Really cool, Booray. Love the stuff about Bob Wills. Let me know when you get up to the Brazos country below Possum Kingdom. John Graves is a hero of mine.Booray said:
Wife and I have been roaming around Texas and I started writing about it. Would be interested in your impressions. Particularly if you are from around Vernon or partial to Western Swing for this installment.
http://talesfromanemptynest.com/home-1/2020/11/12/well-seasoned
I have read Goodbye to a River at least 5 times.OsoCoreyell said:Really cool, Booray. Love the stuff about Bob Wills. Let me know when you get up to the Brazos country below Possum Kingdom. John Graves is a hero of mine.Booray said:
Wife and I have been roaming around Texas and I started writing about it. Would be interested in your impressions. Particularly if you are from around Vernon or partial to Western Swing for this installment.
http://talesfromanemptynest.com/home-1/2020/11/12/well-seasoned
I read it once a year! I've even done an overnight fishing/canoe trip leaving from the Possum Kingdom dam, overnighting at the Boy Scout Camp, and getting picked up at the bridge where the Ser-Sta-Gro was. Changed my life.Booray said:I have read Goodbye to a River at least 5 times.OsoCoreyell said:Really cool, Booray. Love the stuff about Bob Wills. Let me know when you get up to the Brazos country below Possum Kingdom. John Graves is a hero of mine.Booray said:
Wife and I have been roaming around Texas and I started writing about it. Would be interested in your impressions. Particularly if you are from around Vernon or partial to Western Swing for this installment.
http://talesfromanemptynest.com/home-1/2020/11/12/well-seasoned
Booray said:I have read Goodbye to a River at least 5 times.OsoCoreyell said:Really cool, Booray. Love the stuff about Bob Wills. Let me know when you get up to the Brazos country below Possum Kingdom. John Graves is a hero of mine.Booray said:
Wife and I have been roaming around Texas and I started writing about it. Would be interested in your impressions. Particularly if you are from around Vernon or partial to Western Swing for this installment.
http://talesfromanemptynest.com/home-1/2020/11/12/well-seasoned
BTW, since starting this we have visited 108 counties.
That's amazing. I had a job in the summers during my college years; I helped the RTC confirm tax record information about their massive portfolio of real estate that they inherited from all of the failed S&L's. It required me to drive all over the State of Texas (since there was no internet and everything was in paper records). I have been to 200 counties in Texas and all of the significant Texas courthouses. It was just me, my 1985 GMC Jimmy, a dog named "Bird" and the road (sometimes my brother would tag-along). Every day was a new county courthouse (or tax office). Breakfast in a diner, lunch at a local lunch-counter, dinner on the road. I camped out many nights so that I could keep more of my per-diem.Booray said:
BTW, since starting this we have visited 108 counties.
That is freaking awesome.OsoCoreyell said:That's amazing. I had a job in the summers during my college years; I helped the RTC confirm tax record information about their massive portfolio of real estate that they inherited from all of the failed S&L's. It required me to drive all over the State of Texas (since there was no internet and everything was in paper records). I have been to 200 counties in Texas and all of the significant Texas courthouses. It was just me, my 1985 GMC Jimmy, a dog named "Bird" and the road (sometimes my brother would tag-along). Every day was a new county courthouse (or tax office). Breakfast in a diner, lunch at a local lunch-counter, dinner on the road. I camped out many nights so that I could keep more of my per-diem.Booray said:
BTW, since starting this we have visited 108 counties.
It was during my first summer that someone in Palo Pinto county gave me Goodbye to a River and asked me if I wanted to meet the man himself. He was there to talk to some old-timers over fried chicken livers, black coffee and biscuits. I had no idea who he was. Just sat there and listened to him ask questions about the 1920's, the Comanche (the "People"), where the old log cabins were and about Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. He would just grin, say "hmmm" and scribble in a top-flip spiral notebook, and then tell what he knew about the county, which was a lot. I was totally entranced.
When dinner was over (after three hours), I walked with him to his truck, too stupid to know I was treading with a legend. He saw the Baylor sticker on my Jimmy, asked me what I was up to, and I told him. Said it sounded romantic, and he'd love to go with me a ways, but he said he was "too mindful of my comforts now." He gave me some early history on Baylor that I had never heard, and said The Texas Collection is "a hell of a treasure". It was only almost a year later that I started to understand just who I'd met when I was talking about my summer job with Dr. Vardaman.
