Little RV on the Prairie

 Time for a couple of catch up posts! We're writing this post from a rest area in Clarendon, but we've spent most of this week at the second largest canyon in the United States, Palo Duro Canyon. Palo Duro is a great place to ride, but there's no way to get a cell signal through solid rock. Somebody really needs to work on that!

 We leave Austin on Sunday, then spend the next couple of days heading northwest. Eventually we turn onto 82, which follows the old MacKenzie Trail. 

 This trail was laid out by General MacKenzie back in 1872, when he was given orders to explore this part of the country. This would lead to one of the saddest chapters in Texas History - the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, where General MacKenzie forcibly removed the local Native Americans  from their land.

We're glad now we took time to convert the Otterbee into a boondocking machine.  We can take our time; enjoying the quiet beauty of the Texas panhandle, and parking wherever the mood strikes us.

 Yes, we just said we enjoyed driving through the Texas panhandle - and we're posting these pictures as proof!

 One of our favorite stops was at an old-style Texas rest stop, just south of Dickens, Texas. The rest area sat on a small hill, which meant we had a wonderful - and free - view!

Watching a spectacular Texas sunset, we were reminded of the brilliant Willa Cather line, "There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries were made." 

 Of course, being long-time Texans, we tend to think of Texas as more of a country than a state... 😄

 We'll end this post with more sunset phto, and our favorite song about the panhandle. Billy Briggs and the XIT Boys were one of THE best Texas Western Swing Bands, and this song is a classic. And yes, Clarendon is one of the towns mentioned!

Panhandle Shuffle