USA Road Trip » texas

Day 8 Dallas Texas to Martin Creek State Park Texas

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 14:41:30 +0000

The biggest 2nd hand bookstore we have ever seen. The Half-Price bookstore in Dallas (just one of them).

We bought even more books (mostly language software), and continued out of Dallas to the east. After about 3 hours we stopped and camped at Martin Creek State Park, which was a nice Texas State Park close to the Texas border.

Camped at Martin Creek State Park

It is a nice park, lots of trees, a lake, you can even swim in the lake. The weather has got much warmer, and we had a great sunset over the lake.

Sunset at Martin Creek

However there is a reason why its nice to swim in the lake. The lake is warmer than usual. The reason its warmer than usual, is there is an enormous coal fired power station across the lake, that uses the lake for cooling water.

Coal fired power station, across the lake from Martin Creek State Park

Day 7 Dallas Texas

Judy — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:38:35 +0000

We spent the day in Dallas. This morning we went to the 6th Floor Museum, which was The Texas Book Depository back in 1963 when JFK was shot. An excellent museum and tribute to JFK. An audio commentary is provided and it directs the listener around the exhibits. There is a good lead-up to the assassination, with JFK’s personal and Kennedy family history plus what was happening in the US in the early 60s … all building up to the assassination. The corner where the shots were fired is blocked off with clear perspex, and boxes are arranged as they were back on That Day.

We saw a poster when we were at the Silver Moon diner in Santa Rosa, advertising a lunch for JFK and Jackie in Dallas at 12.30 on November 22nd. They never got there because JFK was shot at 12.30 on November 22nd.

There are also film clips of various aspects of the assassination, including footage of the funeral. I always get teary when I see little John Jr saluting his father’s coffin.
The rest of the museum is devoted to the aftermath of the assassination – Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, conspiracy theories, Kennedy’s legacy. It was all very well done, and worth visiting (thanks to Greg’s friend Guy for suggesting we go there).
We went and stood on the Grassy Knoll, wandered around Dealey Plaza, and walked up the streets that the motorcade had driven down before the shots were fired.

This afternoon we went shopping – for clothes at Dick’s Sporting Goods and the Columbia Outlet store (that was FUN! I bought a heap of clothes), and then at 2 Half Price Books stores.

Judy on the Grassy Knoll adjacent to where Kennedy was shot

The view up to the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswarld fired his shots from

Negotiating one of the many,many,many freeways and freeway interchanges that run throughout Dallas

Day 6 Archer City Texas to Dallas Texas

Judy — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:10:29 +0000

Lovely night’s sleep in the Desert Rose Room at the Lonesome Dove Inn, and a delicious breakfast this morning – French Toast with fresh fruit. We visited Buildings 2 & 3 of Booked Up, just to make sure we didn’t miss anything, but didn’t buy any more books. And then we headed south to Dallas, a huge modern city which was founded by JR Ewing in 1978 … wasn’t it? I wouldn’t really know, ‘cos I don’t watch TV much.

We’re spending 2 nights here at a Motel 6 a few kms from the centre of the city. Until recently, this Motel 6 was a Howard Johnson’s motel, so it’s a bit more upmarket than the usual Motel 6 – fridge, microwave and safe, but sadly no bottle opener, so we had to use Greg’s multi-tool to open our bottles of Mike’s Hard Lemonade (5% alcohol). We visited a Half-Price Books store and Greg bought a few language audiobooks, I bought a couple of McMurtrys (cos his own bookstores don’t sell any of his books).

Tomorrow we’re visiting the Texas Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll

Judy in the Desert Rose room at the Lonesome Dove Inn

Day 5 Wichita Falls Texas to Archer City Texas

Judy — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:34:50 +0000

An easy drive today. We visited Three Dog Books in Witchita Falls, which was a mix of second hand books, some new kids books, and antiques and collectables.

Then it was down the road to Archer City about 40km away south. The main reason for visiting Archer City, population 1848, was Larry McMurtry’s secondhand bookstore Booked Up. It’s actually spread across 4 buildings in the main street. Building 1 has the rare, signed, first editions and out of print books, the people who work there (2, i think) and the only cashier. If you want to buy anything from one of the other buildings, you have to take it across to Building 1 to pay for it. The photo of me with Leo the cat was taken in the garage of Building 1. I’m standing in the Political Science section.

Judy amongst a few of the 300,000 or 400,000 books at Booked Up, with Leo the friendly bookstore cat

We also visited Building 4 today – cookbooks, biography, travel, business & finance. We each picked up a couple of books, but have been very restrained compared with previous trips to US bookstores. I bought Christopher Milne’s memoir, Beyond the World of Pooh ( he was A.A. Milne’s son, better known as Christopher Robin), and Feeding Frenzy, by an American who sets out to eat her way around Europe’s Michelin 3-starred restaurants. Greg bought George Stephanopoulos’s All Too Human and The End of Certainty by Australian journalist/author Paul Kelly.

Tomorrow we’ll visit Buildings 2 and 3 before heading to Dallas for a couple of days.

Tonight we’re staying at the Lonesome Dove Inn, which is a gorgeous 2-storey guest house just a couple of blocks from the main street. It used to be the town’s hospital, and we’re staying in the Desert Rose Room which was the operating theatre and delivery room. It’s a lovely room, with big south-facing windows and a white-tiled floor. All the other rooms have carpet, but I’m glad the original white tiles have been left. Mary, the owner, has a policy of letting people who were born here when it was a hospital, stay for free in the Desert Rose Room on their birthday. She has had 3 people take her up on her offer.

We were also offered the Terms of Endearment suite, with king-sized bed and ensuite bathroom, or the Cadillac Jack room with twin beds. The room next door to us is Hud’s Library, with single bed and lots of books, including a shelf full of signed first edition books by Larry McMurtry.

Oh, and Mr McMurtry is also a guest here this evening.

Day 4 Santa Rosa New Mexico to Wichita Falls Texas

Judy — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:39:00 +0000

4 days, 4 states, 3 time zones and over 1300 miles. Now we’re just 25 miles from Archer City and Booked Up, the secondhand bookstore owned by Larry McMurtry which is part of the reason for this trip. Ever since I read McMurtry’s Books: A Memoir, about his life as a book scout and seller, I’ve wanted to see his bookshop. And tomorrow I will.

We’re staying at Wichita Falls tonight. We did wonder if it was the Wichita that featured in the Glenn Campbell song, Wichita Lineman, but there are a few places of the same name around the country, so maybe not. We found a great place for dinner, thanks to TripAdviser – Bar L Drive Inn, a burger and barbecue diner where you can eat in your car, or at the picnic benches outside, or inside. It’s a bit cold here at the moment, so we ate inside. I had a barbecue ham sandwich with waffle fries, Greg had chicken-fried steak strips with salad and sweet potato fries. We both had Budwiser beeer. Does it get any more American than that?

Welcome to Texas

No pets in the toilets, that includes rattlesnakes