We met our friends from California, Linda and Martin, on the cruise we took to Australia several years ago and we've stayed in touch ever since. They came to see us once in San Francisco and we had a lot of fun hanging out there. Linda messaged me and asked if we were going to be in Amarillo on a certain date, as they were traveling through. We weren't going to be able to go to Amarillo but as we chatted back and forth, I realized that they would actually be closer to us when they got to Oklahoma, where they were visiting Martin's daughter and fiancé. We decided to take a quick little road trip to Duncan and meet them for the day.
We had a nice lunch at a barbecue place where Martin's daughter and her fiancé both work, and caught up on news.
There's not a lot to do in Duncan! We wandered the main street and learned lots of trivia about the town from these tiles in the sidewalk. Did you know "Ronnie" Howard was born there? :)
We stepped into this used bookstore and browsed for awhile. It was quite a mess with shelves stacked high with books crammed together! We talked with the owner for a few minutes, who told us that a friend had owned it for many years but had died and the store had sat empty for about three years. He was living in CA but decided to come home and do something he felt good about. I asked him if he could make a living at it and he said "I eat." I would think it would be tough in a small town, and we were definitely the only people there. We bought some books to support an independent seller and wished him well.
The "oldest escalator in Oklahoma" is in an antique shop downtown. But it doesn't work. :)
Martin found the Village People.
The "world's largest pig show" was going on so we went to check it out. Apparently all of these pigs were for sale and we couldn't get too close because the farmers thought we were interested in buying. One guy told me, "Your pig is right here! You just have to point it out to me!" Linda and I felt bad for the pigs and wanted to let them loose. I said I wondered how quickly someone would pull out a gun and start shooting at us if we did!
I guess it's an expensive hobby/profession!
After the pig show, we said our goodbyes and began the drive back to Dallas. It's only about three hours and we talked and played music along the way so it wasn't bad. Well, not till we got to Dallas, and the traffic was really backed up. We decided to get off the highway at not our usual exit and later wished we hadn't! Oh, I never mentioned that one of our first purchases when we moved to Dallas was to get both of us new smart phones. I have to say we love the GPS and it's helping us learn our way around Dallas as well as making travel easier!
It was great to see Linda and Martin again--they are both really nice people and we always have a lot to talk about. I hope we we get to see them again soon!
