TEXAS, MIDLAND AND ODESSA: THE PERMIAN BASIN PETROLEUM MUSEUM, GEORGE W. BUSH CHILDHOOD HOME, THE MIDLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY, AND THE ODESSA JACKRABBITS

 March 21, 2021

After enjoying our drive through Texas Tech, our delicious lunch, and our visit to the Buddy Holly Center, we headed to Midland, about 120 miles due south of Lubbock. Midland is not located in mid-Texas as its name implies, but rather in West Texas. It was named "Midland" because it was founded as the midway point between Fort Worth and El Paso on the railroad that connected those two cities. Its biggest claim to fame has to do with THE Bush family, but more on that later.

Midland is located in the Permian Basin, a large sedimentary basin  that includes a lot of oil fields, so it makes sense that Midland is the home of the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, which didn't sound all that exciting, but we needed a break on a long drive, so we decided to stop there. 

Appropriately, the museum has an oil rig in its front yard.

Posts outside of the museum are topped with engraved granite markers that give a timeline of oil production from 400 BC to the present day.

Check out the fancy border on the roof. No question what is important here.

The museum has a lot of information about the mechanics of drilling for oil, which was interesting--to a point.

What I enjoyed most was the focus on historical perspective. These collages show what was happening or popular during various time periods.

Gas was 27¢ a gallon in the late 1940s.

All the prices are shocking. These are from the 1960s. 

Aha, getting closer to the present day!

There was a large room full of myth-busting (or maybe it was propaganda, depending on your feelings about drilling for oil and/or oil and the environment). Here are quotes from major magazines and newspapers.

The actual magazines that have denigrated the oil industry are also on display, the point being that these prognostications were clearly WRONG. Look how great oil and gas are!

And look at all these wonderful oil companies that provide jobs and boost our economy!  The point is to promote oil and natural gas as being far superior to other forms of energy (wind, solar, water, etc.). 

There are fun activities for kids.

I thought this was very effective--a display of all the things that are made with petroleum.

Like the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, this museum has a little art gallery that is filled with regional art, many by artist Tom Lovell.

Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River by Tom Lovell

Camels in Texas by Tom Lovell

Texans have a thing for cars. (Think Cadillac Ranch and Slug Bug Ranch, among other places.) This museum had a big display of Chaparral race cars, which are designed and made in Midland.

Visitors are actually allowed to get into this car and sit behind the wheel. I knew that if I got in, I might not be able to get out again.

Behind the museum is a fun display of various pieces of oil drilling equipment.

I love the play on words on this trash can.

Finally, the museum has an impressive rock exhibit. 

Enormous amethyst geode from Uruguay

Calcite stalactites from China

Besides the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, the other big attraction in Midland is the George W. Bush Childhood Home. George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara came to Texas in 1948 and moved to Midland with their oldest son George W. and daughter Robin in 1950.

They bought this 1939 home in 1951 and lived in it until 1955. During those four years they lost their daughter Robin to leukemia and had two more sons. That means this very modest house was home to two presidents (George H. W. and George W.), two governors (George W. in Texas and Jeb in Florida), and a first lady (Barbara). That's impressive. And by the way, Laura Bush, wife of George W., was born and grew up in Midland, graduating from the local high school. She and George were married in Midland's First United Methodist Church. 

George W. was age 5 when they moved into this house and 9 when they moved to a larger home.

The side yard:

The backyard:

All of the homes in the neighborhood were small like this one. There was nothing fancy nearby.  

Unfortunately, because we visited during the Covid shutdown, no tours of the inside of the home were allowed. I'm pretty sure we won't ever get back to Midland to take that tour.

Classic Texas mural just across the street from the Bush home:

Midland is proud of their connection to the Bush family. There are many things named after them: streets, the courthouse, etc.

One last notable place to see before leaving town is the Midland Downtown Public Library. When we first drove by, I thought it was a children's museum.

The murals are spectacular. There was no way I was going to let Bob drive past this without stopping.

It wasn't until we went around to the main entrance that I realized it was a library! This viewpoint made that pretty obvious.

I would most certainly have gone inside if it had been open. I may not return for the tour of the Bush home, but this wonderful library might draw me back.

We still had some daylight left, so we drove 25 miles southwest to Odessa, a city of about 100,000 people where one of my sisters actually lived in for a few years. The Bush Family actually lived in Odessa for a year in 1948. George H. W. had just graduated from Yale and took his first job here as an equipment clerk. They lived on a dirt street in a duplex. 

We didn't see that house, but we did see a lot of jackrabbits--fiberglass jack rabbits. You see, in 1932, Odessa started holding a Jackrabbit Roping Contest at their annual rodeo. The contest continued until 1977, when it was ended because of objection by the Humane Society. 

The legacy of that rodeo is around 40 artistically painted fiberglass jackrabbits, known as the "Jamboree Jackrabbits," strategically placed around town, starting in 2004, in a purposeful effort to boost tourism.

Unfortunately, we could not find a map of the critters on the internet, so we were left to our own devices (no pun intended, because our devices weren't very helpful) to find them. In the limited time we had, we found seven, located in front of two downtown banks:

. . . in front of the community college and a florist shop:

. . . near the hospital (two jackrabbits, both flanks shown for each one):

. . . and in front of the "Grand Hotel Fun Dome" (no idea what that is):

Some of the jackrabbits looked like they could use a facial or some new make-up. I do wish we had been able to find a map that would have taken us to see all of this large bunny family.  (I'm pretty sure there won't be a next time in Odessa.)

From Texas Tech to Buddy Holly, and then to a petroleum museum, a presidential residence, and a warren of jackrabbits--it was quite the unusual day.