Monday, June 9, 2008

OUt and About The Panhandle - A My Town Monday Post

I don't want to turn My Town Monday into a weekly lesson on western heritage, but that is the history of my area so I will have to regale tales of Cowboys and Indians fairly often or I will run out of material. Still I'm going to try and break things up so the posts don't get tiresome. Next week, I'll tell ya'll about the Battle Of Adobe Walls, but for this rendition of My Town Monday I'm gonna do a few capsule size looks at four area towns. One each direction.

Dumas, Texas lies about 50 miles north of Amarillo. That might seem like a long way between towns to some of you but the two are only separated by the mostly dry Canadian River and no other towns. Dumas is pronounced Do-Muss not the giggle producing Dumb Ass, though we called them the DumbAss Demons when we battled their high school in sporting events. The song Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas is said to have been written about the town though Dumas, Arkansas makes the same claim. Here is a video clip of that song.


JWW and the Prospectors - Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas


Happy, Texas lies 35 miles to the South of Amarillo. A few years back their was a movie titled Happy, Texas though it was not filmed in the town and the loclas all seemed to hate the movie. About the only thing accurate in the film was the sing on the outskirts of town that reads ... WELCOME TO HAPPY, TEXAS -- THE TOWN WITHOUT A FROWN. Happy is also the default location on google weather.

To the east almost to the Oklahoma border lies the tiny town of Twitty, Texas. Six miles off of I-40 the place had a population of 100 in 1930. In 1980, its population had remained fairly stable with an estimate of 116, but by 1990 the number of residents fell to sixty. The population dropped to 12 in the 2000 census. It's claim to fame? Once upon a time there was a singer who was told he needed a name change. He couldn't think of anything so he reached for a map and founf the names of Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Tx. Conway Twitty recorded many a country song before his death in 1993.

Now we go 23 miles to the west of Amarillo to the town of Wildorado,Texas. Actually, there are only three towns in Texas that are what I'd consider due west of Amarillo. I picked the middle one mostly because I like the name. I always thought a song should be written about the wild west of Wildorado though that description might me stretching it especially these days. Though in the dist bowl era the bank was robbed several times. Actually, a more accurate song would be called Windy Wildorado as nearby is the Wildorado Wind Farm which is the home of 70 wind turbine generators and here are a few facts from an article written prior to the wind farm's completion.

The Wildorado Wind Ranch will be the largest single wind power facility yet to be built in the Southwest Power Pool serving parts of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

If you'd like to participate in My Town Mondays just write up piece about your current or former hometown, or even about somewhere you just happen know an interesting fact about. Then let me know and I'll link you up. to read my collection of my town monday psots click on the my town label at the bottom of this post.

To Visit Other My Town Monday Bloggers Check Back Here For The Updated List of This Weeks Players

Lyzzydee -- Welwyn Garden City, England

Patti Abbott -- Detroit, Michigan

Debra -- Village of Peninsula, Ohio

Clair Dickson -- Brighton, Michigan

Lois Karlin (Women of Mystery) -- Warwick, New York

DebbieLou -- The rudest places in England.

Samantha Winston -- Houdan, France

Barrie Summy -- San Diego,California

Linda McLaughlin -- San Clemente, California

Mary Nix -- Olmstead Falls, Ohio

Barbara Martin -- Toronto, Canada

30 comments:

Linda McLaughlin said...

Interesting post, Travis. Texas cities have such interesting names: Wildorado, Happy, Muleshoe, Dimebox.

The Panhandle seems like a perfect spot for a wind farm. There are a lot in the deserts to the east of LA, too.

Linda

Lyzzydee said...

Hi Travis, I have set my post to come up just after midnight UK time. I have just seen your comment, I am ignorant to the world of feeds. I have gone to my settings and initiated short feeds, will that help you???

Interesting my town monday!!!

Beck said...

Here we would say Dumas "Du-mah", since I live in a VERY french area.

Tawnya Shields said...

This was as very fun and interesting way to learn about different places. Nice video too! :o)

pattinase (abbott) said...

I'm up. You're a born historian, Travis.

