Deaf(Deef) Smith County and other stuff....

photograph by Horst Kelly

Before I start my ranting , I would like to acknowledge and thank fellow Casita Travelers Jerry and Wanda  for being the first folks to be members of my following......I have been following their blog... "Eggrolling"  for some time....thanks Guys and also Thank-you for the positive comments....

Woke up this morning about 0530.....got my cup of "wake up" and sat outside....the sky was clear and a 100 thousand stars where "winking" back at me......makes one feel really small and insignificant.....but also a touch of...like hay...I'm part of this larger than life team called the "Universe" and that's a pretty damn good feeling......after a couple of cups, I decided todays adventure would be south(about 80 miles) to Caprock Canyons......

Saddled up the Xterra and headed south on I-27....I started noticing that everyone was passing me like I was stopped at a traffic light...looked at my speed.... there I was doing 55mph...I guess you become a creature of habit...hitched up or not, 55 it is......Sooo, as I'm going so slow, I start reading the road signs...first one says entering  "Deaf Smith County", a little further down the road is a sign that indicates next exit for "Happy, Texas"......A little further South is the town of "Wayside"...my exit is Tulia, their sign says "The richest land and the finest people"

I can't let this just lie there, so I goggle knowing full well and there won't be any info this stuff....oh ye have little faith Horst....so as Paul Harvey use to say......

Deaf Smith County.....named after Erastus "deaf"(pronounced... Deef) Smith,....a soldier and scout, served in the Texas Revolution and the first person to reach the Alamo after its FALL.... timing is everything....county seat is Hereford texas...its known as the beef capital of the World...

Happy, Texas, population 640...motto is "town without a frown"....movie made in its name, though not filmed there....

Wayside, Tx..population in the year 2000 was 35....ok folks, with that size population there has to be in breeding, or maybe a couple of good goats....more research needed... being serious...these are the type of communties that make this a GREAT nation!!!!! I will pit them against any major city and they will come out on top......

Before you know it I'm at Caprock Canyons...also the home of the official Texas Bison Herd....it's very differnt than Palo Duro Canyon....you have both a upper and lower Canyon view....the down side iss it's hard to photograph....but to me it was a magificant canyon experience...the other nice feature was the solitude....I met two cars on my almost 4 hour adventure....no mountain bikers, horses, etc.....it also has 2 primitive camp grounds and two for campers(with electric and a dump station) as I recall it was $13 per night....has about 4 to 5 hikr trails,  I did the Eagle Point trail....

If I did this trip again I would reverse my homebase....say 3 days at Caprock and day trip to Palo Duro....but thats just me.......

All in all it was a great 1st leg of my journey....tomorrow I head towards Colorado.....I am going to an Rv Service place here in town as I have couple of minor issues to get looked at...so depending on how long that takes, will determine where I end up tomorrow evening....First stop in Colorado is Great Sand Dunes National Park....then off to Durango....more to follow....thanks for stopping by!!!!

Photograph by Horst Kelly