Middle Of Nowhere Abandoned Spots In Texas Panhandle - Forgotten Small Towns & Backroads After Dark
North Texas Panhandle Road Trip
Transcript
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welcome everyone adam
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the woo here as a recording of the
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saturday
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december 4th 2021
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new mexico
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right there
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down that road
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and as i walk a few feet more
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crossing the state line
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into texas the panhandle
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of texas
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directly
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that direction
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currently 1 20
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p.m however
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you will see how the pavement
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changes a bit
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from here
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and this goes from new mexico
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into texas also
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currently 1 20 p.m
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but as i walk over
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where the road changes
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into texas a new time zone
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happens
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it is now 2 20 p.m
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i'm going to be traversing
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through the texas northern texas
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panhandle
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a few a couple hundred miles not too far
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maybe 300 miles 200 miles probably
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should have looked up before i stated
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that
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right along
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the top portion
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of the panhandle
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this is a little town
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by the name of glen rio
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science takes it right over there i'm
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inviting you to join me on a back road
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excursion off
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the beaten path if you will
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join me
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shall you
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parallel to interstate 40
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as i'm entering into northern panhandle
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texas
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glenn rio i was correct when i said that
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i was thinking i'm probably going to
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state that wrong
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but here is the signage
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right there business loop
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40
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also known as route 66
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into glenrio
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now i will not be staying on 66 for very
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long or be getting back on the
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interstate
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up to a few exits up
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and then going north
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of here
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and running along the
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other state line staying in texas
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take a look at this
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this whole town
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has seen better days
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abandoned
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fallen by the wayside
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forgotten about motel
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and a cafe
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and it looks to be
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at one point
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some accommodations back there that
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would be the motel
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right over there is new mexico
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right over here
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is texas
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okay
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carrying on
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i just love this type of stuff so much
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you think about the history of these
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places and
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those who spent their
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years here probably even a lifetime some
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of them
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building a homestead a business
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a
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farm probably with some horses
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there's still some cows way over there
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in the distance but the horses here
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from this pin have been removed
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and take a look at this
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wow
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an old diner
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look at that
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no graffiti on the side untouched by
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paint cans
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a classic car alert
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in front
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true americana here
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an old refrigerator
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now it does say private property
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and i believe around the backside
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of the station former station
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is a homestead that someone still lives
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in
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watching over the premises which is good
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so there is one resident
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here in this town
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probably the mayor
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i am now on 385 northbound
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the town of vega
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appearing
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over the tree line here
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in the town square will be the water
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tower
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spell v-e-g-a
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yeah cute little community
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and we'll be staying on this road for
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quite a while
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getting up towards the top portion
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of the state of texas and i'm noticing
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all these big windmills over here
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none of them are circulating around
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not a one
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they're just sitting there stagnant
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downtown chanting now
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home of just great candles
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the sign of the way the entry point into
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town here
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so the population
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363
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residents
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looks like something here was torn or
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burned down
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i like this building
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right here
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yeah i like this
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kind of tough to make out what the
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signs say up top
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oh look at that scale over there
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there's a scale
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little trucks back in there
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a rather large arrow in the yard
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i've heard of twin arrows but that's
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just one arrow
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this is quite an impressive
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home as well
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with the water tower
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off in the distance yeah this is a
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beautiful house
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right next to the train tracks
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you're enchanting
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dirt roads
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revered off of the road i was on under
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the dirt road that goes through town
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looking at the water tower there
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old church building here the steeple
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cross up top
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this is the united methodist
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oh yeah
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a courthouse
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as well
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martley county oh sorry hartley
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county h-a-r-t-l-e-y
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a framed courthouse was built on the
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town square
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this gate is open and over there
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it's another structure
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a basketball hoop
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got kind of a late start this morning
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my sister who was also in albuquerque
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ended up having breakfast with her
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didn't really
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get out until close to noon
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so gonna be
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definitely burning daylight
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and battling the
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the sun so trying to make some quick
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time but this is a this is an amazing
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structure here
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that's right big the foot pretty
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standard to see a truck pulling a
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tractor
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through these parts
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nothing out of the ordinary some of
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these small towns farming communities
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right along the thoroughfare
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this closed store has
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a couple paintings a little mural here
