My West Texas Eyes On Texas corespondent, Jammin Mole, has been sending me pictures from West Texas for my humongous Regions of Texas Project that has been tormenting me for a year.Actually, it has been tormenting me for a bit less than a year. A year ago this coming July 20 I flew up to Tacoma for what turned into a torturous lost month. Prior to leaving I'd built the website framework for my Regions of Texas Project. I brought the reference materials north with me and my intention was to make 5 to 10 webpages a day.
By the time I escaped Tacoma I'd been so traumatized that I'd totally forgotten about my Regions of Texas Project. When I got back here I was more interested in regaining my sanity than working on that website project. And so it remained way in the back of my mind for months and months.
And then last week I was looking at my Google webstats and I saw that the few pages of that project that I had gotten done were doing real well. I had not noticed. I have an awful lot of webpages to try and keep track of. That and I forget things.So, I'm currently in what's called Big Bend Country. That is where Wink is. Wink is both famous and infamous. Wink is a very little town, it's seen better days. Wink was Roy Orbison's hometown. There is a little Roy Orbison Museum in Wink that you can visit by appointment.
Wink needs to have someone make the town a statue of Roy Orbison, similar to what Lubbock has done for Buddy Holly. And maybe someone could make better signage for the Roy Orbison Museum and for the sign that says "The Original Home Site of Roy Orbison."Wink is also known for its Sinkholes. There are two of them. The first Sinkhole sank on June 3, 1980. Then, almost 22 years later, to the day, an even bigger Sinkhole sank. And now there is a sagging in the ground, near Wink, that geologists say will become Wink Sinkhole #3.
My West Texas Wink Corespondent tells me that locals travel about Wink in pairs. One car following another with about a 100 foot gap. If the ground sinks underneath car #1, car #2 is supposed to get help, and vice versa if car #1 sees car #2 disappear in the rear view mirror.
That is Wink Sinkhole #2 in the Sinkhole picture.
Little Wink is also famous for being really HOT. As in Wink is often the HOTTEST spot in Texas and the entire country.
Wink is also known for its ghosts. There are several Wink ghost stories. The Wink ghosts are nationally known. By those who pay attention to such things.
So, for a little town of less than 1000 people, Wink has a lot going on. Ghosts, Roy Orbison, record breaking temperatures. And giant Sinkholes.
Just an FYI...the Roy Orbison Festival was originally created in order to raise enough money to erect a statue in honor of Mr. Orbison...apparently since this is the 20th year...we aren't doing so well...:(
ReplyDeleteWhat are the details of the Roy Orbison Festival? When? Where? What?
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about Wink, I wonder, that makes people stay? Hot dry and very nearly desolate. I know very little about it but it seems it would make a good setting for a horror story. A town besieged by a troop of blood sucking vampires, or a psychopath preying on the its inhabitants one poor soul at a time. Teenagers in Wink (?) can't wait, I bet, for it to be sinking into a blood red horizon in a rear view mirror.
ReplyDeleteThis weekend, June 19th and 20th, in Wink...featuring the Truly Lover Trio...a Californian Rockabilly Boogie group. Friday night features the Pretty Woman Beauty Contest. Saturday, festivities start at 9AM...parade, antique car show, flea market. Saturday evening, the concert and street dance.
ReplyDeleteTwister, we prefer a Zombie attack...my teenage son has already called dibs on being Wink's last human survivor. I suppose quite a few of the younger ones would love to see all of Wink, sink.
Very interesting! Hello from Kermit, Texas!
ReplyDeleteI use to live there when I was a kid, and loved it. The people went all out for the the kids then. I guess they still do. I lived right off the park. I still would love to visit the town even though I no there is not much there. I would probably live there if there was any jobs. It seams to have a pull on me.
ReplyDeleteHow can Wink have a sign that says original homesite of Roy Orbison when he was born just south of Vernon in the Greyback community?
ReplyDeleteBecause its not his "birthsite" but it is where he spent his growing up years. I was born in Amarillo and moved to Kermit when I was 5. I consider Kermit my hometown, not Amarillo.
ReplyDeleteJoe Hancock
ReplyDeleteI lived in the Lyon oil camp at Wink about a mile West of sink #1. I loved life at Wink and remember going to school with Roy Orbison and Rosie Dodd. In fact Rosie was my first boss, we cleared brush from city lots and he drove the truck, he was in high school and I was in the 5th grade. We worked for winkler Co.
The people were great
Hancock
ReplyDeleteI lived in the Lyon oil camp at wink, about a mile West of sink #1 and loved wink and its people. I went to school with Roy Orbison and Rosie Dodd. Rosie was my first boss. We cleared brush from city lots and Rosie was the driver of the truck. I was in the 5 th grade. We worked for Winkler Co. Thanks for the memory.
I'm Walter Quigley and I've got a thing or two to tell you about Wink, Texas. Instead I will tell you about our Rig Theater Corporation in the same town. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit, we operate The Roy Orbison Museum in Wink and we are in the process of restoring The Rig Theater, next door, so that we can relocate the Roy Orbison Museum into the finished theater lobby. We seek funds and donations from corporate sponsors and we are prepared to offer a complete title sponsorship to some giving entity. Walter Quigley, quigleyontop@gmail.com, 432-527-3487 / 928-764-2639
ReplyDeleteRoy 0rbison was the best artist l ever saw. Summer of 1968 Roy gave a concert in Nashville,Tennessee. More talent that ever walked on a stage.
ReplyDelete