We decided to escape the crowds in Lubbock. We drove to Plainview, a town of about 30,000 southwest of Lubbock, and home to Wayland Baptist University, among other things. We arrived just in time for the parade.
I'll have a lot more parade pics and other pics of Plainview later. This is just an introduction. The parade was the right size to be friendly. No bloated extravaganza here, and the little street festival downtown was the right size too. You could find a place to park! You could actually walk easily through the modest crowd! We encountered a guy with a big camera who approached us and tried to make conversation, except it seems he had no clue. It was difficult and painful. Non sequitur followed non sequitur. He gave my wife an uneasy feeling. He gave me an uneasy feeling. He seemed not to really understand social conventions, though he looked fairly normal. We didn't know whether he intended to follow us or not, or expected us to invite him to have lunch with us, or what-- we couldn't read his intentions. He seemed to not understand what was expected of him, but he also seemed curious. We managed to get away, more or less politely, but we both had a very uneasy feeling. I've concluded that he was either an alien or a time-traveler. Only in Plainview! We learned that in Plainview there are no smoking restrictions in place. We found a little mom and pop type burger stand, and noticed there were people smoking in there. I wanted to leave but my wife, having visited Plainview several times years ago, remembered that Plainview never had any restrictions on where you could smoke, and apparently it still doesn't.
I'll have more on our Plainview adventures later-- gotta post this and start getting some stuff done!
I'll have a lot more parade pics and other pics of Plainview later. This is just an introduction. The parade was the right size to be friendly. No bloated extravaganza here, and the little street festival downtown was the right size too. You could find a place to park! You could actually walk easily through the modest crowd! We encountered a guy with a big camera who approached us and tried to make conversation, except it seems he had no clue. It was difficult and painful. Non sequitur followed non sequitur. He gave my wife an uneasy feeling. He gave me an uneasy feeling. He seemed not to really understand social conventions, though he looked fairly normal. We didn't know whether he intended to follow us or not, or expected us to invite him to have lunch with us, or what-- we couldn't read his intentions. He seemed to not understand what was expected of him, but he also seemed curious. We managed to get away, more or less politely, but we both had a very uneasy feeling. I've concluded that he was either an alien or a time-traveler. Only in Plainview! We learned that in Plainview there are no smoking restrictions in place. We found a little mom and pop type burger stand, and noticed there were people smoking in there. I wanted to leave but my wife, having visited Plainview several times years ago, remembered that Plainview never had any restrictions on where you could smoke, and apparently it still doesn't.
I'll have more on our Plainview adventures later-- gotta post this and start getting some stuff done!
