From Clint C. Blackman III, Sunday Drive Director of the Maverick Region Porsche Club of America in Dallas, TX
Oh, wow, Wow, WOW….. what fun we had on Sunday! Your Sidewinder Route was a blast! We had great sunny/partly cloudy 68 degree weather. The road was smooth and had “little to no” traffic….but the scenery–that was the best! It was West Texas rolling hills, vista views for miles and miles, mesas in the distance. We even crossed the Brazos River gorge. Great road twists and turns. Wide open space touring. Your Dallas map was great.
A total of 32 Porsche cars attended the drive. We started in Weatherford and went north on 920, starting at 1:45pm and stopped at about 3:00pm in Perin at a little convenience store. Boy, were they surprised to see all those sports cars.. We then got back “on the trail” and went down Texas 4 to Palo Pinto, where we detoured on US-180 and went to Mineral Wells. We arrived in Mineral Wells at 4:25pm.
Mineral Wells used to be one of the most famous mineral “healing waters” spas in the world. Seriously, in the 1930s the rich and famous came to Mineral Wells. Judy Garland, Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich…they all came to Mineral Wells. The original mineral water company is still operating and we took our group by to “take the waters.” Oh, what a hoot we had! The Famous Mineral Water Company is the home of “Crazy Water.” The company is family-owned and they host tours. The company started in 1904 when the Lynch family stopped there and drilled a water well. The water smelled funny and after a while they discovered it made sick people well. The Crazy Water name stuck when a known crazy woman started drinking the water and became sane. The original well and pump house is still there and producing this miraculous water.
For our tour, the Famous Water folks hosted a water tasting on the patio for us (the patio used to host the best card games in town…they gambled for money…can you believe it!) The company has a nice store with all types of specialty goods including Crazy Water No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. We all sampled the waters and enjoyed ice cream as well. They sell great looking “Crazy Water” T-shirts, old cards and photos, local specialty foods, soaps and lotions. It really is a very fun place to stop and see something special and unusual. And, besides, that pain in my neck went away after a shot of “Crazy Water No. 4.”
Thank you so much for helping our group have such a fun time. Most agreed that this was the best Sunday Drive we have ever had.
