Days 16 & 17 - October 17 and 18 - At Canyon, TX

     It was a bright and sunny Sunday morning in Canyon, so I decided that I really needed to see the Palo Duro Canyon, which is sometimes called the "Grand Canyon of Texas." While not as deep as the Arizona version, it's pretty long, with a lot of variation in color and vegetation. It was a pretty interesting place.

     The canyon itself is about 120 miles long, and the state park which is 12 miles south of Canyon, Texas has a road which winds through just a small part of the place. The depth is said to vary between about 800 feet and 1,000 feet. Georgia O'Keefe lived for a time in Canyon and Amarillo, Texas, and spent a lot of time painting there. Here are some photos I made at various stops as I rode through the canyon: 

  Pretty neat, huh? 

   At one point, I spotted a group of people sitting in front of easels making paintings of a particular place there. As I rode my bike into the little parking area nearby,  I saw two guys staring at me, smiling to themselves, and seemingly involved in a muttered conversation. After I dismounted, took off my helmet, and took out my earplugs, I engaged them in conversation. Turns out that they were a couple of fellows from Germany who'd flown to Chicago, rented a 2010 Mercury Marquis, and were driving the Historic Route 66 all the way to Los Angeles. One of these fellows spoke pretty good English (it's been 48 years since my last German lesson with Frau Donovan at Mount Hermon). He said they were pleased to see a German motorcycle, and said they saw very few on their trip. I asked them how they liked the Mercury, and was told, "It's certainly not a German car!" My new pal said that the steering was imprecise, and it "rides like a boat on the sea." He said he drives an Audi back in Germany, but found he couldn't rent one in the US for this trip for a decent price. I bid them "Aufwiedersehen!" and thought I'd see what was up with the painters.

    I spoke with Marsha Lair (phonetic spelling), and seen sitting in this photo:

   From her I learned that there is a very large and active community of artists in the area. There are all kinds of activities underway all the time in the Canyon and Amarillo areas. What was going this day was  a workshop led by an artist from Taos, NM (I didn't get his name), who was working with these artists as they made paintings of the landscape in the canyon. I think the Taos fellow is wearing the blue jeans in the above photo. 

   Here's another shot of the area and the artists:

Here's a shot of the area which Marsha was painting:

   In our conversation, Marsha told me she had a daughter who had attended school in Vermont, and that she and a friend had flown to Vermont when her daughter had finished college, and had driven back down to Canyon. We talked some about the differences between Texas and New England. Nice lady, imbued with that spirit of friendliness and engagement which seemed to affect everybody I spoke with in the Texas Panhandle. 

    Anyway, soon I was back on the bike, and was up on the fun road out of the canyon. Just before I left the park, I spotted a real Texas Longhorn bull, behind a a fence near the entrance to the park. When I spotted him, he was lying down in the grass. Almost on cue, as soon as I pulled out my camera to take a shot, he got up and looked right at me:

He looked a little thin to me, but what do I know about cattle?

Anyway, I headed back to Canyon, and came upon an intersection of two roads...one state highway and one so-called "Texas Farm Road." I stood in the middle of the intersection and made a couple of shots (180-degrees apart), which might help you understand the vast size of this land...with roads seeming to stretch to infinity:

I guess the parallel lines in the pavement and the power lines emphasize that a bit. A big place with lots and lots of interesting things to see. The Texas Panhandle is no empty place, for sure.

     Anyway, on to Day 17, Monday in Canyon. I had a couple of very important things planned for this day. First, I was to be interviewed by James Barrington of the Canyon News who wanted to publish a story about my journey, and second, I was to finally meet, after seven years, Karin Heyman...the person who had helped me learn about my father and who really provided the impetus for this quest of mine. 

     I had a very nice chat with James, who is a native of the area, and returned to Canyon a few years ago after working for years in government management in New Hampshire. I showed him my documents regarding Oscar, and talked with him about why I was doing all this. 

    A little later, I went over to West Texas A&M University (formerly known as West Texas State Teachers College when my father attended). There I finally met and talked with Karin, seen here in a photo made by James Barrington as she showed me references to Oscar Gamel in a book on the history of WTAMU:

Karin is retired from the WTAMU registrar's office, and even sent me two photos she found of what downtown Perryton, Texas looked like in the 1920s:

   

   Thanks to Karin for all she's done!

   Finally, my last part of my visit to Canyon was with Kent Johnson, who is the Sports Information Director for WTAMU. Kent rides a Honda sport-touring motorcycle, and had heard about my trip. I stopped by his office, and we talked about the economics of college sports.  Seems WTAMU, which everyone calls "WT" is in Division 2. Kent explained how football and other sports are financed. He even pulled out a listing of past lettermen for WT, and sure enough, Oscar Gamel of Perryton was there, lettering three times in football back in the 1920s. Kent did not have a listing for track and basketball which went back that far, but I think he lettered in those also. We also discussed motorcycling, and how it's different in Texas than back East. Another very pleasant fellow, for sure.

   Next...three days of riding the slab for a total of about 900 miles. Oof!