You can go home again

It was really hot when we left Palo Duro. We decided to break our trip at Goodlett, TX at an RV park called the Ole Town Cotton Gin

Ole Town Cotton Gin RV Park

. The website sounded really neat, and they had a pool and hot tub which we thought would be really great in the heat.

When we drove up, almost all the spots were out in the broiling sun, and we almost didn't stop. But we were tired and hot, so we did. The bad news was both the pool and spa were not open, but the owner did give us the only spot available that had a semblance of shade.

We got the A/C on and set up, but at 10 p.m., it was still almost 90 degrees inside. It was an uncomfortable night, and the best thing about the park was the complimentary (donations accepted) breakfast in the park office - biscuits and gravy were very good.

We know why we don't want to stay in Texas in the summer.

We drove to Wichita Falls where we had lived for 13 years when our kids were growing up. They have a city park right off the freeway, and we decided that if it was shady, we would stay overnight and drive around to see all our old haunts. We had a great shady site with W/E for only $10. It's amazing what shade will do to help out an overheated RV.

We drove around and took pictures of some of our favorite places. The Falls at Wichita Falls was rebuilt while we were there. In fact, I was at the opening ceremony which the Today show covered.

Interesting story about that ceremony- we had tons of Spring rain that year, and the river had risen so much that the pump that pumped the water up to the top of the Falls wasn't working. (It's not a natural falls - that one flooded out years ago and was never that big anyway.) In fact, the entire footbridge was under water.

The Today Show along with Willard Scott was coming and the Falls weren't working. What to do? They decided to rig up fire hoses at the top of the Falls, and they put out squares of turf to cover them up. I was supposed to present Willard Scott with a t-shirt for Falls Fanfare which was a Drum and Bugle Corps competition hosted by the three Wichita Falls high school. I remember my foot slipping under one of those squares into the mud. The fire hoses were turned on and voila! We had a Falls!

Falls were turned on!

Every so often, the Falls are turned off for cleaning, so you never know if it might be Wichita Walls instead.

Our kids both graduated from Wichita Falls High School-popularly known as Old High, and spent all four years twice in the band program. That's eight years of band parenting for Jeff and I. Here is the entrance to the band hall which we frequented so many times.

Eight years of this entrance

In fact, we rarely entered the school from the front which is why when Amanda was just learning to drive, and we drove down a street which showed the front of the school, Amanda didn't even recognize it and said, "What's that school?"

What's that school?

We drove by our old house

Our old house

- it seems much smaller now. I don't know how that yard held all those Cub Scouts.

Amanda and Robert got married at this place

Here Amanda and Robert tied the knot

. It seems to have been turned into apartments now, but then was known as The Mansion and had lovely stained glass windows and a gorgeous staircase that Amanda and Jeff came down for the ceremony.

We all spent many hours at Backdoor Theatre

Backdoor Theatre

as we seemed to always be involved in many productions there. I remember one summer when Jeff was in "Camelot" at Midwestern State University's Red River Lyric Theatre, I was the costumer for "Yeoman of the Guard" at Red River, and I was also the assistant director, costumer and choreographer for "The Wizard of Oz" at Backdoor in which both Adam and Amanda were performing.

We enjoyed driving around Wichita Falls for the first time since we left in 1995. Nice place to be from.

May 20, 2008

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