Me in the pavillion. We were deciding what to do next. And we were just in time to catch the 2 hour bus tour of places Robert E. Howard had lived as a child and adult.


The only thing standing in Burkett, Texas of the homestead where Howard lived. A beautiful gazebo and the once white picket fence.



The hotel experience [lol]:


That night in the pavillion, Howard fan group get together. Here's one of me and Bill Linblad [Alienmotives]


We were treated to a mini-concert by a rockin' German dude named Cornelius, who had Conan-inspired songs and played the acoustic guitar; and then the Cimmerian awards were held, hosted by publisher Leo Grin. The statues were really cool. I want one. If you want pictures, go to Chris' journal. [wordgrinder]. I can't hog all the trip fun, you know.

The next morning, we were up bright and early and headed to the cemetery in Brownwood, a little ways from Cross Plains.




Here's one of Chris looking all hot and stuff. No, really. He WAS hot. Ask him. It was about 10 am and already 90, I'm sure.


We then headed back to Cross Plains for the Barbarian Festival. Here's Main Street:


And here is proof that it WAS hot! You know it's hot in Texas, when it's Dead-Bird-Hot!


Chris and I were followed by a little dog for a while. I thought maybe we'd get a "Dead-Dog-Hot" picture too, but he found some shade. Here's our self-portraits taken with our camera on a timer. First you see the Subway cup:


Then you don't:


We then sauntered over to the Cross Plains welcome sign. We have one together that this wonderfully nice woman took for us [you can see her in the background of this picture before we groveled and begged her to take our photo. She was a pro. Directed us on where to stand and everything. Thank you m'am!], but it's on the regular camera. So, here's one of  The Hot One aka Chris by himself [Can you hear his smokin' hotness sizzling?]:


Then we ventured out into the town. Here's me on Main Street. And no, wise-asses, I was not trying to make some extra money for our trip.


Next stop, The Library where the copies of Howard's manuscripts are kept. When Chris first attended Howard Days, they still had the actual, real life original manuscripts on display, but alas, I was not so fortunate.



And finally, we drove around town and looked at this and that. The hotel/brothel all boarded up. I want this building! Brings back the line from Young Frankenstein: "Freddy: What a filthy mess. Igor: I don't know...a little paint, some flowers,couple throw pillows..."

And that about wraps it up for my available photos. There are different ones over at Chris' journal [wordgrinder]. You know, just in case this wasn't ENOUGH for you! lol.