Texas panhandle plains

Everyone told me that the drive through West Texas was going to be long, boring and just plain painful. I have been incredibly and pleasantly surprised. I’m currently in Amarillo and the drive through the panhandle plains has been lovely. Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen landscape like this before so the novelty keeps me interested but I think it is absolutely beautiful. The grassy plains, the railroad track running parallel to the road, the old houses that seem to pop up out of nowhere surrounded by a few twisty trees and perhaps a barn and windmill. I feel like I’m on a movie set, maybe An American Tail: Fieval Goes West or something. I keep waiting for a tumbleweed to go tumbling by.

I’m glad that I’ve spent the amount of time in Texas that I have. It has dismantled [some of] the, not biases really but, enigma that has surrounded this massive state for me. This is the first time I’ve stepped foot in it besides a quick layover at Dallas Ft. Worth. The few days I was able to spend in Dallas with Leilani and Kelley was beautiful. Two days ago, my last full day in Dallas, Leilani took me to an Saturday evening service her church, the Village or something like that, which I really enjoyed and then toured me around the city to show me the different sections, divides and disparities (can you tell we were both Health Behavior and Health Education Master’s students at one point?). South Dallas and Uptown are like night and day. She’s working on a cardiovascular health project through churches in South Dallas so she knows the area well. We went to eat, however, at Manny’s, a true Texmex joint in Uptown. I really love my friends, had a great time with her.

Earlier that day Gheera and I went to White Rock Lake, which is near where I was staying in Garland. It has over nine miles of water front trials. We jogged/walked for awhile but mostly just parked it under a tree by the lake, which Gheera kept trying to drink out of and nearly fell in. (I think I have a good photo to post of that scene.) The only other incident that day was the cop that pulled up next to me at the gas station, rolled down his window and gave me a slightly stern, slightly confused look. I thought I must be doing something wrong (I haven’t had great luck with the police) but what he wanted to know was where the heck I was planning to surf in Dallas, taking note of the boards strapped to the top of my vehicle.

Dallas is a bit overwhelming. I would describe it as sprawling I guess. I couldn’t really get a handle on where the “city center” is. I’ve been thinking about that a lot- how I would describe all the cities I’ve visited thus far. Nashville is very commercial, touristy. Lots of cliché country stuff. Don’t get me wrong; I loved it; that’s just the vibe I got. Memphis was kind of ghetto, which surprised me, but I heard to REAL music there. I really enjoyed it. New Orleans, probably eclectic. (Kelley helped me come up with that based on how I described it to her. I also got a very romantic vibe, kind of similar to when I was in Venice, Italy. New Orleans has been my favorite so far. I was a little disappointed in the music scene though. I think I have to go back because I probably didn’t end up in the right places at the right time. I could have walked all over the place there for days and days through. Baton Rouge was kind of dead when I stopped. I would call that a sleepy city too but sleepy in a different kind of way compared to Amarillo.

Anyway, after arriving in Amarillo, I checked into the hotel and met up with one of Lei’s friends, Ellen, a family medicine resident who is also interested in work in developing countries who has spent some time in Kenya. We went to Texas Roadhouse since most of the local places were closed as it was Sunday night and she told me all about the panhandle and other places I might want to check out here and in New Mexico. It was great to meet her! After that I drove around “downtown” Amarillo. Maybe it was because it was Sunday night but man oh man that place was completely dead. We’ll call it sleepy. There was about one tall building. I did, however, drive along old Route 66 also found a cool climbing wall outside in the shape of a cross.

At Ellen’s suggestion, I’m heading down to Palo Duro Canyon this morning, which is about 20 miles south of here. I’ve never heard of it before but apparently it is massive and second in size only to the Grand Canyon. I’m also going to check out Cadillac Ranch on my way out to Albuquerque and the mysterious staircase once I get to Sante Fe.