Panhandlin'

There's an old song by Texas songwriter and singer Robert Earl Keen called "Amarillo Highway" that goes:

'Cause I'm panhandlin' manhandlin', Post holin' hugh rollin'
dust bowlin' Daddy, I ain't got no blood in my veins,
I just got them four lanes, of hard Amarillo highway.

This song really has nothing to do with my blog today other than it sings about the Texas Panhandle. "Panhandlin'" is a term used to describe people that hold signs up on the side of the road near liquor stores saying, "Homeless" or something like that. So, I guess that was really pointless to paste the lyrics of that song on here.

Ok, anyway I received a couple complaints from people wondering why I hadn't posted anything in a few days. Last Wednesday after a day in the peanut fields southwest of Lubbock, I drove to Dumas to stay the night before we had a field day in the tiny town of Etter. There's an extension experiment station there devoted almost solely to corn research.

TCPB sponsored the field day, so we were there in support of the discoveries they were making toward better, more drought resistant corn varieties, as well as varieties more tolerable to silly insects that like to ruin profit margins for corn growers.



Since I was already up there in the northern Panhandle, I decided to stick around another day and visit our six board members from that region and snap their picture (or 20) for use in our newsletters, press releases, or any other use that creeps up on me in a day. So, I made the drive further northwest to Dalhart after making two stops at our board members' farms, one in Dumas and one south of Stratford.

I stayed the night in Dalhart and was coincidentally able to meet up with some Prairie Grove folk, who had made the nine hour drive that day across the plains for a family reunion. There were, like, 17 million Hammets there. Likely the most Hammets ever to be in one location.

The first weekend in August every year marks the celebration of the once-largest ranch in the world - the XIT ranch. The XIT was home to 3 million acres when it was given to two Chicago businessmen as payment for restoring and rebuilding the Texas capitol in Austin after it was burned. And by the way, the Texas capitol was built so that it would be taller than any other capitol in the country, including the U.S. Capitol in Washington. That's so Texas. The whole weekend was quite educational.

Some lifelong friends of mine whose family reunion was being held in conjunction with the 72nd XIT Reunion and Rodeo, as is the custom in Dalhart, also happened to be staying in the same hotel as I was.

It was odd to see 18 Arkansas folks that I'm used to seeing in Arkansas (well a few of them anyway) all the way out in the western town of Dalhart - population 7,000.

Friday, I made trips all over creation to visit two more board members on their farms and was even taken to lunch in the tiny Texline, where I ate excellent Mexican food in a place that was once an old gas station. In this town, one side of the road is New Mexico and the other is Texas.

Once the work day was over, I met back up with the Arkansans and enjoyed a nice Dalhart experience.

My second night in Dalhart, we dropped in a local establishment called the Texas Tavern, where I argued with a Cargil employee about ethanol. He bought two rounds, so I guess I won the argument. It was a rather seedy joint, but still fun.

We attended the annual XIT parade, which had floats from local businesses, cheerleaders, the high school band, and even the class of 1998. The term "reunion" can be applied to any circumstance that allows a large group of people to "reunite" in Dalhart. I recommend reading the history of the XIT Ranch. It's pretty stinkin' neat.


Later that day was the traditional "Word's Largest Free BBQ Feed" where thousands turn out to chow down on tasty Texas BBQ that is appropriately cooked in the "World's Largest BBQ Pit". It was an amazing amount of meat.

Then it was onto the annual PRCA XIT Rodeo, where I got to see a few of my favorite team ropers, none of who actually caught.

At least the cowboy scenery was somewhat pleasing to the eye...the old guy in the red suspenders isn't included in that comment. I just thought that made a nice picture.

It was a fun weekend, full of corn, driving, BBQ, history and friends who randomly showed up in West Texas. After the weekend was over, I had driven over 800 miles since last Tuesday. It was nice though to actually be out in the fields and out of the office.

PS. All the photography on this blog is mine. Don't ya go taken it without my permission, written in blood, and the rights to any oil wells you might have.