OK, Top 10 "Texas" Books - I'll kick it off; Please help me fill it in:Booray said:That is freaking awesome.OsoCoreyell said:That's amazing. I had a job in the summers during my college years; I helped the RTC confirm tax record information about their massive portfolio of real estate that they inherited from all of the failed S&L's. It required me to drive all over the State of Texas (since there was no internet and everything was in paper records). I have been to 200 counties in Texas and all of the significant Texas courthouses. It was just me, my 1985 GMC Jimmy, a dog named "Bird" and the road (sometimes my brother would tag-along). Every day was a new county courthouse (or tax office). Breakfast in a diner, lunch at a local lunch-counter, dinner on the road. I camped out many nights so that I could keep more of my per-diem.Booray said:
BTW, since starting this we have visited 108 counties.
It was during my first summer that someone in Palo Pinto county gave me Goodbye to a River and asked me if I wanted to meet the man himself. He was there to talk to some old-timers over fried chicken livers, black coffee and biscuits. I had no idea who he was. Just sat there and listened to him ask questions about the 1920's, the Comanche (the "People"), where the old log cabins were and about Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. He would just grin, say "hmmm" and scribble in a top-flip spiral notebook, and then tell what he knew about the county, which was a lot. I was totally entranced.
When dinner was over (after three hours), I walked with him to his truck, too stupid to know I was treading with a legend. He saw the Baylor sticker on my Jimmy, asked me what I was up to, and I told him. Said it sounded romantic, and he'd love to go with me a ways, but he said he was "too mindful of my comforts now." He gave me some early history on Baylor that I had never heard, and said The Texas Collection is "a hell of a treasure". It was only almost a year later that I started to understand just who I'd met when I was talking about my summer job with Dr. Vardaman.
BTW, I am about halfway through J. Evetts Haey's biography of Goodnight. Fascinating stuff.
All four are great and deserve to be in.OsoCoreyell said:OK, Top 10 "Texas" Books - I'll kick it off; Please help me fill it in:Booray said:That is freaking awesome.OsoCoreyell said:That's amazing. I had a job in the summers during my college years; I helped the RTC confirm tax record information about their massive portfolio of real estate that they inherited from all of the failed S&L's. It required me to drive all over the State of Texas (since there was no internet and everything was in paper records). I have been to 200 counties in Texas and all of the significant Texas courthouses. It was just me, my 1985 GMC Jimmy, a dog named "Bird" and the road (sometimes my brother would tag-along). Every day was a new county courthouse (or tax office). Breakfast in a diner, lunch at a local lunch-counter, dinner on the road. I camped out many nights so that I could keep more of my per-diem.Booray said:
BTW, since starting this we have visited 108 counties.
It was during my first summer that someone in Palo Pinto county gave me Goodbye to a River and asked me if I wanted to meet the man himself. He was there to talk to some old-timers over fried chicken livers, black coffee and biscuits. I had no idea who he was. Just sat there and listened to him ask questions about the 1920's, the Comanche (the "People"), where the old log cabins were and about Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. He would just grin, say "hmmm" and scribble in a top-flip spiral notebook, and then tell what he knew about the county, which was a lot. I was totally entranced.
When dinner was over (after three hours), I walked with him to his truck, too stupid to know I was treading with a legend. He saw the Baylor sticker on my Jimmy, asked me what I was up to, and I told him. Said it sounded romantic, and he'd love to go with me a ways, but he said he was "too mindful of my comforts now." He gave me some early history on Baylor that I had never heard, and said The Texas Collection is "a hell of a treasure". It was only almost a year later that I started to understand just who I'd met when I was talking about my summer job with Dr. Vardaman.
BTW, I am about halfway through J. Evetts Haey's biography of Goodnight. Fascinating stuff.
1) Goodbye to a River - John Graves
2) Empire of the Summer Moon - S.C. Gwynne
3) Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
4) Coronado's Children - J. Frank Dobie
Next?
Can believe I left this out: Caro's 4-volume biography of LBJ (he is working on the 5th).Booray said:All four are great and deserve to be in.OsoCoreyell said:OK, Top 10 "Texas" Books - I'll kick it off; Please help me fill it in:Booray said:That is freaking awesome.OsoCoreyell said:That's amazing. I had a job in the summers during my college years; I helped the RTC confirm tax record information about their massive portfolio of real estate that they inherited from all of the failed S&L's. It required me to drive all over the State of Texas (since there was no internet and everything was in paper records). I have been to 200 counties in Texas and all of the significant Texas courthouses. It was just me, my 1985 GMC Jimmy, a dog named "Bird" and the road (sometimes my brother would tag-along). Every day was a new county courthouse (or tax office). Breakfast in a diner, lunch at a local lunch-counter, dinner on the road. I camped out many nights so that I could keep more of my per-diem.Booray said:
BTW, since starting this we have visited 108 counties.
