Texas is SERIOUS about BBQ

who knew Texans were BBQ foodies?
being meat-free, gluten-free and dairy intolerant (I refuse to eat plastic cheese) it has never really been an issue for me to find a great or even a mediocre meal  to enjoy. Texas has and continues to test that quest/search ..especially given it's high dense love of the B-B-Q - everything. And the small towns cater to the locals, so a salad with more than a tomato slice has been a challenge to find, let alone fruit or gluten-free bread. I digress though...

I am married to a meat-loving carnivore - so the discovery in Crowell, TX of the "WILD HOG" cook-off confirmed our staying over in nearby Copper Breaks SP for a few more days. The cook-off is the 1st weekend of November, every year....so plan accordingly if you want to visit.

The competitors start arriving as early as Thursday evening, the entry fee is $100.00, but if you want to be judged on your BBQ "beans"...you'll have to toss in another $10. (Excuse me? vegetables are more??? - being me, I was curious, because that is just <cough>insane<cough>)

So, for that entry fee, on Friday evening 1/2 of a wild hog is delivered to your site and you spend your evening butchering it. Sound like fun, eh ....apparently it takes a while as these beasts are tough and because they are considered a "nuisance pest" these cowboy cooks grinned talking about the prep - apparently they are perfect for the BBQ...the longer they cook, the more tender and tastier they become. Since no samples were available to Mike, we can't verify that here.

The entire block around the county courthouse is surrounded by RV's, trucks and the assorted grills. Mind you, there are no food carts here selling what they are cooking, nope, they are just cooking and about every hour or so, they grab whatever is being judged off the grill and run it over to the judging area. A missed opportunity to pay some expenses, given the anyone can sign up to judge the competitors skill at b-b-q-ing food. At some point in the past a national beer company was a sponsor, no longer....more missed opportunities. Maybe it just got to rowdy, after all it's a competition. There is a small monetary prize, however if you are a serious competitor you would need to win every time to cover expenses.

 

Mike did, however, get lucky and was given a chicken wing to sample at our very first stop

 

Categories: Beans, Brisket, Ribs, Chicken, Wild Hog.

Judging based on: It has to "look/smell/taste" like BBQ to be submitted. 

 

During a conversation with one of the contestants we discovered that he started his "competitive" career when his wife wouldn't let him get a sports car - so, he brought a motor home and a grill (photo below) and now spends 40 weekends going to competitions between New Mexico and Florida. (my secret question was "what am I missing here?")   .

A wide variety and types of grills can be found....mostly custom built. All with very proud cowboy cooks tending to their vittles, burning a mix of oak, cherry, hickory and mesquite.



a two-sided version

Team Fisher looked like relatives of Duck Dynasty...and were just a tad scary looking, sitting around their grill, drinking beer at noon.  We didn't stop.

 someone's old furnace?

these two had their own bottled 'special sauce' - til they sold it to Sweet Cream Suds to re-sell in her shop.

 

 

Thankfully it was a sunny day and I could wander off ...in search of a Thai fresh salad roll. (not that I found one here, but it was a lovely and educational day.) And you have to admire the passion, dedication and spirit of anyone who makes this a hobby....cuz I think they are nuts.

 

 

~Ciao



 

Keeping History Alive....museum tramping in Quanah and Crowell

I am not a good, loving-it-all camper. Oh, I have camped since childhood, backpacked 10+ miles into the Cascades more than once (when I was much younger) and was willing to sleep on the ground sans air mattress enough times to really appreciate the comforts of a good pillow-top. I want the creature comforts of a hot shower, food cooked inside a dry RV-without the added nutrients provided by sand/ash/bugs. The best part of our RV life is seeing places I would never take an airplane or a car trip to visit...it's the history of my ancestors, both Native American and the Europeans that came over on the Mayflower. It is the museums in small towns, monitored by volunteers in most cases, lovingly chronicled and displaying the local history that appeals to me. So this post is about the local museums with some history thrown in.

This is the Quanah Historical Museum building. Once the Quanah, Acme & Pacific Railway depot....
built in 1908, a historical landmark
and part of the Hardeman County
 Jail museum
(located behind this building > )









Quanah, TX...named for the last Comanche Chief - Quanah Parker....2010 census pop. 2642. The town went into decline when the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railroad left town in 1982.

 

In addition to the Chief Quanah and railroad history, Astronaut Edward Givens - killed in a car accident while training for Apollo 7, Lane Frost - 1987 PRCA World Champion Bull Rider, cotton production, US veteran's and the Masonic Lodge histories are included within it's walls. It's a two story building packed with history, admission FREE.

