What Are You Doing Here?

My daughter called and asked if we wanted to get together for dinner.  We declined because we wanted to be rested and ready to see them the next day. Despite the fact we flew first class, the flight wasn’t too comfortable but slept better than we would if we were sitting in coach. Because of the departure time of flight from Hawaii and arrival in Phoenix, we were asked by the attendant if we wished to be woken early for breakfast, at which we did. The flight from Phoenix to Albuquerque didn’t start off good as we boarded the plane after First Class passengers were long seated due to a restroom stop; we found that our seats were already given to a father traveling with his pre-school daughter, so he claims. The attendant asked us if we were willing to exchange seats with them so that they can sit together side by side. I had replied that I reserved my seats well ahead of time and that I had paid for them so my wife and I can sit side by side. We got our seats back but not too happy that they couldn’t wait for us to come aboard before trying to give it away. Even if we did board on time, we would have still said….”NO!”

Before landing in Phoenix I pointed out the window for the wife to look outside at the desert of the great Southwest. She wasn’t too impressed at the beige colored sands that were dotted with Phoenix suburbia. After we left Phoenix I pointed out to the identical view except no city with the same color sand, bald rock-strewn mountains dotted with an occasional green spot from desert vegetation on both the mountains and the valleys. You could see the runoffs from the mountains heading to the flatlands and feeding random farms. I told her that rest of what we will see is no different. Her reaction was comical, especially when you were born and raised on a lush tropical island that knows no winters. But she wasn’t the only one who reacted like that after seeing the landscape from the window. After living in Western Washington and then the Windward Side of Hawaii for the last 19 years I felt the same myself.  I was used to seeing and living surrounded with green!

The drive out of Albuquerque to Santa Rosa was atypical of high desert landscape. It wasn’t until we turned off on Highway 84 at Santa Rosa heading towards Fort Sumner that you began to see and feel secluded. Rolling hills with bald spots shrouded with yellow grass and in the distance sporadic dots and trees that expose a rancher’s home. The titanic sky touched each end of the earth and by the shapes of the clouds told us that outside temperatures lodged in the hundreds!  A tarnished mileage sign northwest of Fort Sumner indicated that Clovis was 72 miles away. As we linked with Highway 60, railroad tracks ran parallel with the highway with varied length of trains traveling at intervals in both directions. Not having a working railroad in Hawaii, we tried to count the cars as each group of trains went by. It was an east-west route of cars carrying various commodities. I read reviews of hotels in Clovis during my search and every one of those reviews complained about the train noise. 

Clovis is an interesting “city.” In reality there isn’t much there and as far as activities for tourism, there is none.  Clovis’ population is about 40,000 and if you see the small towns and villages in the surrounding area you would appreciate why Clovis is a city. If you are a comprehensive rock n’ roll fan, it is the home of Norman Petty Studios where Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and many others did their recordings.  The studios were a block away from our hotel and you can see an infrequent tourist taking a peek in the windows. I knew about it before going to Clovis but didn’t notice how close it was to where we were staying until I happen to see the sign while driving to my daughter’s house. I didn’t stop to see the studio or the museum as rock n’ roll for me started with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I do appreciate 1950’s American rock stars such as Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and the names of recording artists who recorded at Norman Petty Studios.

We used the iPhone map to find my daughter’s house. Once we arrived, the boys ran up to greet us and I received a big hug from the youngest grandson.  A year before he pointed towards their iPad and asked his mother “who’s he?” The last time I saw any of them was five years ago when they lived in Spokane and we were readying to move to Hawaii. First thing we did was to take the grandsons somewhere so their parents can have time to themselves. We took them to the park on the base for starters. Afterwards, we spent most of the time at the bowling alley and then stopping at the base gas station for snack. The boys can run up a bill! Visible near the gas station was a water slide for the base pool. After seeing how much bowling costs as well as snacks, a good way to prolong time spent without spending additional money was hours at the pool. We did that the next day and cost of one dollar per person to go swimming! We did this for several days and had fun doing it! I wished that time would last forever as it felt good to be an involved grandfather.

I studied the maps on my tablet and saw that Electra in neighboring Texas was only 267 miles from Clovis. It indicated the trip would be a little over four hours. However, the routes recommended ran through numerous small towns where the speed limits can be as low as 25 mph with the local police setting up “Yankee Traps.” So-called short cuts on computerized maps were not necessarily the quickest. I changed the routing for speed to take Interstate 27 from Plainview to Amarillo and then drive to Electra on Highway 287 towards Fort Worth. I wanted to pay respects to my grandparents, aunts and uncles who are buried there. Plus I didn’t know if the graves were maintained.

We left Clovis about seven in the morning and stopped at a truck stop for coffee and drove across the border into Texas towards Muleshoe. After that our goal was to meet the Interstate at Plainview and cruise at higher speed to Amarillo. From there we met up with Highway 287 and headed towards Electra. We stopped at a rest area in Hadley, east of Amarillo, for a restroom break that warned motorists to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes! We reached Electra late afternoon.

