Heading north... east...

Waving goodbye to Mother, Becky & JA, we began the trip back to NY. I must admit I was a wee bit in doubt that JA had been born in Texas, but then we passed the sign so I guess it's true.

Taking back roads north we happened on Baird where Grumpe's Specialties makes lollipops. Not only do they make lollipops but they'll put your logo or whatever you want on them. Pretty neat for a little Texas town in the middle of nowhere. Although they didn't appear to be giving factory tours, John did score a couple of samples at their office supply store.

Up the road aways is Throckmorton (love the name) that the Texas legislature has deemed "The Capital of Cow Country". Although we hunted all over (okay so it was only the few buildings on Main St. - with a population under a thousand you don't need many) for something that said this, it was clear that football rules, not the legislature. The only slogan we could find was "Hometown of Dallas Cowboys' legend Bob Tilly". So much for the cows...

Further north is Archer City, home of the "Wildcat Burger" (a gut buster to be sure with homemade onion rings and kitchen cut fries). It's also where Larry McMurtry is from. You remember him - he wrote Lonesome Dove etc. His hobby/passion is collecting antiquarian books and he is slowly buying up the storefronts to keep and supposedly sell them through his sideline business, Booked Up, Inc. The photos? It turns out that "Texasville" and "The Last Picture Show" were both filmed in Archer City (although, to be honest, I don't know if the theater showed up either. However, thought you might like to see both sides of the theater. Gives another meaning to open air entertainment...

Finally, Oklahoma! Turns out Texas does not have "the largest" of everything. We understand Vinita, where we're staying tonight, has the world's largest McDonald's although we haven't seen it yet. But my absolute favorite "largest" is the world's largest totem pole created by folk artist Ed Galloway in 1948. It's just south of here off of Route 66 near Foyil. There are other "creations" in the park but this is the best and well worth the trip to take a look.

Oklahoma is also "The Home of the Parking Meter" and "The Cowchip Thowing Capital of the World". And, to think, before today all we knew about Oklahoma was our friends Marilyn & Jim somehow grew up there...