 

We were lucky to visit on Thursday, the volunteer informed us "had we come on Friday the museum would be closed as she had a funeral to attend." If you go, go early - she closes at 3pm to gather up grandchildren after school.

 

This mural is attached to the building adjacent to the museum. Sadly many of the buildings are so old, they are crumbling and so while we were visiting the old hotel was demolished and there were visible signs that more of the more dangerous buildings would also be taken down. The brick street is directly behind the museum....gorgeous really.

 

Quanah is the Hardeman County seat and this courthouse was under restoration (so we couldn't go up to the cupola)

  

 This is the dedication marker for Chief Quanah on the grounds of the courthouse.

 

Onto Crowell's Firehall Museum (2010 census pop. 826)....20 miles from Quanah...it's museum is located on the main drag in what was once the Firehouse....while we were here one of the locals, a 80 y/o (he said so, although he didn't look much older than 70) informed us that "we had to work real hard to get to Crowell". What he didn't know was we were glad we did.

 

 



 

The Sante Fe Depot, built in 1908, is home to the Crowell Public Library (below) and Museum. The museum educates visitors on the local history and has an extensive collection dedicated to Cynthia Ann Parker who was kidnapped by Comanche Indians and eventually lived with them for over 25 years. The depot is open Monday to Friday, and library hours Noon - 5pm. Cynthia Ann Parker was the mother of Chief Quanah. 

 

 

 Sweet Cream Suds proprietor Carli, local native, raises her own goats out on the Pease River. Hand-milked, hand-made soap, lotions and body butters can be found here in her retail outlet in Crowell or on-line (click on the link posted within the shop name above. You can find her on Facebook as well.)

She also carries a few artisans products like the pottery and yarn pictured below.

I appreciate the ingenuity and creative efforts of small town businesses to keep and build on their history so we support them by supporting their businesses whenever we can. Marlow Supply, Tater's Café and Gentry's Grocery and Supply (the oldest surviving business - 69 years - in town)

 

 Gentry's was a surprise, and a bit scary given the rather large hole in the floor at the back part of the building...but Mr. Gentry was really sweet and we found the insect (death bomb) spray that we needed. It is a must see if you are in the 'hood.

 

 See these feet....?

 

 That's a "hitching ring", along with several others on E. Commerce (just down from Marlow's and in front of the drugstore). 

 

The feet however, are moving on....see ya.

 

Thanks for your time...next up is the National Wild Hog Cook-off post.

 

~Ciao!

 



Outrunning bad weather, we ended up here

We fled Oklahoma like insects fleeing pesticides. Seriously, we were in Woodward, OK on Monday and it was becoming the focal point for the "major thunderstorm" moving up through the Heartland...so we did our best imitation of Canadian geese and drove like the wind south, down Hwy 34. We just didn't want to be caught in the thunder/wind/lightning/hail spectacular that arrived, apparently on Wednesday last week.

Destination: Copper Breaks State Park, outside Quanah, TX

So, as with NE and KS, we caught the narrowest 2 lane road available and drove through some pretty amazing small towns. Small like Sharon, so small I apparently did not see it as we drove through it, (pop.138*) and Vici, (pop. 699*, the Vici City Hall - circa 1939)

and Carmargo (pop. 178* )

Many of these towns are a mere 20+ miles or so between one another and are surrounded by cattle and farming ranches.

Elk City (pop. 11700*) intersects the old Route 66

Continuing down Hwy 34 to Mangum, a stopping point on one of the cattle- drive trails from Texas through OK to Abilene, KS. The photo below depicts cattle-drive life and is titled 'Up the Trail'.

 Mangum is a good sized town...(pop. approx. 3100*  and Margaret Avery, nominated for her role in The Color Purple was born here.) The mural below was on a business we passed leaving town.

We stopped in Carter (pop. 256*) for lunch....next to the town's cotton gin (which is now someone's residence) and the cotton co-op, where the photo below displays a bale of cotton and the reflection of our rig.)

We left Hwy 34 - at it's end and got onto Hwy 6 near Eldorado (pop. 446*), for the last 20 miles of Oklahoma and crossed over near the town of Quanah. Hello! Texas!

Roughly 20 miles inside the border is Copper Breaks...a lovely, quiet state park with electric/water sites, separate dry camping sites available and a equestrian area...after all it is Texas.

We were greeted by this rather impressive example of a Texas longhorn...our first sighting. I had to wonder about the stability of that rather flimsy looking fence...but so far, as of Monday when we arrived, it is the only day we have seen the herd.

The park office has a museum on site and offers a nice selection of artifacts and local area information. When available they sell "Stink Bait" - and yes I had to ask....it's a gop of goo that smells. Apparently the fish "adore" it.

