Canyon visit

We were in Canyon on July 26-27 on our way to Red River. A few notes on passing through the old home town ...

We stayed at the Best Western Palo Duro Canyon Inn for the first time (the Holiday Inn Express was booked). The BW was all right, but I prefer the Holiday Inn, as it has a bigger pool and better breakfast. From our room we had a glorious view of the new Dollar General Store located right outside my old neighborhood (Pioneer Estates). Oh well, at least it's not a pawn shop, a check-cashing office or a Crossed Keys liquor store ...

BTW, calling it the "Palo Duro Canyon Inn" is a little misleading, since it's 12 miles away from the canyon and the Holiday Inn Express is closer to the canyon that the Best Western ...

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Speaking of Pioneer Estates, that rickety wooden sign in the empty lot south of 4th Avenue as you're heading east out of town is marvelously tacky. I've seen mobile home communities with better looking signs than that. If it had been there back in the 1970s, it likely would have been the target of a few errant Roman candles, bottle rockets, or Molotov cocktails ... (yes, there were some unruly kids living in the neighborhood back then. I'm sure it's better now)

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We wandered around the WTSU campus (yes, I know it's not WTSU anymore, but I practically grew up on that campus and that's what it will always be to me). I like the walking mall that they put in to the north of the old Administration building. We walked through the Sybil Harrington Fine Arts Center. I was a little underwhelmed by the John E. Green Student Plaza (which seemed to consist of nothing more that a couple couches and some wall art stuck out in the intersection of two hallways). I guess I was expecting something more formal, sort of like the reception room they had in the old Fine Arts Building. And the plaque is not level and needs to be polished). The Sue Parks Conversation Corners were sort of nice, though.

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Had a good Sunday lunch at the new Feldman's location on 23rd Street. In the parking lot I spied a gray GMC Sierra pickup with several WTAMU stickers and one of those snide, all-in-good-fun "saw 'em off" decals . I thought to myself, "I bet that's the kind of vehicle that CanyonAg77 drives." I was sorely tempted to write BOO! on it using the ol' fingertip-and-spit method. But the wife and daughter were with me, so I had to resist the impulse.

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Went out to Palo Duro late that afternoon. I've made the 12-mile drive out there literally hundreds of times in my life, and have never grown tired of it. We hiked part of the way along the Lighthouse trail. It's much better marked than the last time I hiked it (about 1977 or so). Of course, the trail is so well traveled now that you hardly even need the markers.

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We were at Wendy's that night when we encountered a group of retirees from FBC having a post-church service coffee break. One of them was Dr. Ron Waide, who was my wife's science methods instructor when she was at WTSU. (And yes, he remembered her.) Then I spied Treasure Brasher, who was my chemistry teacher during my junior year of high school at CHS. A very nice, very classy lady, in spite of her relentless advocacy for TAMU ... naturally, I hastened to (re)introduce myself to her ...

BBH: Uh ... Ms. Brasher ... you probably don't remember me ... since I wasn't one of your more illustrious science students ...
Ms. Brasher: Of COURSE I remember you! You're JOHN KING!*
BBH: Well, close. John was a year ahead of me ... I was in the class of '77 ... David Green ...
Ms. Brasher: Now I remember you!
Ms. BBH: So, what was he really like in your class?
Ms. Brasher: Oh, he was a good student. Never caused any problems. But he was very, very quiet!
Ms. BBH: He hasn't changed much since then.

( *AggieBlitz, you should get a laugh out of that ... )

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Checked out the new Donut Stop building (new to me since my last visit to Canyon, that is). A marked improvement over the former gas station. Saw some more of my Dad's old colleagues (David Ritter and Rowie Durden, among others).

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Picked up a copy of the Sunday Canyon News and saw a photo of Bob Splawn on the front page. He's the Executive Director of Special Services with CISD. I dialed CISD in the hope of chatting with Bob. He and I both played trombone in the CHS Eagle Band back in the day. Alas, he was in a meeting, but I had a nice conversation with his secretary ...

