WHAT THE PANHANDLE KNOWS ABOUT LIVING ON THE MARGINS

A WATER HOSE AGAINST THE WIND:

My best friend's father lost his home this week.

The entire house — gone in a few minutes. A spark, forty-mile-an-hour winds, drought-cured grass, and that was it. They tried to fight it with a garden hose. They escaped with the clothes on their backs. The barn survived, where their RV was parked.

I have been on the road for my Dirt Road Tour of Rural Texas, and when I …