Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys

We are at the free Waylon Jennings RV Park, in Littlefield, Texas (map).

There are eight or so spaces here with 30-amp power and water spigots, and another two dozen on the grass nearby with 30-amp power only. Stays of up to four nights are free in this city-owned park; additional nights can be purchased with a deposit in the iron ranger, or can be arranged through the chamber of commerce.

Littlefield is the birthplace of the famed country legend, and his bootprints adorn a concrete sign here in the park. He also tossed the first horseshoe in the adjacent Fannie Mae Horseshoe Club grounds -- the largest I've ever seen.



This was a perfect stopping place for us. While only 30 miles or so from Lubbock, we got a late start yesterday after all our in-town stops, including a frustrating half hour or so at Best Buy, and a $430 fill-up at Flying-J, where we also took half an hour to top up all the tires.

The free hookups were welcome, as we ran an air conditioner for the first few hours here, and we needed a good top-off on the batteries, which never get "finished" unless we can plug in. We unplugged for most of the night, though, since a whopper of a thunderstorm passed through here. We also stowed the satellite dish while the lightning was close, even though there is a 200' radio tower nearby.



We're topping the batteries back up this morning, as well as drying out from the handful of leaks that are still with us. We are on a leisurely schedule now, since our friend in Colorado is unavailable until the 16th, giving us a full ten days to go just 650 miles. We'll have a couple days to visit, then we need to be in Denver on the 18th -- Louise is flying to California for a few days to help her mom move, and I'll be holding down the fort someplace in the Denver area until she returns.

My visit to Best Buy was for naught. It turns out that the first DirecTV rep I spoke with was incorrect -- it's not possible to buy a customer-owned receiver at such a retail store. So I am back to Plan B, which is to procure a receiver or two on eBay and either use the parts to fix the one I've got, or bite the bullet and have DirecTV send me a new access card. So we'll be TV-less (no great loss) for at least two more weeks, longer if we need the access card.

After lunch we will continue northwest through Muleshoe and cross into New Mexico just past Farwell. We've had a great month here in Texas, and we look forward to returning soon.