Big XII Facilities Conference
Texas Tech University
National Ranching Heritage Center
Buddy Holly Center and Grave
Lubbock, Texas April 12-15, 2003

Six of K-State's finest, soon to be known as Rice's Raiders (at least to ourselves), left Manhattan at 5 am on a Sunday morning to attend the Big XII Facilities Conference hosted this year by Texas Tech. The conference itinerary promised interesting tech sessions mixed with area tours and lots of good food. I was not disappointed. All pix are thumbnails so click 'em to see full size
143.jpg	144.jpg	145.jpg	147.jpg	Texas Tech Campus
A Ryder truck passes us and then under an 'Okla. City' sign at the start of the trip. Food for thought. We traveled in a company van south across Kansas to The City then west across Oklahoma and on to Lubbock via Amarillo. It's a 12 hour drive with lots of interesting diversions. The Oklahoma City skyline (visable behind the signpost), a water tower that seems to defy gravity and the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere all caught my eye. First stop in Lubbock was our hotel where we met our hosts and friends for refreshments. Then moved across the street to the Skyview Room of the Texas Tech Plaza Building where we had our first dinner and enjoyed a panoramic view of the campus and Lubbock. Our hotel is lower left.
United Spirit Arena
Next morning we were given the grand tour of the United Spirit Center, a huge beautiful facility that hosts Texas Tech basketball and vollyball programs. They have a computer controlled light show that rivals the best rock shows and luxury suites that are equiped with every accomidation imaginable for enjoying a game in style. All of the communications electronics for this facility as well as for the football stadium are housed here.
153.jpg	151.jpg	154.jpg	156.jpg	The Big Cheese, our boss Ed Rice. He looks disappointed that there were no volleyball players in the plush locker room to help him test his new digital camera.
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A bus tour of the campus stopped often and long enough to get a good look at the buildings and take a short walk through many of them. The campus is very neat and uniform in its appearance. The small size of the trees gives a very open feeling to the campus in contrast to the rest of the city of Lubbock which is mostly thickly shaded with big trees. Our hosts were very proud of their new parking garage and rightly so as it is a very attractive building.
It's hard to tell the Parking Garage from academic buildings.	169.jpg	170.jpg	171.jpg	172.jpg
173.jpg	174.jpg	175.jpg	Fountains are called water features in Lubbock. This is the only one on campus that is active. Others are turned off for water conservation.	178.jpg
179.jpg	180.jpg	Large scale renovation to the football stadium is expected to be complete for fall.	The Medical Center is being enlarged by adding two new floors.	This Power Plant is an neat glass walled building.
The National Ranching Heritage Center is an extensive collection of ranch houses throughout the history of Texas. Moved from their original locations around Texas they have been nicly restored and represent everything from the adobe to the fairly modern wood frame. The self guided walking tour takes about an hour.
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194.jpg	Jackrabits were everywhere.	196.jpg
I was delighted to find #401, a 2-8-2 Mikado and its train of cattle cars and caboose. Metal parts seemed intact and in good shape. The wood is in bad shape but these folks are dedicated to restoration and I'm certain that #401 will be shined up and rolling next time I visit.
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Blue Prairie entertained us after a delicious Texas BBQ. Too shy to request I didn't get to hear either of my favorite Texas songs "Yellow Rose" or "All My Exes"
Storms building from the hotel window.
From our hotel we could see storms were brewing as we took an afternoon to visit the Buddy Holly Center. I had to position the camera right against the glass to photograph the Strat (Photography Prohibited!) to avoid glare so you'll have to piece the photos together yourself. I REALLY wanted to play it but they said they would have to think about that.
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221.jpg	222.jpg		Holly's glasses found at the crash site.	Glasses text.
The Cemetery.
Lubbock City Cemetery. Buddy lies next to his parents.
Rice's Rangers... Jim, Dale, Dennis, Mark and Dale.		...and me. Thanks for taking the pic, Dale!	Jim posing with Buddy. No arrests were made.
We pose at the Walk of Fame for a few pictures then back to the hotel.
King of the Hill seemed popular.			The air turned brown.
We had luxurious suites featuring a microwave, range, full size refrigerator and a dishwsher. From the room we could see the storm getting worse and the air turning brown with dust. Stepping outside the grit was immediatly in your eyes and mouth. Winds were locally 50 mph and neaby up to 80. Trucks overturned on the highway and tornadoes were sighted at points east of the city. We considered our options and came to the logical conclusion, "Let's go to Schooner's!"
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Our last night in Lubbock at Schooner's, a local college bar, Dale tries the huge one pound burger. Nope, he couldn't fininh it. Signs all along the interstate in Oklahoma and Texas touted the free 72 oz. steak dinner. Free if you were able to finish it within an hour. They didn't advertise what the price was if you didn't finish in time.
On the road again...	252.jpg	253.jpg	254.jpg	255.jpg
The 12 hour drive home offered lots of interesting diversions. A water tower that seems to defy gravity and the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere caught my eye.
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A brand new rest stop restroom was highly decorated with ceramic tile images commemorating historic Route 66.	The exterior of the rest stop was an attractive Tex-Mex styled building.	Across the interstate there was a rest area of a completly different design. It looked like a bunker. A stark reminder of what our boys in Iraq were seeing.	Dennis told us Cowboy's Restaurant and Trading Post was highly recommended. It was boarded up when we got there.	No. No, he's not. Really.
I can't drive 55.

copyright 2003 Mike Warren all rights reserved