It was during my first summer that someone in Palo Pinto county gave me Goodbye to a River and asked me if I wanted to meet the man himself. He was there to talk to some old-timers over fried chicken livers, black coffee and biscuits. I had no idea who he was. Just sat there and listened to him ask questions about the 1920's, the Comanche (the "People"), where the old log cabins were and about Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. He would just grin, say "hmmm" and scribble in a top-flip spiral notebook, and then tell what he knew about the county, which was a lot. I was totally entranced.
When dinner was over (after three hours), I walked with him to his truck, too stupid to know I was treading with a legend. He saw the Baylor sticker on my Jimmy, asked me what I was up to, and I told him. Said it sounded romantic, and he'd love to go with me a ways, but he said he was "too mindful of my comforts now." He gave me some early history on Baylor that I had never heard, and said The Texas Collection is "a hell of a treasure". It was only almost a year later that I started to understand just who I'd met when I was talking about my summer job with Dr. Vardaman.
BTW, I am about halfway through J. Evetts Haey's biography of Goodnight. Fascinating stuff.
1) Goodbye to a River - John Graves
2) Empire of the Summer Moon - S.C. Gwynne
3) Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
4) Coronado's Children - J. Frank Dobie
Next?
I have to limit myself to books I have read. McMurtry is greatness and I would add Last Picture Show and/or Horseman, Pass By. Beyond that, there is Lone Star by T.R. Fehrenbach and Big, Wonderful Thing by Stephen Harrigan as definitive histories of the state. Friday Night Lights captured a culture just about as well as anything I have read. Same could be said for Highland Park Woman by A.C. Greene. Also loved Semi-tough and anything by Dan Jenkins.
But I have a huge hole in that all of these books tend to emphasize the Texas I connect with. Not much about the Valley or urban Texas.
Yes. Pretty amazing. What a crazy life. Larry Temple was a family friend growing up. That guy had more awesome LBJ stories that anyone.Booray said:Can believe I left this out: Caro's 4-volume biography of LBJ (he is working on the 5th).Booray said:All four are great and deserve to be in.OsoCoreyell said:OK, Top 10 "Texas" Books - I'll kick it off; Please help me fill it in:Booray said:That is freaking awesome.OsoCoreyell said:That's amazing. I had a job in the summers during my college years; I helped the RTC confirm tax record information about their massive portfolio of real estate that they inherited from all of the failed S&L's. It required me to drive all over the State of Texas (since there was no internet and everything was in paper records). I have been to 200 counties in Texas and all of the significant Texas courthouses. It was just me, my 1985 GMC Jimmy, a dog named "Bird" and the road (sometimes my brother would tag-along). Every day was a new county courthouse (or tax office). Breakfast in a diner, lunch at a local lunch-counter, dinner on the road. I camped out many nights so that I could keep more of my per-diem.Booray said:
BTW, since starting this we have visited 108 counties.
It was during my first summer that someone in Palo Pinto county gave me Goodbye to a River and asked me if I wanted to meet the man himself. He was there to talk to some old-timers over fried chicken livers, black coffee and biscuits. I had no idea who he was. Just sat there and listened to him ask questions about the 1920's, the Comanche (the "People"), where the old log cabins were and about Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. He would just grin, say "hmmm" and scribble in a top-flip spiral notebook, and then tell what he knew about the county, which was a lot. I was totally entranced.
When dinner was over (after three hours), I walked with him to his truck, too stupid to know I was treading with a legend. He saw the Baylor sticker on my Jimmy, asked me what I was up to, and I told him. Said it sounded romantic, and he'd love to go with me a ways, but he said he was "too mindful of my comforts now." He gave me some early history on Baylor that I had never heard, and said The Texas Collection is "a hell of a treasure". It was only almost a year later that I started to understand just who I'd met when I was talking about my summer job with Dr. Vardaman.
BTW, I am about halfway through J. Evetts Haey's biography of Goodnight. Fascinating stuff.
1) Goodbye to a River - John Graves
2) Empire of the Summer Moon - S.C. Gwynne
3) Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
4) Coronado's Children - J. Frank Dobie
Next?
I have to limit myself to books I have read. McMurtry is greatness and I would add Last Picture Show and/or Horseman, Pass By. Beyond that, there is Lone Star by T.R. Fehrenbach and Big, Wonderful Thing by Stephen Harrigan as definitive histories of the state. Friday Night Lights captured a culture just about as well as anything I have read. Same could be said for Highland Park Woman by A.C. Greene. Also loved Semi-tough and anything by Dan Jenkins.
