We left Caprock Canyon and drove to Turkey, TX. Turkey is the home of Bob Wills and the first Philips 66 service station in the state of Texas. We made a quick stop here and then blew out of town towards Goodnight, TX. in order to make the 11:00 tour of “The Castle on the Prairie”.
We then made camp in Mesquite campground at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It was hot so we rested in the afternoon. The next morning the CCC and The Goodnight Overlook trails were on our hiking agenda. We parked the 4Runner in the Theater parking lot at the bottom and drove up to the rim of the canyon and hiked down the canyon. The views into the canyon along the trail were marvelous. The final descent was very rocky and steep.
At the bottom we piled into the 4Runner and drove back to the K2R2. Switching campgrounds we moved from Mesquite Campground to Hackberry Campground which has more trees. This time we found Fred and Lucy’s site was occupied by turkeys.
Right after we setup we met the campground host whose name was Bullet. He said he and his brother Rowdy were cowboys from Canadian, TX. We had a very nice chat. He said he guessed that if his parents had another boy his name would have been “Rifle”. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to shopping at the trading post and the visitor center. While we were eating our Blue Bell ice cream a couple came into the trading post and and proceeded to break a souvenir shot glass while they were shopping. Much to our collective surprise they slipped out without paying for the damage!
After we had consumed a meal of fajitas and moseyed up to the Hackberry Campground amphitheater for a little comedic cowboy campfire entertainment. A local cowboy armed with a guitar and harmonica and red white and blue Texas starred cowboy boots was scheduled to play, sing, and recited poetry that night. But, before he started his show he introduced an “expert” to demonstrate cooking cinnamon rolls (from a can) in a Dutch oven. He and his Park Ranger helper got started “cooking” after I went back to the K2R2 to retrieve all of the Dutch oven accouterments that the “expert” seemed to have forgotten. After that lengthy delay the rolls were started and the show began. The country crooner would sing, playing his guitar and harmonica and occasionally stop and recite a “pome”. There were a couple of local families who were related to the singer there to provide some moral support. As the show went on the younger female relatives got bored and started playing a netless game of volleyball in a nearby grassy areas. Later, darkness closed in on the bard who could no longer read the music or the book of “pomes” without the help of a flashlight so the “entertainment” mercifully ceased. The rolls whose bottoms as Cynthia had correctly predicted were now burned and thus were declared ready for everyone to come and eat. Ethel and Lucy feeling weary had smartly bailed out before the burnt bottom cinnamon rolls were served going back to the campers. The “expert” cutoff the burnt bottoms of the rolls which were now stuck to the aluminum foil. The Park Ranger sous-chef smeared the frosting on the half roll tops and served them to the waiting experiment volunteers.
John and I went back to the campsites and everyone partook in an early bedtime as we had plans to hike the Lighthouse Trail early tomorrow morning.
