prairie point

If you haven’t been reading Burr Williams’ new blog, you are missing a real treat. He’s had it for less than a month but it has already become one of my favorites.

He calls it El Llanero, because he lives in Midland near the southern extremity of the llano estacado, the part of the High Plains that extends into Texas. I have to admit that for me that’s never been one of the more attractive parts of Texas, but Burr makes it interesting. Seems like I was always in a dust storm every time I visited Lubbuck - never have been to Midland.

When I was in grade school they taught us that it was called “the staked plain” because the land was so flat and featureless that Coronado’s men planted stakes in the ground to mark their trail on their way east from Cibola. But I read this article on the geography of the region which says that the correct translation is not “staked” plain but “palisaded” plain, referring to the escarpment which surrounds the region.