Days One Hundred Forty-Six through One Hundred Fifty-Nine

I'm changing things up a little bit here. Photos are coming first with journaling and thoughts, and the stats are at the end. I'll be updating the map soon, too.

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I walked from Wichita Falls to Quitaque. Along the way, I met new friends, walked into an ice storm, and hiked along a state park trailway. Here's the trip in pictures and words:

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Day 146: I left Wichita Falls in the afternoon after doing a ton of work on Katrina's computer. I only made it a few miles before I found a Mexican restaurant on the outskirts of town. I stopped without question, ordered big without hesitation, and spent my last hour in town chowing down.

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Day 147: I met a library volunteer named Ardis Jensen who invited me over for the evening. I met her husband Roger, and all three of us spent the evening chatting away. They treated me to dinner, a night in a bed, and breakfast the next day. Ardis even baked some cookies for me right before I left!

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Little House on the Prairie, Wichita County, Day 148

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Final Resting Place, Wichita County, Day 148
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Bragging Rights, Wichita County, Day 148
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Day 148: I got mobbed on my way out of Electra. I was on my way out of a Subway/convenience store when I was recognized by some fellows in a truck. There was a little girl trying to sell them some tickets to a barbecue (I know this because I had given her a little money earlier), but when they saw me, they started talking to me. One of them had read the article in the Wichita Falls paper (I know this because at some point in what followed I heard, "Hey, I'm the one that actually read the article!"). I started to leave, but one asked if a photo would be okay. I said sure, and before I could say Wichita County I was surrounded by several men opening their cell phones, trading places, the giddiness and excitement filling the space. Even a guy who had no idea who I was came over and started opening up his cell phone to take a shot. Suddenly, the show was over as quickly as it had started. I walked away chuckling, the words of one fellow replaying in my mind: "All these people say they want to backpack around Europe, but you said to yourself, 'I'm gonna backpack around Texas!'"
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Streak, Wichita County, Day 148

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Bells and Whistles, Wilbarger County, Day 148

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Idiot Box, Wilbarger County, Day 149

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Day 149: Camping in the rain - more specifically breaking camp in the rain - tests the resolve of the traveler. You move quickly because every moment spent preparing your sleep set-up is one less moment inside of it. Things go wrong. You curse the weather, your powerlessness. But the sleep is sweet when you've fought for it.
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Tarp Tent, Wilbarger County, Day 150

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Day 150: This is my basic tarp set-up. I tie the center grommet to a tree on either side and stake down the corners. If I only have one tree or post, I wrap the string around a hiking pole and stake that to the ground in addition to the corners. It works great, but strong wind tends to tear the grommets out. The fresh air and weight makes the whole thing worth it to me (and there are even lighter tarps out there!).
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Evening Sunset, Hardeman County, Day 151

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Day 151: For several miles, there was no where to camp, and the only space between the road and private property was the shoulder plus another ten yards of grass and mud. I hadn't planned on hiking as much as I did (about 20 miles). However, since the sun was up and no great campsites presented themselves, I kept moving. When I finally found a place, I placed tumbleweeds around my area to make me invisible to passing vehicles.
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Medicine Mounds, Hardeman County, Day 152

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Day 152: Thanks to the behind-the-scenes efforts of Carol Whitmire of the Quanah Tribune-Chief, Bertha Woods and the Quanah Chamber of Commerce extended a welcome that will be hard to equal. A hotel, shirt, cap, museum pass. She also placed me in touch with the fine folks at K&R Kitchen who not only fed me the best steak dinner in Texas but offered to feed me breakfast the morning after!
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Tribute to a Chief, Quanah, Hardeman County, Day 153

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Quanah Depot Museum, Quanah, Hardeman County, Day 153

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Day 153: Before leaving Quanah, I visited the local museum, an old train depot, and saw the handiwork of Scarlett Daugherty, Museum Curator. This was not the Smithsonian, but it's charm was irresistible nonetheless.
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Icy Conditions, Childress County, Day 154

