Reasons I love Texas--Part 5--Two Studebaker Sunday

A Vietnam vet's memorial on the outskirts of Shamrock, Texas, with Studebaker

I love Studebakers

If you slow down...get off I-40 and take the old US 66 exit at Shamrock in the Texas Panhandle, and drive leisurely down the old mother road.
I did that last Sunday, ahead of schedule before stopping in Canyon. I love back roads, and the memories they provoke. Shamrock is known for its art-deco US 66 gas station buildings and more, but on the fringes of this town are boarded up windows, mechanic shops, old gas stations and more.

Such class

Out of the corner of my eye I saw an old Studebaker rusting away in an automobile junkyard, went past it, turned around and went back to take photos. When you drive through a small town on Sunday there's almost no traffic. 

Edsel graveyard

Understand that my first car was a Studebaker, and I've driven one and ridden in one on US 660 and parts of unfinished I-40 as a college freshman from Albuquerque to OKC years ago.  I've been in love with them ever since. There I also found the largest collection of old Edsels I've ever seen, a Hudson, a Corvair, and an old, old Ford, plus more.
Imagine if those cars could talk and  tell their stories, of their drives and roads they'd traveled and places  they'd been.

After taking those  photos, I headed on west and passed another later model Studebaker, next to another old Ford. This was outside a mechanic's shop, with a display that tells me he is a Vietnam vet, because it's also flying the American and POW/MIA flag.

It was a two Studebaker Sunday in Shamrock--more reasons I love Texas. 

*

Here's my poem for you: 
"Once there was a fellow, a raker
Who told his beautiful wife and homemaker
He'd never, ever forsake her,
If he could just buy a Studebaker."
 

Can you imagine the stories?

Reasons I love Texas--Part 3--a story of coincidences

Christy White, Cathy Wardlow, and "Shriek" inside The Roost at Shamrock, Texas.

Getting to the point: If you're traveling through the Texas panhandle around lunchtime, get off the Interstate at Shamrock, turn south, past fast "food" places, and drive toward the white water tower. When you get there, turn left on Railroad Avenue, and you'll encounter "The Roost." Don't miss it.
Why?
This is a story about coincidences, culminating this week in meeting a friend  for the first time and my scrumptious, made from scratch,  country chicken club salad.
A few years ago I started playing "Literati" on Yahoo, a scrabble type game, where you'd play other people around the world. It's addictive and eventually, after hours of wasting perfectly good time, you'd eventually begin to recognize and play the same people.
So it was that I "met" JCWardlow, and we were pretty evenly matched. I could tell from our occasional comments about weather and such that she lived in West Texas, and eventually figured out it was in Shamrock. As an oft traveler through there to New Mexico or to visit family, I know the terrain.
Then one day, looking at Facebook comments from former student and friend Richard Mize, I saw he had a friend named Jack Wardlow II from aptly named Levelland, Texas,  west of Lubbock. This old reporter couldn't ignore the coincidence, and contacted him about the possible relation who would play Literati. I found out that JCWardlow was his mother, probably using the initials of her husband and her first name, Catherine.
I surprised her with that knowledge during one game, and we  continued to play. Then Yahoo killed Literati, which is a blessing in saving hours that could be better spent--if I'd take advantage of them.
With the advent of Facebook, Cathy and I again became "friends," sometimes briefly commenting. That's where I learned that she worked in the Shamrock cafe, The Roost, owned by her daughter Christy White. 
I always meant to stop when passing through, but alas, every time we were in the panhandle, we were in a hurry to get somewhere, or it was the wrong time of day. After a couple of unsuccessful tries, I finally located  The Roost on one of my more leisurely back road trips, but it was closed.
Until this week.
Coming back from Lubbock and Canyon Thursday I pulled into Shamrock and headed for the restaurant. When I pulled up at 10:45, there were a couple of cars parked nearby, but it looked closed.
Still, on a whim, I walked up, tried the door and pulled it open.
"Hello, are you open?" I asked, not seeing anyone.
From the back in the kitchen area came the reply, "In 15 minutes."
I kept walking in, coming around the corner, and saw two women and a man working away. From a Facebook photo, I recognized the woman at the counter, and asked, "Are you Cathy Wardlow?"
"Yes I am," she said.
"I'm Terry Clark," I said, and got invited to stay for lunch, meet her daughter Christy White, trade  some stories, and have that great salad before heading back to I-40 and home.

