Sunday morning we awoke to a fairly quiet room at The BigTexan Motel. Room 118 was at the very
end of the main building in a complex that looks like a Dora the Explorer
version of Dodge City's Boot Hill Museum. The wind storm
was still going strong. Our cell phones
indicated that the temperature was a balmy 30 something degrees outside. With the wind chill the temperature felt more like 19 degrees. Needless to say, we sprinted across the
parking lot to the buffet breakfast at the infamous restaurant and didn’t get
many pictures of the hotel.
According to the souvenir, plastic cups that came with the orange
juice, the restaurant started in 1960.
History indicates that shortly after the restaurant opened, a group of
cowboys entered placing bets on who could eat the most
1/2 pound steaks in an hour. One of
the cowboys polished off four of the steaks (72 total ounces), some shrimp
cocktail, a baked potato, a salad and a roll in one hour and won the bet hands down. Laughing, owner Bob Lee announced that anyone
who could accomplish that feat again would get the steak dinner for free. An instant Route 66 legend was born.
(Quick note to my father: Dad, the picture to the right is the "steak" in question. The display is inside the door and available for viewing as you wait in line to eat. Although I didn't feel comfortable enough to actually reach out and manipulate the piece of beef - which was on ice and wrapped in plastic - it did look to be cut thick enough to be pushing the "steak" definition. It also looked like it was indeed a sirloin and cut from as far to the back of the loin as possible - as we speculated.)
The gift shop carries a book documenting the history of the complex that includes a horse hotel, doggy corral and pool in the shape of the state of Texas. The back of the book lists people (there are more than you think) who have “won” a
free steak along with their comments after finishing the meal. Our favorite?
“I can’t feel my legs.”
After a leisurely, buffet breakfast (you pay
more for the atmosphere than the meal), we strolled through the gift shop. Then we packed up and hit the road once again
striking south on I-27. The dust
storm was still in high gear. Visibility
fluctuated from about 1 mile to about ¼ mile in some places. We would have thought we were in a snow storm
had the color of the stuff blowing across the road been white. I think the car will be due for an oil and filter change when we return to Kansas.
Having never seen the dust bowl, this storm was - we think - a good taste of the experience. The towns we passed each had a green highway sign
at the north and south city limits.
At one point, we saw a sign next to the road indicating we were at the north city limit of Meadow, Texas (population 594). We drove for about 3
minutes and saw another green Meadow, Texas sign. We are pretty sure there was a town in
between there, but it was apparently hidden in the dust.
By the time we reached Lubbock, the dust had cleared somewhat and we were needing a break. So, we pulled over and toured the
Buddy Holly Center and Gallery. Housed
in Lubbock’s restored train depot, Buddy's gallery is in the shape of a
guitar. This was a really nice stop and worth the 20 minutes or so we took to stretch our legs. There were two additional art galleries showcasing other local talent as well. The boys liked an exhibit by an artist who mixes modern pictures of decaying buildings and dank basements with old photos of people. Ross and I thought they were a little creepy. I enjoyed a colorful painting by Ann McDonald named "Oil and Orchids."
...and of course, we learned a lot about Buddy Holly. I learned The Beatles named themselves after Buddy Holly’s backup band, The Crickets. Stop in the gift shop and you can purchase a pair of drumsticks signed by Jerry Allison, drummer. I also learned Elton John began wearing his signature glasses in honor of Buddy. I think I knew, but had forgotten, that Waylon Jennings played with The Crickets and narrowly escaped the plane crash by giving his seat up to a fellow tour member with the flu.
After the informative break, we drove through the beautiful, Spanish
architecture of the Texas Tech campus to look around. The students had exited for spring break so
we pulled into an empty parking area in front of the math and physics
buildings to eat a snack out of the back of the car. After that, we
basically slept our way (except Ross who was driving) through the rest of some pretty monotonous landscape on
the way to Carlsbad, New Mexico.