This restored 'chuck wagon' is featured, as is quite a bit of the local Comanche history, given Quanah Parker was the last Chief and the town's namesake. His mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, at age 6, was kidnapped by the Comanche's, raised as one of their own and married within the tribe. My next post will be on Quanah...both the town and the Native American.

This is Big Pond, which when the water level is higher, feeds Lake Copper Breaks. Currently, due to the 3 year drought, water restrictions are in place for Quanah, Crowell and the surrounding areas.

Each camping site has a tepee shelter, with table and lantern hook. This one is closed as it appears Thor got mad and sent down a lightning bolt at some point in the not too distant past.

We are not using ours...for it is inhabited by a family of bats - really, just rodents with wings (eeuuuwww) and a village of wasp nests. So we are being good neighbors and giving them a respectful space in which to enjoy their living quarters.

I must say the night sky here is...in a word - AMAZING! No business/street/housing lights = dark, very dark night skies. We were able to photograph Venus 2 nights ago...also, the Milky Way is so close I feel as though I could reach out and touch it.

Next up....Quanah. In the meantime, thank you for reading my post...I hope you enjoy our travels as much as we do.

~ Ciao

NOTE: * denotes population number during 2010 US census.

Toto - (aka Lucy) we are not in Kansas anymore....

 
An oil rig...

just one of hundreds  that we saw  traveling through Kansas and the

Cathedral of the Plains (below) is in Victoria, KS and can be seen from I-70...the towers stand 141' so we noticed it from a distance, just before we left the interstate for the night in Russell. 

 

 

We hit the road yesterday morning in Russell, KS and even though it was 10am, with the temperature @ 40 & rising, we still needed coats for the wind that was  blowing.  Our heading - Boiling Springs State Park outside Woodward, OK…for rest and relaxation. 

 

We have taken to  driving the back roads, those 2 lane connectors between small towns like Hosington (pop. 2700, Hosington is located in the middle of Kansas at the junction of Kansas Highway 4 and United States Highway 281 and sits directly on the National Wetlands and Wildlife Scenic Byway), Larned (pop. 4600, Fort Larned, one of the best preserved Pony Express era military forts in the country); to Pawnee Rock (pop. 252)…that’s right, 252 – a state park is located there.  We also drove through the thriving city of Great Bend (pop 16,000)…named for the bend in the Arkansas River, which has all the usual fast food joints one finds in large cities.  Did not see a Starbucks, but there was a Mickey D’s, Pizza Hut, Sonic and the assorted other bistros….not to worry I am still on the hunt for the weird and unusual named establishments. And I found one in Phillipsburg, Kansas...The Chubby Pickle - need I say more? They sell, erm, wait for it......

 

hamburgers - was there ever a question.

 

A theme appears to run through Kansas towns…banner flags hanging from lamp poles. Each town proudly sharing either the local high school mascot, the year it was founded, or as in the case of Kinsey - which informs you that they are exactly...

 

half-way between NYC and SF.  The other similar note worth mentioning, although not limited to KS, is the once grand old theatres that are now shuttered or only open on weekends…such a sad commentary of our times. Phillipsburg, KS isn't one of them by the looks of their Majestic.

 I’ve been googling (isn’t technology grand when it’ convenient and useful), these small towns just prior to arriving to get a better sense of the demographics and for background.  An example: yesterday as we drove through northern Kansas we couldn’t ID the crop that seemed to be the major farm crop.

So I googled and discovered it’s sorghum.  Sorghum grass fields dot the landscape of Kansas...and many of the fields have oil rigs. (We were amazed to learn of the many uses for sorghum, besides as the flour I use for baking.) Used as Butyl Alcohol in industrial applications and as a diesel fuel additive.

 Coldwater, KS, (pop. 836), county seat and Lake Coldwater is the only city, county, or state lake in southwest Kansas that permits water-related sports. While we didn't stay long enough to use our kayaks, we did spend about an hour walking around the town.

The building, in the photo above,  was the first one we saw when we pulled into town. We could only guess....a hotel in it's hey-day?, a bank?, now it's a coin laundry and apartments...we decided it was a hotel - given the baloney.

A couple of original buildings...above the local newspaper and I have no idea what the building below was originally, it is now the county museum.

Coldwater was approximately 20 miles from where we are parked in the Boiling Springs State Park...

which will be most likely highlighted in my next installment. In the meantime, let me leave you with a short video of the deer, arrived at dusk, eating apple we tossed out to them...there were about 6. We hope to feed them every night we are here.

Until then~Ciao