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Day 155: Yesterday, I woke up to an ice storm and hiked into Childress. It was freezing rain, and even blades of grass were covered in an inch of ice making hiking on them near impossible. When I got to a hotel, I discovered sheets of ice on my jacket and pack. Thank goodness for hiker heat. The rain stopped during the night, and the walk into Estelline and the Caprock Canyon Trailway was smooth and enjoyable.
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Turkey Hotel, Turkey, Hall County, Day 158

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Day 158: I was heading back to the trailway when I struck up a short conversation with some people in front of the Turkey Hotel (built 1927). As I started to continue along my way, one of them suggested I stay at the hotel. I guess I had been more interested in it than I had known. The owner cut me a great deal, and for several hours, I was the only client in this huge two-story building. It was the warmest night I've had all winter.
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Service Station, Turkey, Hall County, Day 158

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Welcome, Quitaque, Briscoe County, Day 159

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Day 159: I met my volunteer coordinator Karen Lanier, then hiked into Caprock Canyons State Park. The daylight was just leaving as I was setting up camp.

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My stats are organized the same as always: where I hiked to followed by how far I walked. (Most of the short days are due to a late start or a generous invitation to stay the night.)
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Day 146: Pleasant Valley, about 6 miles

Day 147: Iowa Park, about 5 miles

Day 148: Past Electra, about 20 miles

Day 149: Past Oklaunion, about 14 miles

Day 150: Past Vernon, about 8 miles

Day 151: Hwy 287 Reststop (between Chillicothe & Quanah), about 22 miles

Day 152: Quanah, about 6 miles

Day 153: Hwy 287, about 14 miles

Day 154: Childress, about 15 miles

Day 155: Estelline, 16 miles

Day 156: Parnell Station on the Caprock Canyons Trailway, about 10 miles

Day 157: Past Tampico Siding on the Caprock Canyons Trailway, about 15 miles

Day 158: Turkey via the Caprock Canyons Trailway, 7 miles

Day 159: Quitaque via the Caprock Canyons Trailway, 13 miles (to the state park added 3)

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Until next time...

Faces of Texas

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"One second. My whole life changed."

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- Abdul Saleem, owner of a convenience store called The Panther Pit, talking about the death of his son. Abdul had had a successful wholesale business in Pakistan but left everything behind when a local doctor told him his son needed treatment outside of the country. He brought his son to the United States for medical treatment, but shortly after arriving his son died. With a few thousand dollars in pocket money, he remade his life here, refusing to return to a country and a life that would remind him of his son.

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Saint Jo, Texas

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"It's mainly just remembering to feed him and run him on the weekends."

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- Twelve-year-old Austyn J., a Clay County Junior Livestock Show 2nd & 3rd place winner, on the secret of his success. I ran into Austyn in the animal corral section which was situated behind a large auditorium filled with people. He was in line to show his animal up front where locals and business owners would bid a premium on the animals, the proceeds of which went directly to the animal raiser.

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Henrietta, Texas

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"That's him! The guy on the front page of the paper!"

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- Couchsurfing host Katrina Morgan pointing me out to other customers in a convenience store. Katrina and her roommate hosted me for two days, introducing me to friends and giving me much-appreciated access to a computer. When I learned that a local interview had been published, Katrina and I went to a nearby store to pick up a copy. Katrina's excitement at seeing the story on the front page rose to an unanticipated level.
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Wichita Falls, Texas

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"I came here as a little girl with my father. I remember thinking how much fun it would be to rollerskate on the second floor. For some reason he didn't think too much of my idea."
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- Gayle Cleghorn, library assistant at the Tom Burnett Memorial Library in Iowa Park, on an early experience with the building. The library is a beautiful two-story renovated home in the center of an entire city block sharing the land with only two other buildings, all of which had belonged to Tom Burnett. The building was later donated to the city for the explicit purpose of being the library.
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Iowa Park, Texas
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"I had my husband dig out the barbecue pit from the snow and set it up in the laundry room, so I could make Christmas Eve supper."

