…it’s like, 90 feet tall
Critter Con 15
Day 4: In which we are joined by The Girls, visit an Albino Zoo, see a house that looks like a rattlesnake, try The World’s Best Damned Chili, hit a used book store, and sing to a heard of cattle and cowboys.
This being pretty much our last lengthy leg of the trip, about 5.5 hours drive time, we all slept in until 9:00, then had a hearty breakfast at the Big Texan, where we were joined by our granddaughters, the recently graduated Dr. Cupcake Cross (mutant gorilla, PhD in habitat design) and Dr. Tucker Cross (pitbull, PhD in human/NHT relations). They portaled in from China, the latest stop on their post-graduation summer trip.
(Cakes: Hi, everybody!)
(Tuck: Great to be here!)
We hit the road at 10:45 for our first stop, The (you guessed it!) World Famous Albino Zoo in Groom, Texas.
As advertised, everything in this small zoo is albino. From mice to cats to cattle to reptiles to birds to an African lion, there is almost no pigmentation to be found. That includes the man and his wife who founded the place, Red and Katie Delmar. It seems they met when they were kids, at a convention for people with albinism. They kept in touch, both loved animals, and one thing led to another and here they are.
(Duke: They are really nice people.)
As small zoos go, this one is world class, with the animal enclosures all shaded and quite roomy. Much of it is indoor in climate controlled buildings, and they are both veterinarians, so the animals get excellent care. It always does my heart good to see humans so dedicated to helping NHT.
(Mara: As it does for us all. These folks rock.)
Like I said, it’s a fairly small zoo, so even with chatting with the Delmars, we were done in about 90 minutes. Although they only charge $5.00 a head, we dipped into our cash stash and gave them a $2,000.00 donation.
During our one hour drive to Turkey, Texas (birthplace of Bob Wills, the King of Western Swing), Cakes and Tuck regaled us with tales of their travels over these last couple of months. As one might expect from our family, their adventures ranged from the mundane to the outrageous.
In Turkey, or rather, just south of it, we went to see the not yet world famous Rattlesnake House. And yes, this three story, 4 bedroom, 3 bath home does indeed look like a huge fucking rattler all coiled up and ready to strike.
(Leon: Just let me say FUCK NO! No way!)
(Lettie: His fur should settle back down by tomorrow. Hahaha!)
This is one of the newer goofy houses around, since it was only finished back in April. It’s made of concrete, so it’s pretty much tornado proof, and the folks who own it are both professional herpetologists. It’s great when couples share a passion.
(Omar: I like snakes, too. Some of my tastiest meals have been snakes.)
(Amy: I can dress him up, but I can’t take him out, folks)
They don’t let visitors onto the property, but they did build a road around it, so you can get pictures and videos from all angles. No gift shop, but it being 2022, they do have an online store. You can guess what we did once we left.
Back in Turkey, and it now being almost 3:00, we ate a late lunch at Fay’s Diner. Above which is a big sign saying “ The World’s Best Damned Chili Served Here”. So, while the others ate various and sundry tasty meals, I had not one, but two bowls of some of the best real chili con carne I’ve ever had. Not too hot, incredible flavorful, and with very tender meat, it was heaven in a bowl.
Sadly, my traveling companions seemed a bit worried by my choice.
(Blue: No open flames around Grandpa!)
(Yoyo: Anyone weighing less than 50 pounds should not stand behind Dad!)
(Cakes: Sweetie, activate the toxic gas monitors!)
(Tuck: Grandma, you can sleep in our room.)
(Duke: Mom says Dad has to sleep out here in the living room tonight.)
During our 90 minute trip to Lubbock, we played a few quick board games and chatted. We also had some pie from our Dessert Room.
Our reason for stopping in Lubbock was to visit Ruby’s Used Books, a 100 year old book store that was going out of business. Third generation owner, Diane Raines, was retiring and could not find a new owner, so she sold the property to some developer and was selling “every damned book in the place for a dime each, just like Grandma did back in 1922”.
Well, no way were a pack of book nerds like us going to pass that up. However, the sale started at 8:00 AM this morning. Not a problem when you have a time traveling Bus! So, as we pulled in front of the place, we popped back to 7:57 AM and then descended into Ruby’s as the door opened.
I won’t go into details, but we had to form a chain to move the boxes and bags of books we bought into the Bus. It took 20 minutes. Some of our purchases were very old, but in great shape.
Remember: It’s NOT an addiction if it’s books.
An hour out of Lubbock, we spotted a bunch of cowboys and other folks doing ranch stuff with a big heard of cattle. We figured this would be a great place to do our traditional “Sing For Unsuspecting Locals” thing, so we climbed atop the bus, started the music, and sang “Hooked On A Feeling”. The various cowfolk seemed either confused or amused, but the actual bovines were quite curious and mooed their approval.
We got to our stop for the night at about 7:00 PM and Jeeves provided us with a light buffet for dinner. It’s now 10 PM and pretty much everyone is heading to bed. Tomorrow, we roll into Critter City and the convention.
I’ll see you then!
Starting Destination Sign: The Dark Side Of The Moon
Ending Destination Sign: Gotham City
Radio Station: KBLZ, Home of the Blues
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