In the late 1950s we were coming back to Arizona from Iowa when I actually got my father to stop at a place I had picked out on the trip to Iowa, when we zoomed by going east. It was 43 miles east of Albuquerque, New Mexico and on the south side of the road. When my dad careened into the dusty parking lot, he looked into the back seat and said to me, "Kid, you've got 15 minutes." This is what I saw inside:
I met Diane Potter here at the True West World Headquarters this morning to look at her five volume collection of Route 66 postcards (and menus!). She had an extra one of the Longhorn and she gifted this to me. You can see some of her incredible collection on Facebook at:
Diane's Route 66 Postcards
Anyway, back to the Longhorn experience in 1958: I took it all in, I bought an authentic photo of Billy the Kid for a quarter and then we were back on the road and my father had to goose the '57 Ford with the continental kit on the back, to catch up with all the trucks that got by us while we were in the museum.
A couple months later, I discovered the photograph of Billy was a fake. I read about it in the pages of True West magazine and I was so upset I vowed to find out the truth of the Old West and share it with anyone who would listen.
"There is a fine line between hobby and insanity."
—Dave Barry
