Amarillo, Texas

Amarillo, Texas

Here is a time line of my past few days.

Friday –Asheville, NC left at 7 am from Warren-Wilson College outside of Asheville
Saturday-Arkansas arrive 7 pm Crowley State Park (total of twelve hours driving, wow)
Sunday- Arkansas left from campground 8 am
Sunday- Oklahoma arrive 3 pm Ten Kills State Park
Monday- leave campground 8 am
Monday- arrive in Amarillo, Texas 4 pm at 2021, Hugh Street, US Servas Hosts,

I left, North Carolina, sped through Tennessee, spent time in Arkansas and Oklahoma in some nice campsites near amazing lakes and now I am in Texas. The billboards that I noticed while driving were about where to get Vasectomie Reversals, I saw about a dozen of these throughout Arkansas. Another billboard, a bit creepy, had a huge photograph of a woman with her description next to the photograph and the question in large letters asking, I guess us drivers, barreling past at 65 mph,
Do you know who murdered me?

There was a noticeable difference in the landscape when I entered Oklahoma. It opened up more as I drove. Less dense greenery around the roads edge and more fields expanding out towards the horizon line. Ten Kills Lake in Oklahoma was a gorgeous blue warm water lake with campsites along its edge and when I arrived in the afternoon on Sunday the place was packed with family picnickers from all over Oklahoma. There were a lot of scuba divers with their gear of tanks, wet suits, flippers, and masks. I thought it was sort of strange to see divers at a lake. It made me wonder what was actually underneath the water. It turns out the lake has a visibility depth of 50 feet and goes down as far as 75 feet. A group of divers thought it would be an excellent place to train and certify people who were interested in diving and trying something different in Oklahoma.

So I am staying in a small garage apartment in Amarillo. My Servas Hosts were super busy. I met them briefly before they left town. But Betty told me about all the great things I should see, and that I was welcome to stay in the apartment as long as I wanted, and that she was sorry she could not be a better host. She was off to Alabama on a search for relatives, her new inspiration of studying her family’s genealogy. Her husband Bill is a Veterinarian in town. She did indeed convince me to stay, and this morning I went to a live cattle auction. The sound clip is the caller at the auction. He reminded me of a Contra Dance caller, and I thought about how different and yet similar they were. I would like to research more about both of those callers.

I will leave to Albuquerque tomorrow and then Santa Fe where the Gay pride March will be held this weekend, same as in San Francisco. I am so lucky for the timing of this event, what a great surprise.