GATHERING ROCKS By Earnest Willis Tuesday was a beautiful day. A calm wind and 82 degrees is seldom witnessed on a February 14 in the Texas Panhandle. In fact, 82 degrees was a new record high for that day. Barb and I mixed and poured concrete for a bench on the new fountain at the west end of our home. We mixed one batch too many and had to use it to lay some rocks on the waterfall that is also under construction. It was hard to find good choices of rocks in our gathered rock pile. We decided to make Wednesday our "search for new rocks day". It's always an adventure when the two of us go on a rock hunting trip. Because of that we are always thoroughly pumped by the time the day arrives for the search. We arose early on Wednesday, put together some snacks, water, a map, work clothes, gloves, shovel and, pry bar and mounted our Chevy pickup truck. We were ready to go. We have found by expereience (We are experienced rock hunters) that the best rocks are found beside the roadways as they cut through hills and canyons decending from the caprock into the bottom ot the canyons. This is a drop of about 1000 feet in elevation. Pampa is up on the Caprock and Turkey is in the river valley way below the Caprock.  That's where we headed, toward Turkey, Texas. The roads to Turkey from Pampa are multiple choice. We chose the route that passes through Claude, Texas where the movie Hud was filmed. We stopped in Claude at a small resturant and had lunch. Barb had chicken fried steak and I had a mexical dinner. There were several farmers seated at the table next to us. We listened. "I think my wheat is dead" one said. "But my daddy used to say, Don't worry about it, just like a cat, wheat has nine lives." "You can pull up a clump of my wheat and look at the roots and think it's as dead as a doornail and let a good soaking rain come and it'll come out green as a gourd in a week". "Well, I hope your daddy is right, because it's as dry as a powder house out there now". "You can see puffs of dirt from every step you take" said the one next to him. "Don't make no difference anyway, with the price of wheat as $2.30. "What's the use of worrying about it" he continued. I understand the plight of the farmers and I'm about to tear up, so we finished up, left a very good tip and we headed toward Silverton, Texas.   The big tip didn't help the farmers any, but it made me feel better. On the way to Silverton, we dropped off the Caprock into Palo Duro Canyon, nearly a thousand feet. Rocks are plentiful along the road side but most are not suitable for our project, so we carefully check every prospect before loading each one into the truck. About a half load was found along that stretch of road. We come back up out of the canyon and arrive at Lake Mackenzie, named after Gen. Ronald Maskensie, the indian rouster. The construction of lake Mackensie was delayed so that over 100 separate archeological sites could be explored to completion. We loaded a few more rocks beside the road near there , then headed on to Silverton. This city was almost entirely blown away by a tornado several years ago. We see no signs of the damage, everything has been rebuilt. I think about the indians that once lived in these canyons with sadness and try to imagine their feelings at being forced to leave.  I wasn't there , had nothing to do with it, and am half indian myself, but still feel guilty about it. We pass through Silverton and head toward Quitaque. (kitty quay) and drop off into the canyon again and finish loading rocks. The truck tires are squeezed almost flat. Our next stop is Turkey, Texas. We stopped at the Bob Wills monument there and read about the Texas Playboy. Bob was born near here on a farm between the rivers, just before they join on their way to the Red River. I remember hearing the radio commercials about Light Crust Bread and his songs, Faded Love, SanAntonio Rose and Take Me Back To Tulsa. Then we turned back toward Pampa with plenty of rocks to finish the waterfall. It was a pretty fun trip. I told Barb that I was ready to be home so that we could - then I caught myself and said."No I don't think so. I'm too tired and have a headache. " She said. I'm sure glad you said that".