Penelope said...

I LOVE HAPPY, TEXAS. . .

Karen

debra said...

My post will be up by tomorrow, Travis. And, by the way---you're the newest member of the Peninsula Python Posse. You won last week's drawing.
Shoot me an email with your address and I'll send you your fabulous prize:-)

j said...

If I ever move to TX, I think Happy is going to be the place.

Barbara Martin said...

Great post, Travis. I read with much interest about the wind turbine generators and the areas the electricity services. New knowledge is always a good thing as it broadens one's thinking.

Charles Gramlich said...

I never realized Happy, Texas was a real place.

debra said...

My post is up---I'll be back later to read yours :-)

Sam said...

Love those names.
In France, the people of the towns have special names (Parisians for Paris, Messians for Metz, and Montecalvacians for Monchauvet, for example.) And I was wondering if it was the same in Texas?
The twits of Twitty? And I think I'd move out of Dumas...
:-)

Debbielou said...

A Great toe tapping post ! Still working on MTM post.

Clair D. said...

I've got myself a My Town Monday up.

So odd to think that there are still towns today that are dwindling to nothing. I mean, I expect it in Michigan's UP, which is rather remote, but Texas doesn't really seem remote to me.

DrillerAA said...

I do like the ocassional history lesson. There is a blog "Keepin' It Rural" that I reaed. He has posted stories of early Oklahoma settlers based on real life interviews from te 1930's. It is fascinating. His link is at my blog as is the direct link to the OU digital libraries.
Hey, I have every respect for the Husker nation. It is a rivalry that has always been based on respect for the other school. The OU/Texas rivalry on the other hand is more like a family fued.
Have a great day.

Terrie Farley Moran said...

Hi Travis,

I loved the video. reminded me of the old Alabama song: "If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band."

And Conway Twitty--what a talent! He was a great singer, song writer and wow! is all I can say about his duet with Loretta Lynn way back when.

Terrie

Aaron said...

Ok, it's not in the handle, but Cut and Shoot, Texas deserves an honorable mention! :)

Monnik said...

I want to live in Happy. I love it!

As usual, great MTM post! :)

Chris Eldin said...

Travis, I love country music!!
That was a nice song.
:-)

Patti said...

I loved the movie Happy, Texas.

but then again, i love me anything about texas. i'm a freak like that...

Clare2e said...

Travis- One of our Women of Mystery, Lois, has up a lip-smacking post from Warwick, New York.

Barrie said...

Hey Travis! Better late than never, eh? I just posted my San Diego My Town Monday! It's about kayaking into sea caves. You can also FISH from kayaks. Thought you might possibly be interested in that... :)

Always fun to read about Texas! Esp. since I'm married to an Okie.

Linda McLaughlin said...

Hi Travis. I finally posted a My Town Monday blog on San Clemente, Calif. Better late than never, I guess.

Linda

Lisa said...

Apparently the residents of Happy, Texas were no more thrilled with the movie named after their town than the residents of Fargo were. I worked with a group of Air National Guard members from Fargo not long after the movie was released and they didn't care for it :)

I've not lived in this area long enough (Okay, I'm just too lazy) to dig into Denver happenings to participate, but since you brought up place names, I will say that there is a road near me that I'd give anything to move to, just so I could give my address as being on "Jackass Hill Road". Really, that's the name of it ;)))

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed the music and learning about your surrounding area!

Mary

Barbara Martin said...

Travis, I finally completed My Town Monday post and it's up for viewers.

Shauna Roberts said...

Travis, I posted a "My Town Wednesday" today. It's at http://shaunaroberts.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-town-wednesday-stuff-in-my-yard.html.

Unknown said...

Wow! That's how Conway Twitty got his name??? Heck, I never, ever heard of that! That's for sharing.

Unknown said...

Actually there are 73 Wind Turbines at Wildorado manufactured by Siemens. Each one has a 80 meter tower and is rated at 2.3 MW WTG which is enough to power 800 homes!

Linda McLaughlin said...

Thanks, Jeff. 73 wind turbines sounds great.

Linda