We usually avoid interstate highway driving, but last week we endured the I-10 haul between Austin and Los Angeles to be here in time for Christmas.

Along the way, we made time for one attraction that’s been on our bucket list, the Alley Oop Fantasy Land and Museum of Iraan Texas.

If you’re stuck on I-10 between El Paso and Austin, don’t miss this quirky little roadside attraction!

Iraan Texas Museum: a Big Gem in a Small Town

When you find yourself driving one of the loneliest stretches of I-10 between El Paso and Ozona, take a few hours to go 13 miles north on Texas Highway 349.

Here you’ll find one of the Lone Star State’s most rustic old towns featuring an abundance of dinosaur-era fossils and a larger-than-life monolith tribute to Alley Oop, that popular caveman comic from the 1930s.

And just as entertaining is the Iraan Texas Museum’s curator Edna “Snooks” Collett, an 85-year-young cowgirl dynamo.

Here’s a short video about this off-the-beaten path West Texas attraction that shows some of the highlights that make this offbeat spot so much fun. The park is always open but the museum hours are from 1 to 5 pm (closed Mondays and through Christmas to March).

 Ira-Ann, Not Iran

Iraan sits atop one of the richest oil field deposits in North America. During the early 20th century, oil was discovered on land belonging to Ira and Ann Yates. When a contest was held to name this newly formed town, the winning result was “Iraan,” a play on the couple’s first names.

During the late 1920s, local artist VT Hamlin was fascinated by the bounty of prehistoric dinosaur-era artifacts found in the Permian Basin lands surrounding Iraan. This was during a time when fossils were dug up and discarded without any real regard for preservation.

In 1932, Hamlin gained worldwide fame when his comic strip Alley Oop caught the eye of newspapers around the country. The comic chronicled the time-traveling adventures of Oop, a burly, axe-wielding caveman, his curvaceous girlfriend Oola, a pet dinosaur Dinny and their kingdom, Moo.

To honor VT Hamlin’s contribution to putting Iraan on the map, locals created the 7-acre Alley Oop Fantasy Land Park, featuring ginormous statues of Alley Oop characters Oop, Dinny, oola, Dr. Wonmug and Oscar Boom.

Snooks’ Museum Walks You Through Time

In keeping with the time-traveling spirit of Alley Oop’s adventures, longtime notable resident Snooks Collett created the Iraan Texas Museum.

This free attraction features hundreds of local artifacts from prehistoric times to the town’s oil boom heyday to the modern era of alternative energy development.

You can spend hours examining these treasures and learning about the region, but you’ll want to reserve even more time to chat with Snooks, who at her advanced age is still running the museum and going on field digs for local artifacts. This rugged but charming western cowgirl who actually lived on the ranch where oil was discovered in Iraan, can tell you endless stories about the region’s rich western history.

If you don’t have enough time to get to know the museum, you can spend the night in your RV. Iraan has two city parks (one located adjacent to the museum) with full hookups for just $12.00 a night. Visit in the springtime, and Snooks, along with the local archaeological association, will welcome you to come along on a real fossil dig.

Our visit to the Alley Oop Fantasy Land and Iraan Museum was too fast, since we were booking it west to California while trying to beat an oncoming winter storm. But we’ll definitely return; this little western outpost is too entertaining to miss whenever we’re on I-10.

Get off the interstate and see the real Texas. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind attraction.

Recommended Reading

Caveman: VT Hamlin and Alley Oop
Roadside America: Alley Oop Land
Texas Escapes: Iraan, Texas
Texas State Historical Assn.: Iraan, Texas

Before our Slab City experience we met up with the Vickers, who spend the Winter months far away from the icy cold of their Colorado ranch at Rancho Casa Blanca RV Resort in Indio, CA. We were passing through to catch Willie Nelson at Morongo Casino just a stone’s throw away … literally – Larry and Paulette picked us up from the parking lot where we were boondocking in their golf cart.

We reminisced about our summer workamping at the ranch, sipped cocktails, went swimming at one of their various club house pools, and enjoyed a quick nine holes of golf on the putting course outside their rig’s door. This pristine RV resort also boasts a full 18 hole course complete with hazards that include sand traps, a lake, and park model windows. But the manicured grass and level greens of Rancho Casa Blanca pale in comparison to the links at Gopher Flats in Slab City.

Winter Rules always apply at Gopher Flats Country Club. This may sound surprising when you consider winter probably lasts less than a week here on the slabs near Niland, CA. But one look around will explain why “preferred lies” are accepted on this course.

This is a simple way of saying that golfers may improve their lies in certain areas of the course. But at Gopher Flats it means two things: 1. Players can feel free to re-place their ball if hindered by say, a sage brush or broken beer bottle, and 2. Blatant lies about one’s score are not just accepted, but expected.

Gopher Flats is a Bob Unden signature course. Designed and created by Bob and Nancy Unden, the course makes fine use of the barren terrain. If you can find it, you will notice each hole has a tee with the distance clearly marked.

Flags are in place on the browns – you really can’t call them greens – and the cups are 8″ wide, which makes up for the bumpy rock hardpan. But that’s why you’ll also find a piece of carpet on a rope near each flag. Players are required to smooth the “greens” or pay the consequences if they don’t.

A few details make Gopher Flats shine above other RV golf resorts. For starters, the greens fees: Free! Yes, Gopher Flats is free, and open to the public 24/7 every day of the year. And not only scorecards and pencils are provided. Players have access to a wide selection of clubs at their disposal.

Sure, some of these club should have been disposed of long ago but what do you want for nothing? There are three bags, drivers and irons of all sizes, wedges and putters, both right and left handed. An ample supply of balls is also for the taking.

Every hole at Gopher Flats is a par 3, but when René and I played nine she shot a 59 to my 44. Do the math, and keep in mind that bit about preferred lies.

Later when we attempted an afternoon foursome with Flux and SkinnyChef, we only got through half of nine before calling it quits.

Perhaps it was the pending sunset with us a half mile from home in the middle of the desert, or perhpas it was all the Early Times, but a fun time was had by all nonetheless.

What makes Gopher Flats a must-play for any RV golfer, however, isn’t just the views, free equipment, or the beetle colonies living in the cups. It’s the fact that you can play with a front row seat to the U.S. Navy’s Chocolate Mountain bombing range.

Military helicopters can frequently be seen buzzing overhead and heard firing their big guns. Not knowing when the next fighter jet might fly by or another ground-thumping explosion might come in the distance adds excitment to every hole. And very rarely has anyone ever stumbled upon an unexploded ordnance.