The town hasn’t changed much since the 1960’s when the highway bypass was completed that allowed motorists to avoid driving through “downtown” and it’s three to four stoplights. The bypass practically killed Electra as it did with many small towns throughout the south. Vestiges of its glory days lay wasted like cadavers unattended to waiting for burial. Remains of a gas station with corroded pumps that showed only two digits for price per gallon signifies how long it stood there. Abandoned cafes that still had its marquees and painted windows with faded colors look as if its owners fled after the last meal was served because it’s cash registers did not ring enough to pay the lease. One beer joint that existed for years was not open until late afternoon. What was left of my grandmother’s house was an empty lot and what was once a pipe factory across the street was gone as well.  Downtown still had its red brick streets and the high school looked the same from the days my father was a student.  Grand Theater at which my cousins and I went to see a James Stewart movie more than 50 years ago was declared a historic landmark and looked preserved from the outside. It was only a disguise to conceal the interior which was under reconstruction after years of neglect. Centennial banners still hung from street posts from nine years ago. During mid-day most businesses still active in downtown remained closed. The old time drug store was still there but the south side of town looked to have modernized and kept up as economics switched across the railroad tracks. The hospital appears to have a makeover and homes were as contemporary as you would find in larger cities. Electra is home to a renowned Mexican restaurant. Nevertheless it lacked hotels and variety of restaurants. Because of this we backtracked to Vernon, 23 miles west, to get lodging and dine at different restaurants. 

We spent four days in and around Vernon and Electra. We spent a day and a half cleaning the family graves. Daytime would find us at the cemetery north of Electra just past a small village of Punkin Center or Haynesville as named on maps.  Nighttime would find us at one of the celebrated genuine Texas style steakhouse, Three Hearts Steakhouse in Vernon along with a new Japanese restaurant that had just opened its doors. The first night we wound up at a not so good truck stop because all of the main restaurants closed its doors at eight o’clock and we didn’t leave the hotel until eight thirty. The wife was used to metropolitan Honolulu where restaurants would close the earliest at nine o’clock to cater to tourists who come to the islands for a break! I tried to explain that small towns such as Vernon, despite having a population five times more than Electra did not have a shopping mall. Vernon’s fame is the birthplace of the late Roy Orbison. As you drive through downtown you would see banners proclaiming it with Orbison’s face and famed sunglasses over his eyes.

While in Electra we found a small collectable store, Family Flea Market on the corner of Front and Bailey Streets or Business Route 287 and Highway 25. We spent money there and went back to on our last day in Electra to pick up more items that we can’t find in the islands. The elderly couple that owned the store gave us Texas hospitality.  We enjoyed each other’s conversations and socializing. There were plenty of fine collectibles at decent prices! As a reminder of their store, they gave us a glass bell as a keepsake. The people in Panhandle Texas were friendly and didn’t mind giving us directions when we asked. Even went to a farmhouse and knocked on a stranger’s door and another farmer came out of his tractor to help us as well. However, we did our job to clean and pay respect to the family graves and it was time to head back to New Mexico.

We stopped at The Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, famous for its free 72 ounce steak if you can eat the meal in an hour. We didn’t take the challenge and I settled for an 18oz Dallas Steak and a few tall mugs of beer brewed on the property. The wife ate a small T-bone and mixed drink. There were four Canadian tourists that took the 72 ounce challenge but didn’t make it. I looked at the elevated table they were sitting at and with less than eight minutes go to, they weren’t even halfway through. At least they had the courage to be in the spotlight. The chocolate cake ordered as dessert looked like the size of the 72oz steak though! After that we headed west towards New Mexico on Interstate 40, stopping at Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo and contributed to the graffiti on the cars.

We reached Clovis after taking the road from Tucumcari down south and encountered a brief hail storm. It was a scenic drive from Tucumcari to Clovis. We may have counted no more than a dozen cars before reaching the small town of Grady. It was time to enjoy the second week of the vacation with the kids and grandkids.  Time to be a grandfather again and the last week in Clovis was spent at the base pool, barbecue in the backyard and lunch or dinner at restaurants. And always the day you dread when it is time to say goodbye. It was on a Saturday night and one of those times you wished the second hand on the watch would tick slowly. It was time to say farewell and let my daughter, her husband and the grandsons go back to their customary life. We left early Sunday morning for the drive back to Albuquerque. Two weeks of new memories and closing of a chapter. Fifty years earlier when I visited my grandfather in Electra, whose grave we cleaned, he got misty eyed when it came time for him to hug my brother and I goodbye. I didn’t know why he did then, but now I know! It was fun being a grandfather and to see where your legacy will go. I kept telling my wife that the bright sunshine was hurting my eyes.

As with most small cities, towns and villages in that part of the country that lie away  from major interstates or multi-lane highways, you need to have a reason to be there or just in transit.  Wherever we went, people would ask us “what are you doing here?” We were dressed in clothes from the islands and people would make comments like “look like you are getting ready to go to Hawaii!” Our response would be “no, we just arrived from there!” After that it would be “what are you doing here?” I guess if you live in paradise you are not supposed to go anywhere else. People do have relatives on the mainland and it is fun to visit other parts of the country. And do something that many mainlanders take for granted….get in the car and drive for hours!

The flight home from Phoenix was comfortable and while the plane was packed with tourists heading to Hawaii for vacation, we were going home. We got in our First Class seats and ordered mixed drinks followed by beer and foods. We overheard conversations of people who were coming to the islands for the first time. Some saved their money while others borrowed or took out loans. When we landed in Honolulu, we were home while others cheered and were elated to be in Hawaii. Many of them were starting their vacation! We were happy too as the temperatures in the islands was tolerable compared to what we faced in New Mexico and Texas. As my daughter, her husband and the grandsons’ life returned to normal, it was our turn to do the same. Something you looked forward to and planned for has come to an end.