Perry has written warmly about Paint Creek peacock feather hair extensions in his two books: Fed Up, which embodies many of the themes of his presidential campaign, and On My Honor, a tribute to the values of the Boy Scouts of America that includes reflections on his days in scouting.
"To some, Paint Creek is a throw-back in time -- a fading memory of the way things used to be, when you knew everyone within a 15-mile radius of you, and when you saw each other at work or school and then later at church," Perry wrote in Honor.
"Paint Creek reminds me of a sense of community that seems lost today. ... For me, Paint Creek was not merely an idea; it was the center of civilization, and everything else was an alternative universe."
The Perrys' roots in the community go back more than a century. Rick Perry's great-great-grandfather D.H. Hamilton moved to Texas after fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War, ultimately settling in the Paint Creek area. Perry's father was a tenant farmer and a longtime county commissioner.
The bungalow where Perry and his older sister grew up no cheap feather hair extensions longer exists. The governor's parents, who typically shun interview requests, now live in a red-brick home adorned with a motto on the front door, "May all your weeds be wildflowers."
Those who knew the young Rick Perry -- and seemingly everyone in the county did -- recall an energetic youngster who was "110 percent boy," in the words of Don Ballard, the current school superintendent.
"He was just like the rest of us," said Ballard, 64, who knew Perry through 4-H. "He grew up on a farm and worked."
Wallar Overton, who is 11 years older than the governor, has known Perry "since he was born" and helped him prepare his book on scouting. His father, Gene Overton, was Perry's scoutmaster, whom the governor has repeatedly singled out as a role model in his life.
Driving through the back roads of rural Haskell County in his 2002 Silverado, Overton pointed out the now-dry pond where Perry and other scouts swam on scorching summer days and the six-man football field where Perry cheap hair feathers quarterbacked the Paint Creek Pirates. "If I had to say one thing about Rick Perry, it would be that if he set his mind to do something, he would go out and do it," Overton said. "He was goal-oriented."
Perry left Paint Creek to attend Texas A&M, graduating in 1972 with a degree in animal science. After nearly five years as a C-130 pilot in the Air Force, he returned to Haskell County to join his father in the farming business. In 1982, he married his school sweetheart, Anita Thigpen.
Two years later, Perry seized the opportunity to run successfully for a seat being vacated by a longtime incumbent, representing Haskell County in the House for three two-year terms as a Democrat. But he provoked lasting bitterness among many in the area when he switched parties in 1989 and was elected agriculture commissioner.
"We helped get him elected, and then he switched parties," said Sharon Mullino, Haskell County's Democratic chairwoman. "He left us. We didn't leave him."
Another Perry critic is Haskell County Judge David Davis, a Democrat who accuses Perry of placing his party's interests over "the best interest of Texas." Asked whether he's a fan of Perry, Davis wholesale feather hair extensions said, "No, sir."
But as Perry leaps headlong into presidential politics with polls placing him in the top tier of candidates, many in Haskell County will be part of the cheering section. "I think people are looking at him as a hometown boy, and they hope he does well," said Andy Gannaway, president of Haskell National Bank.
