We had been looking forward to the drive through the western portion of Texas for a few days. We were looking forward to the 100+ degree weather with desert scenery and nothing but more of the same. By looking forward, we mean dreading. The atlas provides a colored map of each state. Texas has a mixture of green forests and blue lakes in it's eastern portion. The entire western side is white. With the thought of driving as fast and as far as we could, we left San Antonio.
Our theory of what West Texas would be like was confirmed when the clock struck noon and the thermometer struck 100. We planned on calling several motels in small towns asking for a room for the night. We ruled out camping. We camped our first night in Texas and only survived because of the morning swim. With no lakes on the map, we were moteling it.
The first motel we called in Colorado City had no vacancy. We had done our due diligence and of the fifteen or so motels we researched, this was the only motel to not have it's guests mention the cockroaches.
Unfortunately, Colorado City would not host Peter and The Wolf for the night so we called a motel in the town of Robert Lee, Texas. Sounded nice enough. They said they had plenty of vacancy so we checked it out. The office was closed and we needed to use a restroom, so we headed across the street to a gas station. Being that the motel office was closed, we were planning on heading out. The clerk informed us that the manager lives there and will pick up the phone up to a reasonable hour. We filled up some gas and pondered making the call. The time was 9:30 pm. As we were contemplating dialing the number, several golf ball sized cockroaches scuttled by while vicious flies and mosquitoes attacked us. Also, there is a sense of terror any time you see a grasshopper in the south. If you've seen one in Texas or Louisiana, you understand. In the words of Woody Allen, "It's as big as a Buick." We got the hell out of Robert Lee. Lubbock was only an hour and a half north and it was the only place we knew of on the way to New Mexico. Lubbock, Texas: home of the Texas Tech University Red Raiders and the mecca of northwest Texas.
The drive was filled with desert areas and some grasslands. Just enough to feed the longhorns.
A lake we didn't swim in. Just got Subway in the town.
The one good thing about Robert Lee was their hotel coupon book. We snagged one and found a decent motel called the Koko Inn. We called and they luckily had one room available. We checked in, paid the $39.99 and went to see what Lubbock had to offer.
The answer was very little... Wolf in the first bar we went, Bar PM. Every person was smoking inside. It was unbearable. By everyone, I mean the 6 people sitting at the bar top. If you look behind Wolf, there is a lonely guitar player. He was pretty bad, but we felt terribly for him. No one clapped, and absolutely no one tossed him a dollar. That was Lubbock though.
We continued down University Ave. and took a right on Broadway which took us to Cricket's Grill & Draft House. Apparently this is the bar to go to. It was karaoke night, which draws a crowd. Let's just say, Ben Stein singing Brittany Spears would sound more accurate than these drunkards. Unfortunately, the line was too long for a Peter and the Wolf duet. We played shuffleboard instead. Had a blast.
Yes, a urinal picture makes the Lubbock post. But check out the Deschutes Brewery (from Bend, Oregon) posters represented in Lubbock! Also notice the plastic bag pulled off the urinal on the left. Wolf used the one on the right while the guy behind him used the "out-of-order" one on the left. I'm sure he wasn't the only person to do it.
The next morning, Hawaiian Shirt Wednesday, we woke up and strolled to the hotel restaurant. Had a crappy breakfast burrito before a hopeful swim. We didn't know why they thought they needed caution tape to keep people out.
We had to do something worthwhile in West Texas and this was as good as we could do. Here is Wolf standing in the Texas Tech football stadium where Michael Crabtree infamously tip-toed into the end zone to beat #7 Texas.
A panorama shot of Jones AT&T Stadium before we left for New Mexico.
The Stray - "One Night In Texas"
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