Six-man football

Oct. 5, Copper Breaks State Park-Knox City, 54 miles, SE breeze, 88/65—Copper Breaks is a tremendous park, though unfortunately the longhorns, part of the official state herd, have been taken to Fort Griffin early for their annual health check because poachers have damaged some of the enclosure fence.

The superintendent, David, has a lot to say about the park he runs. Texas state parks are in a tough budget time. For winter the park will be day-use only, a shame because Texas is plenty warm then, and there are no other state parks in the area.

David says he's tried to sell the park as an educational resource. The problem is local teachers have to prepare students for their required standardized tests and don't have time to use the park and its visitor center.

More bad news at my lunch stop, Crowell, which seems to be losing people by the day. There's now only one place to eat, and storefronts on the square are deserted or rented by public services rather than businesses, always a bad sign. The guy bagging my groceries tells me that after high school young people leave for college and work—nothing can hold them here. It's not New York and Los Angeles they're going to, but Lubbock and Fort Worth.

Midafternoon, past the prickly pear and juniper of the rugged Wichita River breaks, I take a rest with Sonny on the shady side of the county courthouse in Benjamin where he's janitor. He's taken a chair outside, where he sits and smokes and drinks a Coke. His son just moved to Arlington, Texas from Columbia, Mo., where I live. I gather the son wasn't pleased with Missouri state government, including the idea of a state income tax (Texas has no income tax).

Sonny turns out to be the perfect go-to guy for answering all the Texas questions in my head. He explains how oil and gas wells work (the tall, skinny tank is the boiler that separates salt water from oil), and about the new energy boom. For the second time today and using the same phrase I heard in Crowell, Sonny says young people are leaving to "go where the money is." Even those who stay often shop for a month or two's supplies in Abilene or Wichita Falls, making it extra tough for local businesses.

I spend the night down the highway in Knox City, which is playing six-man football for the first time because high school classes are shrinking. The team started the season with 20 players, and several have quit because they don't like the six-man game, which is streamlined and high-scoring. I find most people don't know the rules of the game, but it's the only chance for small towns like this to have a football team. In Texas that's important.