May 21st – Lubbock day 2

We spent the latter part of last night watching news reports of the tragic events in Oklahoma. We seem to be just outside of the extreme weather zone and the worst we got was a rather cool and overcast start to the day. The trees outside our hotel room were swaying in the strong wind so we were quite glad that we were not going to be riding in it.

After a rare and luxurious lie-in we wandered over to the enormous Walmart store which is just across the lot from the hotel. It literally seems to sell everything from car tyres to fruit. It would probably be quite possible to adopt a life as a hunter-gatherer and live out one’s days there without ever getting caught. Shotgun shells (which are very competitively priced I have to say) are openly available on the shelves although the rifle and handgun ammunition is kept in locked cabinets. I offered to buy Mark a gun rack for his bike but he was surprisingly unenthusiastic. I bought an entire new outfit for $30 dollars (although now people point at me in the street and mutter “he buys his clothes at Walmart”).

We then went back to the hotel where we got a cup of coffee and a tea. The latter came in the form of a paper cup of hot water and a tea bag. After some negotiation something resembling milk was obtained but there was nothing to stir at with. It was at this point that the scissors Mark had purchased at Walmart came in handy as a tea stirrer.

Thus fortified we then walked the mile and a half or so to the Buddy Holly Center. Again we were the only pedestrians about who did not look like they would be sleeping in a doorway that night. It is a life-enhancing experience scampering across a six lane highway to get from one block to another. However it has to be said that the car drivers are extremely courteous and will stop to wave us across a junction whether we want to go across or not!

The grid pattern is at last starting to make some sense to us with the north-south roads being alphabetised and the east-west are numbered (our hotel is between 8th and 9th Streets on Avenue Q). So the Buddy Holly Center is on the block between 18th and 19th on, err, Crickets Ave (Ok, the system isn’t perfect).

The Center was well worth a visit if you have any recollection of Buddy Holly. I was shocked to realise that he died when I was 6, when he was only 22 years old.

After that we were back to the hotel and after a session in the gym and laundry we were again retracing our steps to the Triple J. Once more we fell into the trap of ordering starters which turned out to be the equivalent of a main course for a family of 5. Our digestion wasn’t helped by having already tucked into the very fine Pilsner that they brew on the premises. American pints are only 16 fluid ounces as opposed to ours which are 20 so it doesn’t seem as naughty somehow.

Our waitress was studying nutrition at Texas Tech. She assured us that we were eating healthily with all the major food groups represented. However when asked to estimate how many calories there were on the table in front of us she started to look shifty and suddenly noticed that another table required her attention! However, that aside, I can certainly recommend the salmon steak cooked on a piece of cedar wood as a main course providing you pass on the starter.

The plan for tomorrow is to get to Boise Oklahoma, weather permitting. We have to head north from here anyway so we’ll keep a wary eye on the skies and see how far we get. At the moment the weather forecast looks OK so fingers crossed we should be in yet another state tomorrow.