How did I end up here again? I said I was never coming back! It's all New Mexico's fault! I'd make a joke about returning to the 80's, but I can't actually see the city because it's the middle of the night. I only took two shots while I was here, though. That flag is … Continue reading Scenic Midland, Jewel of the Permian →

Getting this photograph turned out to be more difficult than you might think. Why? Because… Who brings their family to the county courthouse to practice a family dance routine? Seriously? I tried to be as surreptitious as I could be, snapping shots where I could without them in it, but I knew eventually someone would … Continue reading 154. Lubbock, Lubbock County →

Welcome to the hometown of the one and only Jimmy Dean! Grrrr! What's with all these trees! How am I supposed to get good photographs with all these trees in the way? Why should your attempts to cool and green your landscape interfere with my transitory aesthetic needs? At least you make up for it … Continue reading 153. Plainview, Hale County →

The name of G.W. Littlefield is incredibly familiar to me. He was a huge patron of the University of Texas, where there are still buildings named after him and his family. At one point, when the State wouldn't fund it for reasons, he and one of his rivals funded the entire University for two years … Continue reading 152. Littlefield, Lamb 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 … Continue reading 151. Levelland, Hockley County →

And now we get into the two words that would end up describing the second day in the Panhandle: "dust storms."  As I was rolling onto town, the dust was up pretty heavy (I thought).  I saw a tractor plowing its way through a dry field and the dirt generated blowing in the wind.  I … Continue reading 150. Morton, Cochran County →

This courthouse is on the border, too...  The border between judicial seat and high school, that is.  It barely leans back toward judicial, but only by a hair, I think.  I didn't know this before, but Muleshoe is the birthplace of actor Lee Horsley, known for The Sword and the Sorcerer (would you believe they … Continue reading 149. Muleshoe, Bailey County →

I'm so close to New Mexico I could throw a rock into it (though only metaphorically from the courthouse).  Ironically, it shares a border with Texico, New Mexico.  I'm a little surprised nobody has attempted to write a song about it.  Of course, that involves being this close to Farwell.  Don't get me wrong, though.  … Continue reading 148. Farwell, Parmer County →

More greetings from the WPA! What can I say about Dimmit that hasn't already been said? Alright, I have no earthly idea because I'd never heard anything about it. But I do know this much... ...a trail used to go through it. So I'll be honest: I don't have a lot to say about Dimmit. … Continue reading 147. Dimmit, Castro County →

Another tiny town with a fairly impressive courthouse. And guess what I found? Welcome to a new stop the Ozark Trail! Well, OK, a surviving stop on the Trail. While Wellington still has its marker, several of the towns we have just been through don't have theirs any more. It's odd to think of Tulia … Continue reading 146. Tulia, Swisher County →