Why would someone go to Lubbock Texas? To go to school at Texas Tech. To stop by the Buddy Holly Museum. Perhaps to visit the relatives because one was born there. Perhaps they became lost and confused. In my case it was because having lived in Texas my entire life I realized that there were three places in Texas I had never made it to. Those places being Lubbock, Corpus Christi, and Big Bend. I decided that as soon as AA had a fare sale for these locations, off I would go. They did have such a sale for two of the three this Fall. Therefore, off to Lubbock I went. The sole purpose then was to be able to say I have visited Lubbock, Texas. I had driven by it to the north and to the south. I had flown myself over it to go to the west. But I had never stopped in Lubbock.

American Eagle provides the service to Lubbock from DFW. Of course AE did their usual guess the gate game. It takes me about 40 minutes to reach DFW from home. Just before leaving AE says gate B12 just as it has been saying all along. Crowded terminal parking found me at the far B1 end of Terminal B. As I walked into the terminal the gate suddenly became B22. Being unsure how far B1 was from B22 I decided to take the SkyLink having never used it before. This is a nice service. Fast and efficient. Just my kind of technology. In addition as many have pointed out, it provides a nice view of DFW.

As we taxied to the runway we passed some of its big brothers.



The main reason for Lubbock was and still is to support the farming in the area. Being arid this is done through irrigation.



It is a good thing I decided to visit on Tuesday instead of Monday. Here is what happened on Monday as shown in a photograph stolen from the Washington Post web site.



It was initially said that the storm over turned a couple of small planes and turned a rather large Fed Ex plane into a tail dragger. Here is the best photograph I could take from the moving AE plane of the Fed Ex tail dragger.



Based on the diagram on the LBB web site I assumed the airport would be rather ugly. The diagram must be for the old terminal which does look rather dumpy. The current terminal at LBB is very nice. It looks exactly like a miniature version of DFW. The entire airport looks to be just a little smaller than Terminal B at DFW.



Being so small rental cars are arranged at the counter. As pointed out over on the National Car Rental board all one need do is turn right on exiting the secured area. Then all the way down at the end of the terminal are all of the rental car counters. The cars are next to the terminal. It is a short walk.



Here is some of the famous cotton growing.



In town one finds the Buddy Holly Center. I did not visit, just stopped in the parking lot.



Next was a tour by car of Texas Tech. I did not realize it was such a large campus.

The main attraction in Lubbock from my viewpoint was the National Ranching Heritage Center. This museum on the Texas Tech campus has original and reproductions of all of the ranch house styles seen during the development of Texas. Here are a few
The earliest one is the Los Corralitos from 1780. This is a reproduction. Notice the ports for rifle fire from inside.



The El Capote Cabin is from 1838.



Mr. Jowell got tired of folks burning down his house so he built one of stone in 1872. If you have seen the movie The Searchers this house would have been in the area the movie is supposed to be based in. That would be around Palo Pinto County, which is not far from me. Notice the firing ports here as well.



A typical dugout cabin.



At the turn of the century the wooden house became practical.



The one room school house.



A slaughterhouse and milk storage on a ranch.



Where there was no wood houses were built of Yucca plants.



The cowboy’s training aid. The round pen. My cousin is working horses in mine as I write this, although mine is made of metal fence panels.



Hauling the cattle to market.



A cookhouse for the ranch hands.



There is a lot more than this, but they limit us to 20 images. There are forty something structures all together. It is worth the time if you end up in Lubbock sometime.

Based on my short tour of Lubbock I would say development and increasing economic value proceeded around Lubbock in a clockwise pattern beginning with the lower socioeconomic area at 3 o’clock, then progressing around the clock face to 7 and 8, until arriving at the latest development at 11.

Although not as bad as Monday there was still quite bit of blowing dust in the area.



At LBB is the Silent Wings Museum for troop carrying gliders. It was closed by the time I got back to LBB, but outside is a nice C-47 or in this case a RD-4 Navy version.

Once again AE did an outstanding job. The FAs they employ are the best.

I am intrigued by the cotton field picture you posted here. My little girl has been urging me to take her to Alabama to see cotton fields. It seems Lubbock can be a choice for this. When did you take this picture? Do they have massive cotton growing fields in the area?

Great TR, fun seeing a place I will probably never go (although I do collaborate with folks from TTech)

^^^ This was a great TR, thanks for the enjoyable read in the morning!

According to the source of all knowledge - Wikipedia - it is "the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world"

They appear to be harvesting the fields right now.

I took the photograph on Tuesday.

Here in PHX we have lots of cotton fields too, its very intersting to stop and check out the plants and feel the raw cotton, its nothing like you think it feels.

What a great TR!

I went to Lubbock years ago. The DW is a TT grad and she wanted to visit, so I went along. Been to better places, also have been to much worse.

I highly recommend Big Bend. ^^ Whenever I am driving across Texas I will go HOURS out of my way to spend some time there. It is one of my favorite places, period. Near the town of Terlingua there is a great restaurant called La Kiva. It has been a while since I ate there but last time we went the family loved it.

Thanks for the report, the photos were quite nice and very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

That was a great trip report. I enjoyed the pictures. I apparently missed the those historic houses when I was there. I did get to see Praire Dog Town though. Did you get outside the city at all? When I visited 10-12 years ago, the city itself is dry (alcohol wise). So if you venture out, you will find all the liquour stores on the outskirts of town. It is strange to see if you arent used to it.

I flew to LBB one time from DFW (way back when AA flew MD-80s on that route). Thanks for the trip report! Nice photos!

Yes I recall such a thing from the old days around my area. There are still a few smaller communities in the same shape. Lubbock is wet now.

So you were really there just the one day? I do like how you captured so much in such a short amount of time.

Looking forward to Corpus Christi and Big Bend.

Yep. I arrived about Noon. Left about 8 pm. I went to observe, so I did.

The Corpus Christi trip is tentatively set for early November. The main purpose for it, other than to visit Corpus Christi, is to tour the USS Lexington that is docked there as a museum. So I will have less time to tour around the city itself.

The Big Bend trip is tentatively set for late April.

Thanks for a fun, offbeat Trip Report! Reminds me of a classic Simpsons quote:

Indeed. It is going to take a bunch of hosing to cleanup this statue on the Texas Tech campus.