The Rest of the Vacation

One of the reasons I chose to attend Texas Tech in Lubbock was its close proximity to Red River. The fact that it had a good art department was nice too. It didn’t hurt that my brother was already going to TT and many of my RR friends were also attending TT. And yes, we did travel the road between TT and RR often. So when Toby and I left Lubbock for Clovis and on up to RR, it was like a walk down Memory Lane. All the way to RR, we played the "what is your memory of this spot" game. We had plenty of memories to past the time. Some people do not like the long lonesome drive, but I have always loved it. I love the wide-open prairie, the ranches, the cacti, etc. I like the peaceful drive. We took pics of the huge windmills on the caprock above San Jon. Toby’s sister works for the company that put them in. We stopped in Logan so that I could take this photo of the Whiskey River – Road to Ruin, which was an old stopping spot back in our college days. Yes it is a bar, but it used to be one of the few places open in Logan to make a pit stop. As we headed on towards Roy and Springer, there was a storm in the distance. With the setting sun, it made for some awesome views. We drove into RR about 7 PM and went straight to eat at Sundance – good Mexican food. My friend, Linda Hoag, who owns the restaurant, sat and visited with us while we ate. Linda has become quite an artist and let me take a few photos of her work. After stuffing our faces with the world’s best sopapillas, we found a motel and went straight to bed.

Tuesday morning we found our friends from home, the Dennis family, and went to play golf. We played at Escondido, a little nine-hole course, which does not have golf carts, but has some serious mountain pull-carts. The day was mountain perfect. We played one round, stopped for a picnic lunch and then played again. I can’t remember when I enjoyed golf so much. When we got back to RR, we went to eat at Texas Red’s – always a big treat. My friend, Loretta, was working, as was her daughter. Bill, the owner, came and sat with us while we ate. We laughed at how generations of families have worked at TR’s – first Bill and his generation, then his children’s generation, and now their kids are working there. Pretty cool!

Wednesday we kicked around town visiting old friends. I spent some time with Annette Gill at her beautiful log cabin overlooking the town of RR. We ran into some friends who used to live in RR and were on vacation like us. Krista is one of Jes’ good friends. The Lloyds now live in Perkins, OK. Later in the afternoon, we found our friends from home who were having a birthday party at the park. We joined them for hotdogs and volleyball. My kids used to love to have birthdays at that park, too. We finished the evening visiting Carol and George in their beautiful house.

Thursday morning we headed home through Taos where we picked up some green chilies, down through Riconada to get some dried flowers from Sopyn’s roadside stand, and on down to Santa Fe. We turned and went through El Dorado and caught I-40. Now, I-40 is a boring drive – especially in the rain. We had dinner with my sister and her family in Amarillo. Friday morning we headed on home, but did make one stop. We stopped in Clarendon at their renovated county courthouse. We explored the building and met the judge. It was a real treat – I love old buildings.

Tomorrow, I am headed to Ft. Worth for an art workshop. I will take the laptop.