2013 - "All My Ex's Live in Texas"

Do you know how many songs are about Texas? Lots; and you probably know some of them, too. Without a radio in the truck I was serenading BC with what I could remember from:

Houston, the Gatlin Brothers
Amarillo by Morning, George Strait
El Paso and Streets of Laredo, Marty Robbins
San Antonio Rose, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys;
Texas (When I Die), Tanya Tucker
If You're Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band), Alabama

Texas, the Charlie Daniels Band

Luckenbach, Texas, Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson;

Deep in the Heart of Texas and The Yellow Rose of Texas, Gene Autry;

and my favorite, Galveston, Glen Campbell

Ms Vickie in Austin said, "You drive without a radio? No wonder you only drive 3 or 4 hours a day!"  It's true.

I love Texas.  The weather's wicked and it's hot as hell, but it's got the whole shebang: wide open spaces, cowboys, rodeos, tumbleweed, plus a whole lot of nice people. Ted Cruz is NOT the stereotypical Texan; just as those of us from New Jersey should not be characterized solely by Jersey Shore.

So from Santa Fe we headed east and then south through the Panhandle, stopping in what I viewed as a Typical Texas Town: Clarendon.  A huge courthouse dominated the town square.

I stopped for breakfast in a cafe in the middle of the main thoroughfare.  Everyone inside said, "Hello" as I passed, and a good meal was enjoyed for a reasonable price.

Every time I go through an unfamiliar place I wonder if I could live there, in my eternal search for a place to put down roots. Well, Clarendon was nice but a bit more barren than I'd like.

I try to stay off Interstates as much as possible, but our meandering through the Panhandle was curtailed by a thunderstorm spotted in the rear view mirror.  I raced like hell to outrun the approaching blackness and finally hit a highway around Ft. Worth.  Too busy to take photos, I don't remember when I'd seen a more ominous looking storm this side of the tropics.

And then, suddenly, it was gone.  Our meandering continued through aforementioned spaces, periodically dotted with modest farmhouses. I know it took a couple of days to get through Texas and I'm not sure where we stopped, but it was at a Walmart somewhere.  

The title of this post is the title to another famous hit by George Straight.  In my case it was true at one point, and so I always get a kick out of the song.  Unfortunately, BC doesn't appreciate my Contralto (I believe) voice, and periodically turns to give her, "Enough already" look.

Next up:  Arkansas and the Deep South.

To read from the start:  Oregon to California.

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