The International Comanche Society - Pilot und Flugzeug

three cowboys and a Texas lady strolled
in and entertained us with great western
music. The Comanche camaraderie
doesn’t get any better that it did that
night. The evening ended with our fleet
of stage coaches returning to our motel
with happy campers aboard.
Saturday was a great day. It started
early with a 20-mile drive to the rim of
the world-famous Palo Duro Canyon.
There we were “herded” on to several
off-road vehicles decorated with longhorns
and dusty Texas art. We bounced
down a steep canyon dirt road to the
chuck wagon of the Elkins Ranch.
Ranch hands fed us the best cowboy
breakfast we could have wanted, served
on a tray with no dishes – just like
they did it in the real cowboy days.
An intruding rattle snake got shot on
the spot. Everything tasted great, the
biscuits and coffee were superb. Then
some real Texas comedy and musical
entertainment got underway with
cowboy/singer Ed Montana and his
sidekick. Ed tried to teach Mark
Pfeifer and Elaine Fox to yodel – it
didn’t work. He gave us about an
hour-and-a-half of half-true history of
the majestic canyon we were sitting in,
interspersed with song and comedy.
We could watch the deer nearby, and
savor the colors of the canyon – it was
a great morning.
We next visited the world famous
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.
We could have spent several hours there,
as its diversity offered something of
interest to everyone. But recognizing
we have to have “shopping” as part of
every fly-in, our fleet of stage coaches
had to proceed to the historic Route
66 shopping area. Here our stage coaches
went different directions, antique shopping,
mall shopping, to the airport to
kick tires, or back to the motel for a
nap. I went with the airport crowd. It was
fun listening to the owners of the many
impeccably maintained Comanches
share their secrets.
The evening brought us to the climax
of our fly-in. Our stages coaches took
us back to the Palo Duro Canyon, and
then deeper in to the canyon for the
world-famous barbeque and musical
extravaganza “Texas.” The setting was
a 2,000-seat outside amphitheater among
the beautiful canyon rock formations,
with a large open stage and the canyon
wall as its backdrop. The play essentially
revolved around the history of a panhandle
town, with its pioneer struggles,
love stories, and indians, and was set
to music and special sound and visual
effects occurring on the 800-foot canyon
wall natural backdrop. It was spectacular
with trees being split by lighting
and thunder which made you “duck”.
Now I don’t really know the complete
story, but rumor has it that upon return
to our hotel, two of our Comanche
rowdies were having such a good time
that they actually got thrown out of
our motel and others were threatened.
You will have to ask them about that.
All I really know is that not all of us
checked out of the same motel we
checked into.
On Sunday, we had to go back to
reality. Our Texas Panhandle weekend
is now an indelible memory. Our thanks
to Butch and Linda Baker for volunteering
to be the hosts of the fly-in, to
The ride deep into Palo Duro
all the stage coach drivers, and to each
who attended. I don’t really understand
why our whole tribe doesn’t show up,
as we have so much fun.
SEPTEMBER 2006 Comanche Flyer • 39