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- Ardis Jensen with husband Roger on how they handled the blizzard that hit North Texas around Christmas 2009. The snow came down so heavily it eventually led authorities to close down a stretch of the highway. Many travelers had to spend the night in their vehicles, arriving on or after Christmas to their destinations. Several inches came down and power went down in parts of the entire Wichita Falls and surrounding area. Undeterred, Ardis employed a very Texan solution to address the problem.

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Iowa Park, Texas

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"I thought it'd be real casual. Maybe a customer or two.

I'd make their food. We'd talk."

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- Kerry Pruitt, owner of K&R Kitchen in Quanah, on his expectations before the business opened. Both he and his dad were laid off from the oil industry and decided to try their chances in food service. On the first day, there were so many people that the wait was upwards of an hour. Kerry and his family treated me to a steak dinner after they heard I was passing through town. It was the best steak I've ever had. The restaurant was busy, and I watched Kerry bouncing from table to table like the General Lee on the dirt roads of Hazzard. What's more, he still made time to talk.

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Quanah, Texas

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"Every town is 30 miles away. It's the distance a wagon could do in a day.

At least, that's what the old-timers say."

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- William Reece Manuel, convenience store owner, on the layout of the land. When I first came in, he said, "It's our highway skier," a reference to my use of hiking sticks. Right off, Reece told me that he wasn't put off by my pack and that he knew I was out here hiking on purpose. This understanding gave way to a great conversation that ranged from the local economy to local history. We chatted for over an hour.

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Estelline, Texas

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"We're as local as you can get."

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- Dale Redd, owner of the This "N" That convenience store, to me when I expressed an interest in shopping local. His store contained a wide variety of things from glass collectibles to hot Mexican candy. I bought graham crackers.

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Turkey, Texas

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"Here, everybody knows everybody, and they all look out for each other. That's why we stayed."

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- Marsha Valdez, manager of the Turkey Hotel, on the advantages of small town life. I stayed at the hotel which was built in 1927 and hung out mainly with her father-in-law Albert who sent me on my way back to the Caprock Canyons Trailway with a sack lunch of biscuits, sausage, and bacon.

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Turkey, Texas

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"People have asked me about encounters with wolves and what it is really like, and I have answered honestly that it is an unique experience but the sort of thing that gets less surprising each time."

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- Charles Goodnight on his experiences in the wild. Often referred to as the "father of the Texas Panhandle," he was a legend in his own time and the inspiration for Captain Call in Lonesome Dove. Goodnight managed the JA Ranch, part of which later became Caprock Canyons State Park.

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Quitaque, Texas

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In the News..., Next Mail Drop & Caprock Canyons State Park

I am currently in Turkey, Texas (I love saying that!). I have hiked about 32 miles of the Caprock Canyon Trailway (click to see it), a rails-to-trails route from Estelline to South Plains. More on that in an upcoming post.

Here's a little something that came out in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times a day or so ago. I want to make one change, though: I never wrote that Sam Bass had robbed a bank in my mom's home town in Mexico. The sentence was not supposed to be written with those last two words "in Mexico." It's a tricky sentence because I wanted to say he had robbed a bank in her home town but to show somehow that neither she nor my grandparents had been living there or even alive for that matter. Sam Bass didn't wave adios to my grandmother, but he left his mark on the town nonetheless. It's a minor point in the story, but I just wanted to correct it. Click here for the column.

My next mail drop is officially in Higgins, Texas (You see? It's not as much fun as saying "Turkey, Texas."). However, I'll be volunteering at the park. I probably won't reach Higgins until some time during the first two weeks in March. Still, if you're curious how, here's the address:

S.Matt Read
c/o General Delivery
116 N. Main St.
Higgins, TX 79046-9803
***PLEASE HOLD FOR PERIMETER HIKER***
***EST. ARRIVAL: MARCH 20, 2010*** (It's a good idea to allow for more time.)

I am very very close to Caprock Canyons (the main part of it; click to read more)! I'm excited. I've been told some ideas about what I'll be doing there, but it will all be made plain to me in a day or so. And I will definitely be posting more from there.

Until next time...