But I have a huge hole in that all of these books tend to emphasize the Texas I connect with. Not much about the Valley or urban Texas.
Inside story on H. L. Hunt........His last wife (and mother of his illegitimate children) was from Idabel, Ok. My father-in-law had pastored a church there when they married in the late '50's. When the newlyweds would go to Idabel, they would attend his church. Hunt always managed to get there after the offering. Having noticed this, my father-in-law started varying the order of service when he heard the Hunt's were in town. It didn't matter. No matter how late it was, Hunt still would enter after the offering plates had been passed.SSadler said:
The Big Rich (true stories of the early west Texas oil barons)
Bryan Burrough's spellbinding chronicle of Texas oil. Weaving together the multigenerational sagas of the industry's four wealthiest families, Burrough brings to life the men known in their day as the Big Four: Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson, all swaggering Texas oil tycoons who owned sprawling ranches and mingled with presidents and Hollywood stars. Seamlessly charting their collective rise and fall,
Like everything, I wish I could've appreciated it more when I was doing it.quash said:
Waco'sChampion, edited by Travis, a collection of writings by Roger Conger.
Top of my list is Empire of the Summer Moon, great stuff.
I remember RTC and had a couple of Baylor friends who worked for FADA a couple of years out of law school. Up in rural Denton County every third horse farm had a FADA sign on it. Your summer job sounds like it was a blast, OC.
Good edition, Booray. I always stop at Quanah on my way to New Mexico.Booray said:
Big Rich is on my reading list.
Episode two, a visit to Quanah, is attached here:
https://www.talesfromanemptynest.com/2020/11/19/miles-and-miles-of-texas/
I was there last year. Fantastic time had by all.Booray said:
We finally made it to Turkey, Texas for Bob Wills day!
https://www.talesfromanemptynest.com/2020/11/26/bob-wills-is-still-the-king/
By the way: PM with any cool, relatively unknown Texas treasures.
Thee University said:I was there last year. Fantastic time had by all.Booray said:
We finally made it to Turkey, Texas for Bob Wills day!
https://www.talesfromanemptynest.com/2020/11/26/bob-wills-is-still-the-king/
By the way: PM with any cool, relatively unknown Texas treasures.
Are you aware of the Cowtown Birth of Western Swing Festval? A Baylor grad is instrumental in leading this effort. Due to Covid the Festival had to be pushed back a year but is set for November of 2021.
This BU grad has put together some videos of Western Swing history that are 1st class. We were roommates and fraternity brothers at BU so I know him well. He is on top of anything Western Swing.
I am not a true connaisseur of Western Swing but have seen Jason Roberts, Billy Mata and Jody Nix shows along with last year in Turkey.
Here is a link to the Cowtown website. You may already know about this. If so, my apologies. I just saw your post today.
Cowtown Birthplace of Western Swing - Festival
Been there many times. It is a beautiful place.Booray said:
Meridian State Park is a little hidden gem.
John Graves mention in this one..OsoCoreyell said:Really cool, Booray. Love the stuff about Bob Wills. Let me know when you get up to the Brazos country below Possum Kingdom. John Graves is a hero of mine.Booray said:
Wife and I have been roaming around Texas and I started writing about it. Would be interested in your impressions. Particularly if you are from around Vernon or partial to Western Swing for this installment.
http://talesfromanemptynest.com/home-1/2020/11/12/well-seasoned
beardoc said:
Anson hosts the annual Cowboy Christmas Ball, unusual for a town that long banned dancing in the city limits.
(No dancin' in Anson)
A total tangent for you: When I was at Baylor, one of my fellow history majors was David Stricklin, also a BU yell leader. He was the son of Bob Wills' piano player, brother Al Stricklin.Booray said:
Wife and I have been roaming around Texas and I started writing about it. Would be interested in your impressions. Particularly if you are from around Vernon or partial to Western Swing for this installment.
http://talesfromanemptynest.com/home-1/2020/11/12/well-seasoned
Left off Glenn McCarthy.SSadler said:
The Big Rich (true stories of the early west Texas oil barons)
Bryan Burrough's spellbinding chronicle of Texas oil. Weaving together the multigenerational sagas of the industry's four wealthiest families, Burrough brings to life the men known in their day as the Big Four: Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson, all swaggering Texas oil tycoons who owned sprawling ranches and mingled with presidents and Hollywood stars. Seamlessly charting their collective rise and fall,
REvansBU71 said:
I live on the Texas side. Only rarely venture to the Arkansas side. They park cars in their yards over there.
