[A/S] Amarillo, Texas - October 19th, 2000

[hhamp5246@xxxxxxx]

Hi Gang,

It's definitely time to get a home.....  Today I got a 4 foot by 6 foot oil 
painting.... which is now crammed in the back of the pickup on top of 
everything I need to get to.

Left Lubbock yesterday, the morning after I got back my trailer.  It was a 
nice week there.  I learned a lot, for example Lubbock's main crop is cotton. 
 There are cotton gin's all around, all the way up to Plainview.  We did go 
to Plainview for a day.  The billboards on the highway advertise that it's an 
antique shopper's paradise.... I don't think so.  The "antique district" has 
a mall and two little "craft" shops. Very disappointing.  Saw huge cotton 
ranches (plantations?) all the way up there from Lubbock.

The other thing that Lubbock has claim to is ready built houses.  These are 
not mobile homes, double wides or modular homes.  They are stick built 
houses, just like you would build on your property...only they are built on 
the manufacturer's site and moved, in one big piece to your foundation.  Why? 
 Because it's cheaper and quicker to build it there and move it than have one 
built out in the boonies.  They sell a lot of them to southern Colorado.   
It's cheaper to have one sent to Colorado than to just buy the building 
materials there...never mind the labor.  We looked through some, Don is an 
architect and even he thought they were well built.  I guess they have to be 
if they can go bouncing down the road.  They can't go on highways...just back 
roads.

So, yesterday morning we made the short drive to Amarillo.... quick stop into 
the AQHA gift shop and then down to the antique district on old Route 66.  
Got a few things, one was a real find... I collect the 1960s calendars with 
Palominos and Cowgirls.... I don't find them too often, but I did 
yesterday... for a whopping $3.00!!!!

We decided to stay two nights, I wanted to see the Cadillac Ranch up close 
and personal and do some more antiquing.  This morning we drove the 10 miles 
west to the Cadillac Ranch.  What a hoot. Ten Caddy's snoot  down in the 
Texas dirt.  They are all from 1948 to 1963.... all have been graffitied up, 
cans of spray paint lay around at their bases.  They are in the middle of 
what seems to be 1,000 acre field.  They used to be closer to town, but when 
civilization started to encroach the eccentric millionaire, Stanley Marsh the 
3rd, who owns them and the land, moved them to their new location further 
west.  He said something about the ladies wanting to dance in private. (c:   
When they were "planted" they were angled to match the angle of the Cheops 
pyramid in Egypt.  The owner hired a San Francisco architect to design their 
resting place.  Mr. Marsh is an art lover, he gives people free art signs 
which are sprinkled around town. "Art is a legal form of insanity, and I do 
it very well." 

The rest of the day was spent shopping.... and cruising around.  We did find 
a nice grass park for Frisbee..... Tuck had a seizure yesterday, but he 
snapped back fast and was ready to play. 

The shopping trip scored the huge oil painting (of a Mountain Lion).... and a 
headache )c:  Not sure if the headache isn't Foremost Insurance related.  

So tomorrow we head east again on I-40.. in two days Oklahoma City and back 
to the Cowboy Hall of Fame.... I loved that place.... can't wait to show it 
to Don.  

Hunter