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on the side of the wall it's all grown
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over don't want to walk up too close you
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never know what kind of insects or
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snakes are here in the foliage
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got a cowgirl there with her horse
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sitting on a rock
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and also another laying there on top of
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a tree stump
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a few cars over there
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broken down cars
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this fuel station
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i'm curious
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as to what the price of fuel was when
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this place closed
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be able to tell by looking at the front
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of the pump here
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okay this doesn't give much of an
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indication
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well i guess maybe it does
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maybe not that can't be right
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i don't think that oh train coming by
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what does this say
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oh
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this bird startled me
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it's chicago
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not near chicago at the moment
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someone has riddled this full
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i don't know if i want to step inside
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here
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says there's a microwave oven in here
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some machine parts
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just gonna go ahead and close this
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nice view of the water tower and that
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amazing home over there as the train
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goes by
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through a town with a population of less
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than 400 folks
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the relics
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of a tennis court basketball court area
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right over here as well it's no longer
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utilized it's kind of grown over as well
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rusted out
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no traffic jams in this town
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if they are they're rare
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going parallel to the train now
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difficult to outrun a train on foot
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unless you're superman and the richard
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donner
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classic i always love that scene but you
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can do it in a
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car
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passing the train
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see a train
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now over to the town of hartley
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it's about 15-20 minutes up from where i
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just was
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take a look at this there's a tractor
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over there
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next to a bunch of tires
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there are mounds and mounds
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of these tires
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mounds of them
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never seen so many tires
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tiny little hills
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full tires
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took a side road
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i am out here i won't say the middle of
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nowhere but there's not a whole heck of
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a lot about to connect back up with
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another
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road to keep heading northbound it's a
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hay truck here
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whoa he shocked me
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surprise me dog
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it's official
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there is a town in texas
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by the name of
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cactus
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a lot of cactus in texas
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there's also a town
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small town
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over here
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kind of look like looks like doc brown's
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van
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maybe he lives here and if the water
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tower is not enough to convince someone
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here's more proof
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that there really is a town named after
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a cactus
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area code 79013
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a lot of birds off in the background
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making
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quite a bit of noise
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have to backtrack just a few miles head
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over to another access road
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to get to the next spot something i'm
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hoping is still
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still here so i'll find out when i get
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there so just backtracking
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down this way and i'm going to take
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another road keep heading north right
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now
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going west a few miles and then i have
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to take this next road
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northbound might be easier just to ask
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yeah maybe i'll just ask
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excuse me cows
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i'm looking for a statue of a cowboy
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that is very popular around these parts
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i know there's not
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not a lot going on around here but
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there's supposed to be a statue
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of a cowboy
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can you just point me in the right
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direction
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not a whole heck of a lot of
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assistance there cows thank you
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what about you cal
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no okay
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i'll find it myself
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by the way i
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have been on this last road for probably
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10 15 miles no one passed me in either
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at this intersection there might be a
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couple cars
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but yeah
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this is out here
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but now connected with highway 54
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with a little more activity a little
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traffic
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not too busy but there are some trucks
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this was worth
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the slight detour look at the silhouette
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up there of a very tall cowboy etched in
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the state of texas
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right there of course it's like half a
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state because the wood has
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is decrepit
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there's a hay truck going by they just
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honked at me
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prepare for something incredible i saw
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this from a distance i pulled over
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and you can see
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the cowboy off
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in the distance promoting
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a restaurant a steakhouse a diner
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of some sort that now sits here empty
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abandoned desolate
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along this thoroughfare
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also some paintings here on the side or
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maybe
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oh yeah first i thought it was graffiti
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but it's not graffiti
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it's a stagecoach
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look at this little etchings
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of a stagecoach remnants
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of a painting
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or maybe someone was just a large
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sharpie
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i'm not really sure
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if that was there before or after it's
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tough to tell
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and now approaching
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this incredible
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very muffler man-esque
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but not holding a muffler holding
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something else
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oh my
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goodness this
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is fantastic i am very excited
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about look at this look
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at
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this
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it could be my mind i would be
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losing my mind a little bit for the
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excitement his belt buckle
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says tex
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his name must be or might be tax i'm
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gonna call you tex
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and they're short for texas
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this is a find right here
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i am impressed
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with tex
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with a little sunset behind him
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saying hello to all the
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weary travelers who probably have lost
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their way because i can't imagine anyone
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other other than a local
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or a truck driver
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would even go down this road
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i'm just happy to
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talk to him to talk to someone even
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though it's a inanimate
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someone oh man
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he's been given a little back support as
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well those stanchions holding them
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holding them up the name of this town is
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conlon
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i am certainly going to be adventuring
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and driving a lot in the dark
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under the shroud of nightfall
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that's okay though
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gotta be moving on buddy
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yes
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get excited about the smallest thing
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sometimes
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that's pretty cool
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right that's pretty dang cool
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it's getting chilly too i think it's
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like
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mid-40s right about now
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sun goes down
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it's chilly out here
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that right there i guess is what you
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could call the night train
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this is a train at night
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pulling into the downtown area now
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of stratford
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the water tower
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nice little building here
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look at that architecture
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an advertisement painted on the bricks
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there hardware
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some sort of hardware store
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i really like these relics here where
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you could make out old advertisements
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that were painted
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the side of the buildings like that a
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lot
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and the middle of the road has a large
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star on it
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water tower up there for the town
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of groover
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g-r-u-v-e-r
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one thing about driving around at night
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can't see a whole heck of a
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lot except for what the street lights
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show
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not a lot of scenery
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i mean it's all farmland mostly but
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between these two
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between all these towns
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just darkness
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i don't drive much at night anymore
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mostly because i film during the day you
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can't see much at night but
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gotta make up some time
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in my travels i have
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seen one or two
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different gardens
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that have windmills but i've never been
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to this one here in spearman
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population 3000
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and over here in this field
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are a lot of windmills
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they're gonna be very difficult to see
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but it's not gonna hinder me from
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walking over there
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there are a lot of windmills out here
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this one directly in front of me is not
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turning
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but the other one is go up and get a
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little
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little sound ambiance
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the trucks going by but i'll also
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stop talking and just get the sounds
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of the wind
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turning turning this
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yeah it is
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tough to see out here
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there's another one that's turning
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see they're not all turning
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maybe they have a locking mechanism on
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them where some of them don't turn
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but this one is also turning to see if
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this is making a noise
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the weather is nice and chilly
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feels good
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feels good out
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here i like it this is something about
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being in a field of windmills in the
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darkness
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okay moving on windmill and here's the
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downtown area
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oh i like this
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bright and early coffee
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and the finest teas
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i never heard of that brand bright and
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early
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and the water tower right over
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there this is the same town the
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windmills are in
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pay no attention to me
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just
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driving around showing showcasing a
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small downtown
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anyone wonders what i'm doing
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out here
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up the ways a bit is the community of
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periton
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i wanted to show this marquee here
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the ellis theater
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yeah that is nice the
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neon
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the neon is working well
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i like it the ellis
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here in periton
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right downtown
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and i'm not too far from the state line
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probably about 15 15 miles or so
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and then i'm gonna end the episode there
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made it through the panhandle of texas i
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pulled over here on the side of the road
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kind of out near these empty farm this
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empty farmland and fields
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and you'll notice there's some blinking
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red lights out there
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that is not a runway that is not a
30:03
an airport those are blinking lights on
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those
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very huge windmills that you see
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the massive they're just hundreds
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or more
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a couple years ago i was driving through
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an area similar to this i saw these
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lights off in the distance and i thought
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what
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are there are there's a bunch of ufos
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out there but they're not
30:30
that's what they are
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just an indication for
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anyone wanting to know what those are
30:36
this is the booker city hall
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and the water tower above it
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and they have a santa
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kind of popping its head there over the
30:46
top of the city hall building
30:52
right here on pretty much on the state
30:52
line
30:53
not too far
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and this is where i'm gonna
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this is where i'm gonna end the the
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episode
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now i'm gonna drive a couple more hours
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it's about 8 p.m right now
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i probably drive till about 10 o'clock
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and try to find some accommodations
31:11
for the evening but just wanted to
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show this since
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it is into the first week of december
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christmas is right around the corner
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now i am heading to florida
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spend time with
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my family for the holidays
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mom and dad
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and also
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continue moving
31:33
what's left of my stuff in my southern
31:35
california place
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i'm not exactly taking the most direct
31:40
route i kind of veered off just a little
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bit however
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you know it's just it's always fun to
31:47
to kind of go off of the the planned
31:50
path not that i really had a plan
31:52
isn't that right frosty
31:54
this gazebo here very nice little park
31:57
that's gonna do it for today
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from booker
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well that's the fire department right
32:04
there
32:05
right over there's the fire department
32:08
booker texas
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through the panhandle
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the top portion of the panhandle
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and into another state tomorrow
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and then at some point
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heading
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south eastbound
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back to celebration florida
32:28
kind of going with the flow i'll see in
32:29
the next video the vlog
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is over