In between, the place started filling up with regulars in hats and boots and other West Texas garb, all known by name. It's bright and clean, with wood tables, and all kinds of chicken kinds of things for decorations. I took two photos, and the one outside doesn't do the place justice. But inside? Larupin' good. The menu is terrific, all made from scratch, all under $10, I think. Look it up and click here on  Yelp, and you'll see photos and reviews. The Roost is also on Facebook.
I want us to go back in the winter when they've got stew and cornbread. And in the summer, with more time, for that peach cobbler.
Coincidences, and more reasons I love Texas.

Truck Nation, on the road

How many trucks, what do they cost, how many miles per gallon...So many questions in an eight hour drive down The 40, a river of trucks east and west.

Answers were digital--first Google, of course, looking for sources. Then former student Shannon Helton, who works for the Oklahoma Trucking Association chided me gently for not contacting her, after she read a Facebook post. 

She asked if I was interested in changing careers, nothing that many retired professors get in the business.  Hmmm, I thought. then she started answering questions.  I have her to thank for much of this material which gives an idea of the cope of Truck Nation.

"It's like a whole other world that exists in the shadows," she said. "An industry that keeps our country going and yet the majority of the public takes it for granted."

The I-40 River in the Texas Panhandle

Did you know that Oklahoma has 12,829 licensed tractor-trailers, and 197,980 trailers? She said there are about 3.5 million drivers in the country which might mean about five million semis.

Oklahoma's user fee is $2,593 a year per truck, plus a $993 annual registration fee. There are apportioned tags where they pay taxes for each state they travel in according to how many miles they travel in that state. They pay a flat fee for the state in which they are domiciled. 

 The trucks usually have two fuel tanks, from 200 or 500 gallons each, with 300 being fairly typical. Multiply that by the cost of diesel per gallon which includes lots more taxes, by the number of trucks...and that's a lot of fuel addiction. In 1982 the average miles per gallon was four. In 2006 it was six. Highest reported is close to nine, and as low as 1.7.  The average is between five and 8. Of course it depends on terrain and loads.  By comparison, a military tank with the same diesel engine can average two gallons per mile, one source reported, nothing that is not a typo. Those tires on the 18 wheelers...probably about $500 a tire, with about 15 pounds of steel in each tire. 

Think about all those expenses. I saw one trailer advertising paying drives 39.5 cents a mile. Let's see, that means  if a drive drove 11 straight hours at 70 mph, he/she'd make $304.50 that day. 

Consider the cost of goods you buy. We had a visiting Aussie friend tell us the cost of Aussie wine was the same in Oklahoma as back home. How do they do it?

Now conservatives against big socialist government aren't going to like this but that meddling federal government restricts the number of hours drives can drive. Did you know:

• Drivers may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.
• A driver may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty.
• A driver may not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days.
• A driver may restart a 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty.
• Drivers using the sleeper berth provision must take at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus 2 consecutive hours either in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination of the two.

I know, that may be more than you want to know, but think about it the next time you travel The 40 or The 35, or around the state. 

Add one note to emphasize how we are Truck Nation. It's also a national security risk. Stop and think. Remember how the grocery shelves clears out in a day or two with this year's blizzard? You could paralyze Oklahoma City, and the grocery shelves would soon empty if you blew up five Interstate bridges: The Canadian on The 40 and on The 35 at Norman, The Cimarron on the 35 north of Guthrie, over Lake Eufaula, and somewhere on the Turner Turnpike. Almost every city is so vulnerable.

