Yesterday and today were all about places in the center of the "Dust Bowl". We had read the book The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan about those who stayed and endured the period. I had to see the place for myself - and as it turned out we got to totally feel the place too. The wind blew relentlessly the whole time we were there and carried tons of dust aloft. Ann thought it was creepy. The three cities we visited were: Dalhart TX, Boise OK and Liberal KS. The photo in the center is of the typical dugout that the homesteaders lived in for the first year or so. This one was a real one that had been used. Inside it was about 8' x 12', had rough walls and a dirt floor. A family of five lived in it.
The photo of the combine was where it was left in the field when the dust bowl and a ruined market caused the homesteader to finally leave. Often as not, the banks would not even go and collect the piece of machinery that was defaulted on because they had too many already and there was no market for the equipment. All in all is was a very sad time and we got a good feel for the experience. Boise City (pronounced boys city) had an incredible museum.  We were in 4 states today-Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas.