2005 ~ Happy, Texas

We decided that there was a good chance that we would want to have enough time to plan our next Dart Vacation in case we wanted to travel there in January. We began the tradition to throw the dart on January 1st for the following calendar year. This would give us an entire year or more to plan the trip.

We bought at 2005 Winnebago Journey that year and this was our first road trip with the "bus".  We stopped in Ft Worth for an Athletic Conference and then met a good friend and his family who live there, The Ducics.  On our way home, we stopped in Garden City, KS to see family.  During that journey, we came across Hooker, Oklahoma.  Home of the "Horny Toads".  This mascot made it's way to David Letterman.  We then paid a visit to our beloved vendors at the Power Ad Company in Salina, Kansas.

Our dart for 2005 landed in Happy, Texas. I recognized the name because there was a movie by that name.

Here is what we first learned about Happy, Texas:

Happy is a town in Randall and Swisher counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 647 at the 2000 census. The Randall County portion of Happy is part of the Amarillo, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area.

A 1999 movie named Happy, Texas starring Jeremy Northam, Steve Zahn, Ally Walker, Ileana Douglas and William H. Macy was named for but not shot in the town.

The Happy State Bank and Trust Company, based in Amarillo, serves fourteen communities in the Texas Panhandle, including Happy.

We saw these camels on the side of the road.  This is a favorite photo of mine as we have it hanging up framed in our home.  I just think even the camels look happy!  Doesn't it look like they are glad to see us and laughing at something funny?  Maybe they are looking in a mirror?

We ate at a little restaurant in Happy that I believe was only open for a couple hours each afternoon.  This gentleman worked at the feed lot and gave us some insight into it.  We decided to drive over and once cleared by security, we got the full tour.  Believe it or not ~ I still eat cow even though some of them are so, to use Bob's words, "pretty".

We stopped at the local high school, home of the Happy Cowboys.  They gave us t-shirts and hats and then we went out to find a place for "the" Dart Vacation photo.  

We went horseback riding which was a lot of fun in the Texas sun!

In January 2005, we purchased a Winnebago Journey from Lazy Days in Seffner, FL. This location would give us the perfect opportunity to take our first major road trip in the "bus" and we would be able to justify the expense by attending the Texas High School Coaches show. Our business, Side Effects, Inc. (www.sideeffectsinc.com) gives equipment and cash to high schools through sponsorship fundraising that we secure. Attending trade shows for high school coaches, athletic directors and school administration something we do several times a year. How perfect that there was a summer show in San Antonio. We also got to visit my aunt and uncle in Garden City, Kansas on our trek home.

Highlights of Happy:

~ getting a tour of a feed lot with thousands of head of cattle after passing "security"

~ visiting the Palo Duro Canyon

~ having our meal paid for by strangers in a town nearby to Happy

~ getting a tour of the bank in Happy

~ visiting the high school in Happy and getting "Cowboy" school t-shirts

~ visiting the little restaurant where folks would gather to play cards and eat: only open a few hours a day.