All of this written, I find a world of poetry and grace and wonder on the road with the big trucks. Not the Hollywood version of Smokey and the Bandit, but of the real drivers, the different grills and makes and sleepers and cargos and license plates and logos and trailers and truck stops and more.


Keep on truckin'.

Truck Nation, New Mexico, on The 40. Hey, if it's blurry, look how fast I'm going.

Truck Nation...Traveling "The 40," part one

I-40, New Mexico

 I've probably spent more time on what is now I-40 than any other highway. I traveled it before it was I-40 when it was Route 66, while it was under construction, and uncountable times since, especially between Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Most recently and increasingly, I'm fascinated by what I've come to call "Truck Nation." My wife hates traveling the road because of the big rigs, and I'll admit, it is much more heavily traveled than some other interstates, but still, a day on I-40 is exhilarating to the imagination.

I have two games on the road--mapping the different license plates, and counting the trucks per mile. That's where this article comes from. Based on several trips, I can safely estimate that during daylight there are about 10 semi-trucks barreling along every mile of I-40 between here and Albuquerque--on one side. 

If you double it, that means there are roughly 1,000 semis on that stretch of road right now, and every hour--not counting  the ones in truck stops or parked alongside the road. Multiply that times all the Interstates, especially in heavily populated areas, and boggles the mind.

Consider the costs. Consider the people. Consider the jobs. Consider the cargos. Consider the food in the grocery stories. Consider the finances and incomes and environment and sociology and families.

Writer Larry McMurtry has traveled many of them and written about them in "Roads." http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=larry+mcmurtry+roadsWhile he hasn't traveled I-40, he has "The 35," as he calls them all as specific names. Makes sense, because he compares them, not to America's railroads, but to America's rivers for delivering commerce--like the Missouri, the Mississippi, the Ohio.

And traveling The 40, you have to conclude that Ike's brainstorm of a national defense highway network is no longer that. In fact, we don't need Interstates for cars. The main reason for Interstates? Modern rivers for semi-trucks.

If you want to know what it's like driving one of these modern day river boats, here's the best source. My favorite writer, John McPhee http://www.amazon.com/John-McPhee/e/B000AQ4582/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1in his book "Uncommon Carriers," fulfills every boys dream of stepping up in such a cab. In both the initial and concluding essays in the book, McPhee crossed the United States on two different trips with Don Ainsworth, the driver  an 80,000-pound eighteen-wheeler--a gleaming chemical tank carrier. What skill and adventure.

As I was heading home recently, somewhere west of Sana Rosa, I started wondering about the the costs and the numbers.

The exclamation point came up the railroad behind Burlington Northern Santa Fe (that name is obscene to me--it's the Santa Fe) locomotives and a container train....heading for more trucks.

If it's a little blurry, consider the conditions  when it was taken. While between me and it, more trucks...

So i stopped at an Oklahoma company  truck stop, Love's, to get a sandwich and gas up. Doesn't that tell you how Truck Nation is dominant. More questions to be answered.

Route 66 Memories, and ghosts

I've started taking the I-40 exits to the towns that once spanned U.S. 66 in New Mexico and Texas, and breathing, and thinking.

Clark quote, when someone told me not to be in a hurry: "I left hurry in Oklahoma." My friend Mark Zimmerman is a professional photographer with a real knack and talent for documentary photography, and he inspired me to this project.

Fading away...

A couple of months ago I stopped on the Texas-New Mexico border and took photos of Glen Rio.

Here's another chapter, Newkirk, N.M., between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, where I turned off to head up the back roads to Las Vegas.

Backsliding away...

What kind of bottles?

Fill 'er up

Not exactly Motel 6...I wonder who stayed in those rooms?

Can I thumb a ride?

It's just not the same