A Sojourn: Part 1 continued

Having escaped Oklahoma relatively unscathed, the journey continued through the Texas panhandle. I was interested to see what Texas had to offer since I had heard good and bad stories about the state. I was not really impressed with the wasteland I saw, but I also realized that this was probably not a good representation of the state judging from what the locals call the "asshole" end. We had yet to stop at any of the unique sites along Route 66, so we decided to explore a little museum in McClean, Texas that claimed to have World's largest collection of barbed wire. It's not that we had any passionate desire to see the many varieties of barbed wire, it just happened to be free. Just to give you an idea about this town, McClean is one of those places that probably began with its founders banking on the prospect of striking it rich in the oil fields, but failed miserably. Now all of the relatives of those founders currently populate the town and each building proudly displays remnants of its pre-Depression era glory days. The little town did not disappoint, though, and proved it's distinction to be quite accurate. It did make me wonder how anybody could be possessed to consider creating such a museum, but judging from the photos on the wall of founders, to them, barbed wire was probably more exciting than an orgy with beautiful women and livestock (to make them feel more at home).
Mercifully, we left the forsaken town only to find several miles later that one of our tires had blown. We never knew what caused it, but I have a suspicion the little old lady at the counter of the museum stuck some barbed wire under our tire. We weren't far from Amarillo, so I thought we would have had somebody stop or help would arrive in some fashion once we called. Alas, no such luck. Two hours passed by as we withered under the Texas sun. Apparently the adage that "Everything is bigger in Texas" also applies to assholes. A mechanic from Clarendon, Texas did eventually help us put the temporary tire on, and we proceeded to follow him to his shop. The man's shop had an interesting juxtaposition of culture as the decor. One side consisted of what one might think of in a traditional small Texas town, with gun racks, American flags, and sports garb, while the front of the store had framed albums from the 70's and 80's of Elton John and Huey Lewis & The News.
Amarillo was the last major place to go through in Texas before going into New Mexico. Because of our brief detour at the hands of our tire, we opted not to stop to see anything. But this didn't stop me from reflecting on one thing in particular. The city is famous for what they call "The Big Texan". This, so the story has it, is a 72 ounce behemoth steak that, if eaten in under and hour, will be paid for. I would hope that they would pay for my medical bills as well along with the cost of the meal. I had heard about this from a friend and was keenly interested in seeing such a monstrosity and monument to American excess. One of these days I will have to go back and see for myself, perhaps even slay the beast. If I do, pray for me. To be continued.....