The Texas trip took us straight into Turkey, Texas, population of about 500 and per capita income of under $20,000 according to the last census. Home of Bob Wills. For those who don't know him, Bob Wills was known as the King of Country Swing. His music was very popular when I was a kid living in Texas. I didn't like it then but I do now, can't quite figure that one out. It was cool to ride around with my uncle in his '55 Ford convertible and listen to Bob Wills on the radio. I was about 10 years old and except for the music thought this was awesome. Now that I am older and wiser(?) I still think it would be a cool thing to do but with gas pushing $2 a gallon and the price of a '55 Ford convertible hiting maybe $50,000+ who could afford it.
The memorial is very cool. The images of Bob are very realistic with the exception of the missing Jack Daniels bottle, a fixture at the clubs where Bob and the Texas Playboys put on shows.
Turkey, Texas is not along the route to anywhere but is on the route to everywhere. I felt like every kids dream here would be to make a name and get to somewhere else. The town is not very vibrant and is run down, but then so are a lot of other small west Texas towns. Years ago, oil was king here and the small towns were booming. Now the oil is about gone and the small oil boom towns are dwindling. There is a small resurgence based on residual oil and new ways to extract what is left but that is left to big business and not to the small time producer like T. Boone Pickens in his early years. Maybe this area will be a good location for a wind farm or a solar collector?
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