BBH: So, is Bob still the rascal he was when he was in high school?
Bob's Secretary: Well, I don't really know how much of a rascal he was in high school.
BBH: Take it from me, he was an incurable, incorrigible rascal.
Bob's Secretary: Uh-huh ...
BBH: Would you say he's a rascal these days?
Bob's Secretary: Well, yes.

Link to photo of Bob

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Tex Randall is really getting gnarly. I would be surprised if he survives much past 2010 ...

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Driving north out of town on High Country Drive, I always get a laugh out of the road sign that says:

<-- Canyon Country Club
<-- Landfill

My wife used to think my family was rich because we belonged to the Canyon CC.

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Speaking of the landfill, it seems to have grown exponentially over the past 10 years. Obviously it's the highest point in Randall County, and maybe the whole Panhandle ... (I'm old enough to remember when the landfill was just a garbage-filled ravine that we passed on the way to the County Club ... )

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I see that they are (still) working on making US 87 a four-lane divided highway all the way between Dalhart and Texline. That's something that's needed to be done for only about THE LAST THIRTY YEARS!!! At the rate they seem to be going, they might get it completed by 2020, give or take a decade ...

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I like the Dairy Queen in Dalhart. The backs of the wooden chairs have cutouts that look just like Bevo ...

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[This message has been edited by BrazosBendHorn (edited 8/4/2009 4:57p).]

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We were in Canyon on July 26-27 on our way to Red River

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Whew, just missed you. We were in New Mexico at Valles Caldera. Put it on your list of places to see.

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new Dollar General Store

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United Bank had a double wide temporary building just across the street east of there until they got their new building built on 23rd street. Now it is going to be a sor hor house (Texas Theta). I preferred the double wide.

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that rickety wooden sign in the empty lot south of 4th Avenue

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Has been there the 15 years we've been there, outliving both Mr. Taylor and Mr. Foster and as 99% of the lots have been sold.

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I spied a gray GMC Sierra pickup with several WTAMU stickers and one of those malicious, dastardly, hateful, all-in-good-fun "saw 'em off" decals . I thought to myself, "I bet that's the kind of vehicle that CanyonAg77 drives."

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Pickup? Check.
GM product? Check, though Chevy, not GMC
Gray? Close, white.
WTAMU? No way. Texas A&M and USAFA (for the daughter) yes.
Saw 'em off sticker? No freaking way in Hell.

Treasure Brasher is a nice lady, she has worked with my wife on the Science Bowl.

Mount Trashmore is a disgrace. Idiot city manager/commission allow cities all over the Panhandle to dump there, and applied for and received a permit to go up to 100 feet high.

I can say that now that I no longer do business with the city.

Wow, what a recap. Thanks for sharing. I go up every so often to see my Mom, but I never run into anybody, and never recognize any names. Mrs. Brasher was one of the best teachers I ever had. I didn't really like chemistry, but it came easy to me, and I made a "B" at A&M without really studying much because of what I learned in her class. I remember Bob too. I've been on Facebook going through the Class of 1976 wondering if I should contact some of them. Its amazing to walk back down history lane. Thanks again.

BTW, I love these signs outside of Red River ... the first time I saw them, I thought they were for real ...

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Saw 'em off sticker? No freaking way in Hell.

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Exactly. Might as well buy a sticker that says "obsessed with that school in Austin more than my own school".

"obsessed with that school"

+2


I hate that sticker.


Great report on Canyon. Spent some time there in my youth as well. I always thought it was one of the nicest "cities" in the Panhandle.

EDIT: Please understand that I was living in Hart at the time. Even Umbarger seemed foreign/exotic to me.

