A Mini-Vacaton around a Needed Trip

Saturday & Sunday, Nov. 7 & 8, 2015--Wichita Falls, Lawton, and Dodge City

My friend Merryl's mother died in the evening between last Thursday and Friday after a long period of health problems.  The funeral will be tomorrow (Monday) in Perryton, TX which is right at the top right-hand corner of the Texas Panhandle.  I had been thinking for weeks as it looked as if she might die that I would drive up for the funeral.  That is why I am traveling.

No matter what the purpose of a driving trip, I try to take a route I have not traveled or to visit some places I have not visited even if it takes me a bit out of the way.  That is what I am doing on this trip to Perryton.

I left yesterday traveling up US 281 from San Antonio to Wichita Falls.  It was the first time I had gone over more than about 1/3 of this route.  And I had never been to Wichita Falls except when passing through on a bus once on a trip to California.   I didn't leave San Antonio until 14:00, so it was dark and 19:30 when I got there.  I almost ran out of gasoline getting there, though.  I knew I was about 25 miles away with no other towns ahead of me when my light on the car indicated it was low on fuel.  I had just passed what I expected to be the last gas station in a small town.  At first, I thought I would just drive all the way, since the warning light usually comes on when the car still has about 2 gallons (8 liter) of gas.  But I remembered my computer on board and checked; it said I could only go 12 more miles!!  I turned around and bought gas at the small town before continuing my trip.  Upon arrival in the city, I just found my motel, checked in, and ate at he What-a-Burger right across the street.  Then I called it a night.

This morning, I spent about 1 1/2 hours wandering the city before leaving.  I saw "The Falls" which have an interesting story.  I believe that there was once a falls in the area long ago that got washed out in a flood.  Since everyone coming to the city asked where the falls were, the city decided a few years ago to build one.  So they have an artificial falls which comes over a rocky outcrop and drops into the river below.  They are pretty, and they are very hard to reach--on a hiking tail with no nearby parking as far as I could tell.  They were positioned where people could see them from the highway when entering the city from the north.  I doubt that many visitors hike to them.

I explored downtown which is a disaster--probably the worst downtown I have seen anywhere in a city of that size (a little over 100,000).  I can see why it died.  There are no neighborhoods near it.  It is cut off from the rest of the city by expressways and a river.  So it took more of an effort to get downtown with ugly routes there than elsewhere.  It as interesting to note that even many of the old bank buildings there are vacant.  About all that is left in the area with any activity are government buildings.

I drove around the Midwestern State University campus.  It's pretty.  All the buildings have unique architectural features and share the same type of brick.  The campus is green and attractive.  And I explored an area of large, beautiful homes along Hampstead and Hamilton Streets.

Lawton is about an hour or so north of Wichita Falls in Oklahoma.  I had flown into there three times to give workshops for teachers in southeastern Oklahoma, but I had never explored the city or the area.  Knowing time was important due to the long drive ahead of me, I spent only about 2 hours in the area.  I toured the campus of Cameron University which was not nearly as nice as the campus in Wichita Falls.  (No link because I couldn't find photos of the typical buildings on campus.)  It's a small campus with buildings that look to have been constructed rather inexpensively.

The big treat in Lawton was a trip through the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.  I spent about an hour on the roads there.  It has herds of Texas longhorn cattle, American bison (buffalos), deer, etc., and large prairie dog towns.  The mountains are of stacked, rounded red boulders with trees in the low areas.  I hiked a short trail that overlooked the mountains and a winding river below.

From there, I headed straight to Dodge City without stopping.    Along the way, however, I passed through a large section of the Black Kettle National Grassland.  It was beautiful seeing the low hills covered in various grasses.

It was 18:00 and dark as I pulled into Dodge City.  I drove directly to the hotel and checked in.  Then I drove to Burger King and got a Whopper for dinner here in the room.  I was back just in time to watch the three Masterpiece Theater productions I have been following on public television for the past few weeks.  I'll explore the town tomorrow morning before I head to Perryton.  The funeral is at 14:00, and it is just a two-hour drive from here to there.  I'll spend a couple of hours here in town and then get to Perryton in time to have lunch.

Note to Readers about Novels:  I made a few posts here about books I have been reading, because I have always noted here the books that I have read while traveling.  However, I decided not to do that here any further.  Instead, I have started a new blog to keep track of the books I have read.  If you ever want to see what I have read and what I thought of it, click here to go to the address for the new blog.