151. Levelland, Hockley County

I’m not a James McMurtry fan, but I know his magnum opus and it was cranking when I pulled up to the courthouse.  That song is one of those weird things because I had always associated it with Robert Earl Keen for some reason and it was years before I realized Keen re-recorded it a few years after McMurtry did.  This is doubly weird because I don’t particularly care for either one of them so I’m not entirely sure how I even knew that.  Probably because they’re close enough to that pseudo-blues/country sound that was all over Austin for a lot of years, the Austin Sound for lack of a better term.  I’m sure radio play from a period of time was enough to lodge that bon mot in my head, which is probably one of the reasons I don’t listen to the radio any longer.  Go figure.

I haven’t put a war monument in a bit (ironic because Memorial Day), but I’m wondering what you have to do to get your name stricken off of (or covered up on, as the case may be) a war monument?  I’d love to know who it was and do a little research.  But that thing had a pretty strong bond so I couldn’t get a peek.  Maybe I’ll call the courthouse and find out.  In reality, I probably won’t.

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The cache was around the corner, hidden here near these lovely mosaics at the Hockley County Library.  I wish I had spent a little more time observing them because they were lovely.  Unfortunately, I was focused on something else and it was pretty hot.  That, and there was a police drive-by that seemed a bit suspicious the third time the same vehicle passed by.  But the key box was found, the log was signed, and the return was completed.  I got back to the coolness of the car and headed off into…

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…an actual sandstorm!  It was probably just a haboob, but I was driving along when the wind started to churn and the dust started to swell. And it got denser and denser and then, well, remember back in Amarillo when I was talking about how the rain was so thick that people had to pull off to the side or turn on blinkers to maintain visibility? Well, it was just like that except with flying dirt! I literally couldn’t see more than about 10 yards ahead of me! I had to inch along, eyes locked to the road stripes, hoping there isn’t some crazy turn that would send me off the road. It was pretty crazy! And I made it out the other end, which is what really matters. I got off the tiny back road and out of the dust cloud, onto a major road, and finally made it safely to…