on the local radio station when he was 12 years old. I wonder if his music at that tender age was transmitted by this tower???

Finally, a West Texas pre-sunrise as seen through a configuration of a power transformer station, power lines and tall poles holding lights for a number of ball-fields below…

I’ve enjoyed my visit to Littlefield, Texas, but now it’s time to move on down the road to Lubbock.

Enjoying the interesting places is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Littlefield, Texas – Day 3

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

The motorhome is still parked at the Waylon Jennings RV Park. I expect to leave here tomorrow.

Yesterday I drove the Bronco the about one mile to look around Waylon Jennings hometown, population about 6,300.

You can read all about Waylon Jennings by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waylon_Jennings

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

There is a by-pass highway that goes around Littlefield. On the main drag roughly 50% of the storefronts are boarded-up. Even the Chamber of Commerce looked closed…

Littlefield is basically out in the middle of nowhere Texas. Muleshoe is about 30 miles to the north and Lubbock is about 30 miles to the south. It’s hard to imagine what life was like for a young Waylon. Born in 1937, dropped out of school in the 10th grade and moved to Lubbock when he was 17 in 1954. Other than his music, picking cotton was a way of life here.

You can read all about Littlefield, Texas by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlefield,_Texas

Enjoying the interesting places is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Littlefield, Texas – Day 2

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

The motorhome is still parked at the Waylon Jennings RV Park. I expect to leave here this coming Monday.

Yesterday I drove the Bronco the about one-half mile from the Waylon Jennings RV Park to Waymore’s Liquor Store. Waymore was Waylon Jennings’ nickname. You can read about this place by clicking this link…
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/23815

Waylon’s younger brother James was not there, but I met Darla, James’ daughter and Waylon’s niece who was minding the store. Waymore’s is located on the corner of Hall Avenue and Waylon Jennings Boulevard. Waymore’s was once a gas station that has been converted into a drive-thru liquor store. What was once a double open-ended work bay, you can now drive-thru and buy your booze without getting out of your car. How convenient is that?

You can read all about Waylon Jennings by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waylon_Jennings

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

In a way, I felt a tad sad looking at Waylon’s memorabilia among all the booze. But in a way it reflects on his sometimes self-abusive lifestyle and his humble beginnings to become one of the most famous people on the planet. Like the above sign says…Waylon Jennings…No Ordinary Dude.

You can read all about Littlefield, Texas by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlefield,_Texas

Enjoying the interesting places is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Littlefield, Texas – Day 1

Mary remains at home in California tending to medical issues.

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 65 miles from Clovis, New Mexico southeast to Littlefield, Texas. When I crossed the Texas border, I also crossed into the Central Time Zone. I expect to be here 3-4 days.

When you drive southeast in mid-morning, it means you will be looking into the sun. Yesterday the asphalt on the road reflected the sun like a mirror and it was most difficult to see.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

As a matter of fact the sun was so bright that I drove through Muleshoe, Texas without realizing it and missed their famous tourist attraction…Darn! Click this link to see what I missed…
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/3758

Arriving in Littlefield, Texas, I pulled into the Waylon Jennings RV Park. It’s a free park with electricity, water and dump station. You can stay here for free for four days. This is Waylon Jenning’s hometown. He was a mega super-star country singer and a favorite of mine for many years. Here’s a Wikipedia informational link about him…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waylon_Jennings

As always I like to show the view from the dinette window…

You can read all about Littlefield, Texas by clicking this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlefield,_Texas

Enjoying the interesting places is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

FRONT ROYAL, VA. AND A FAMILY VISIT

From Mary’s Desk:

Front Royal has signs downtown for the Civil War Trail that leads to 10 points of interest during Stonewall Jackson’s Campaign in 1862. Plus there are two Civil War Museums to visit, the Belle Boyd Cottage and the Warren Rifles Confederate Museum.  Battlefields and cemeteries are all over the state of Virginia.
With one day to spend, it was my plan to concentrate on a family get-together with Glen and Karen Littlefield.

As it turned out, Front Royal was celebrating crafts and wine and I was celebrating seeing my “adopted” daughter, Karen, after a separation of six years. Glen, their daughter, Sherry Lynn, and granddaughter, pretty Penny, arrived in the new touring car, a Mini Cooper.

Grandpa patiently removed and adjusted the car seat for Penny, who adores her grandfather.

Downtown was mobbed;  the locals were having a good time. The food booths enticed us with crab cakes and chicken on a stick, but no one was hungry just then.

I loved these shirts but knew I’d never wear one.

The Get The Hell Up coffee gets to the point and made us chuckle.

There were games of chance and drawings and a couple of good bands playing music.

The sun was bright but two year old Penny was a trouper all day.

We repaired back to the Moose Club for a long lunch and played catch up with each others lives. The quilts we haven’t finished. The braided rugs we both made.  A dream coming true for them, working toward building a new log house on their lot. The joy of grandchildren. Looking forward to retirement and travel. And, all to soon, we had to say goodbye with regrets that we see the people we love not often enough. We took pictures. Karen and I,  with me squinting against the bright afternoon sun.

Sherry and her mom. Sherry’s sister, Kelly, was unable to make the trip with her two year old son, Adam. Having two so close in age is like babysitting twins, Karen quipped.

Jim took a group shot and then everyone piled into the Mini Cooper and returned to Bristow. For me, visiting with family eclipses everything.