I am blogging from the Best Western Hotel in Clarendon, Texas. We have had a great day.
We checked out of our hotel in Canyon and headed for the Palo Duro Canyon state park. Admission is $3 per person. We paid at the entrance and got a park map. There is a very good loop road with a number of campsites. The campsites ranged from primitive tent only jobs to Equestrian Campsites, to RV hook ups. The topography was interesting.
A winding canyon with interesting red rocks and cliffs. We were interested to see that there was a whole lot more moisture than what we are used to. Green junipers, and birds singing in the trees.
It reminded me a little of Utah Canyon lands area. I think what makes this park so special is how different it is from the surrounding land that is ironing board flat! Suddenly the land gets broken up into winding flat bottomed canyons with flat topped buttes.
On our way out we spotted 2 long horned texan cattle grazing by the road. Cool.
Then we went South to Tulia, and on to Silverton where we gassed up. Before Silverton we picnicked on tuna salad and hard boiled eggs at Lake McKenzie
and Kevin found me the largest tumbleweed I had ever seen!
Our next destination? Caprock State Park. Entrance fee was $2 per person. BUT if you have visited a state park that day you are not charged twice. Bonus. I liked Caprock better than Palo Duro. Fewer people, a little wilder. We scouted out 2 tented campites for future visits.
After Caprock we headed for Turkey, Texas. Then North to cross the Red River
(Praire Dog Fork of the Red River). Kevin wanted to see whether we could see any swallow's nests. But it was too early in the season.
We ended up driving through pretty farming country - freshly ploughed red soil, get naked green fields and herds of grazing cattle.
We passed broken abandoned farmsteads, gigantic gleaming farm machinery and flocks of black birds. These farms are so huge yet there are no people to be seen. Even the small agricultural towns we drove through seemed mysteriously abandoned.
Where could all the people have gone? The farms looked well cared for, and well tended.
This is the reward of mechanized farming. Large scale farming tracts which require minimal labor. Miles and miles of cultivated land, and no people.
We ate our dinner of heated chicken and noodle soup with Sally's secret spices, and rice added looking over the Greenbelt Reservoir. The sunset turned the sky pink and red, and we ate watching the fisherman bringing their boats back from a day's fishing.
We heard Red Winged Black birds calling in the reeds.
We decided to either head for the Best Western at Clarendon, or to head for a motel in Amarillo. WE couldn't face the confusion in a larger city, so here we are- very comfortable in a brand new motel.
Tomorrow? We plan to head slowly north, homeward. We may stop by the Prairie Chicken place in Campo to check out the roads, and may be try for a little fishing in Colorado.
I've had a good weekend. It is nice to head out, destination unknown, and experience a little bit of life somewhere different.