[This message has been edited by Killer-K 89 (edited 8/22/2009 5:44p).]

bob splawn was my principal at crestview... small world

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bob splawn was my principal at crestview... small world

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I can just imagine ol' Bob unleashing his fearsome wit on some hapless, unsuspecting bad-boy 4th grader who hitherto assumed that he was the baddest thing on campus ... slinking out of Principal Bob's office with his dignity in shreds and self-esteem in tatters ... why should Bob use something as crude and blunt as a paddle to prove his point when he can go for the surgical strike with words?

Oh yes, Bob was by far the quickest wit on campus when I was at CHS. It's not that he was a run-at-the-mouth jester in the mode of Robin Williams; quite to the contrary, he was a bit on the laconic side. But he had the perfect timing, phrasing, and aim. You've heard of someone having a "rapier-like" wit? Bob's wit was more akin to a Japanese katana*: Swift, accurate, and lethal. Over the years, I only managed to land 2 or 3 notable zingers on him. Trouble was, every time I did that, he immediately countered with a riposte that was brutal and excruciatingly funny to everyone within earshot (with the obvious and glaring exception of his target). So I would be standing there, my freshly severed head in my hands (metaphorically speaking, of course), with the chorus of laughter (everyone laughing at me, not with me) confirming that Bob had once again chopped me. Meanwhile, Bob would be standing there in his standard relaxed pose, arms crossed, leaning against a desk, the doorjam, the car (or whatever stationary object happened to be be available), his face holding the perfect deadpan expression (Keatonesque, I dare say) that seemed to simultaneously convey the following thoughts:

1) Plenty more where that came from. Just try me.
2) Perhaps you should stick with safer, more mundane pursuits, such as hunting bear with a .22
3) All my life I've waited for a person worthy of my wit to spar with. You are not that person
4) Keep this up and you'll get the Wile E. Coyote award for mindless persistence
5) Did that hurt your feelings? Awwwww...





*what we Occidentals call a "samurai sword." There. I saved you a trip to the dictionary ...

[This message has been edited by BrazosBendHorn (edited 8/27/2009 10:47a).]

the above post made me laugh profusely!

bob splawn definitely still had that slow delivery and panhandle dry humor!

also in the "small world" department -

AggieBlitz, do you remember this former classmate of ours at CHS who is featured in the October issue of Texas Monthly?

I do remember him, but we weren't close friends at all. We kind of ran in different circles. It doesn't surprise me that he's had success.

Bryan and I had been friends at a younger age (hard to avoid, since our dads were both music professors at WTSU), but by the time we got to high school we had drifted apart and moved in different circles. In fact, even though he and I were in the same class (1977) and went grades 1-12 at CISD, the only class we were in together in those 12 years was band. And even then we were at opposite ends of the band hall, what with him playing flute and my playing trombone. In the early 80s he and I were at UT simultaneously (he was working on his law degree and I was working on my Masters), but we never ran into each other. (Although I did bump into Scott Nelson (class of '77) at the Student Union one day and we talked about old times over a few beers.)

I would say his family fairly oozes with success, inasmuch as his older brother is an accomplished musician who attended the Julliard School and his younger brother has a syndicated radio show ...

[This message has been edited by BrazosBendHorn (edited 10/14/2009 11:01a).]

hmmm there was a thomas garner in my brother's highschool class who then went to tamu with my bro. is he any kin to bryan?

Vetachi-ser:

I kind of doubt it, but can't say with 100% degree of certainty. I knew Bryan and his immediate family back in the day, and I wasn't aware of him having any relatives in the Panhandle area (he never mentioned any, and I certainly didn't meet any). I think most of his family relations are/were downstate. And like several of the WTSU faculty families back then (including mine), the Garners had moved to Canyon from somewhere else. (His dad started his teaching career in Lubbock, so there may have been some connections down there ...) Since then, I know that Bryan is in Dallas, Bradley went to NYC and is now a professor of music at U of Cincinnati, and I am somewhat sure that Blair has been living out on the West Coast for quite some time ...

Then again, your brother's classmate might have been a second cousin or something, for all I know ...

[This message has been edited by BrazosBendHorn (edited 11/5/2009 8:55a).]