Nov 1 – 14 Lubbock, Poolville, Fort Worth, Dallas and Houston a whole lot of country and people

by terryandcarol5thwheeling

November 1 the wind is blowing to hard for our friends to safely drive their motorhome so we hunker down for an extra day,  just as well as no RV spots are available in Lubbock as its a home game for college football.

November 2 the wind has changed directions and we sail into Lubbock in 2 hours.  We don’t even unhook as we catch a ride in with the Watson’s to the Buddy Holly Center which is about 5 minutes from the rv park.

The BH Gallery is shaped like a guitar and follows Buddy’s life in Lubbock to his last concert in Clear Lake, Iowa. His unique style, playing the guitar only with down strokes, Holly and the Crickets are recognized as the first self contained band, they wrote a lot of their own songs, made a huge and lasting contribution to the early days of R & R.  John Lennon said, “There would not have been a Beatles had it not been for the Crickets.   Chris Oglesby said “While Elvis will always be King of Rock-n-Roll, Buddy Holly is most certainly its George Washington”.   Buddy who died at age 22 recorded 110 songs from September 1957 to February 1959 among them Peggy Sue; That’ll be the Day; Oh, Boy; I’m Gona Love You Two; Maybe Baby; Rave On; are the ones we remember best.  This Texan was referred to as “the gentleman of rock n roll”, he and the band wore suits and ties as each performance and of course for his signature glasses that he refused to not wear.

The West Texas Walk of Fame established what a music powerhouse this part of Texas is and evidenced by the list of they 67 Inductees, included on the list is Waylon Jennings, Mac Davis, Tanya Tucker, Roy Orbison, Gatlin Brothers, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Jeannie C. Riley.

November 3 on the road to Abilene.  The road is lined with cotton fields and the harvest is in progress, we saw a cotton gin in operation, the wind was swirling white fluffy cotton around the buildings.  Many  more windmills scattered throughout the fields.  It appears that most farm yards have no residences, looks like they have have been moved away from the reputed excessive noise and vibration.  Oil and gas fields are ever present.  Terry commented on the perfectly straight lined rows of pump jacks and recalls seeing plans in the 70’s of well drilling plans in Texas.  These wells are 5 – 6 acre spacings – so much closer together than he had ever seen. We stayed at the Abilene RV Park, so close to the highway we were kept awake.   Find another place to stay

Wind mills in cotton field near Abilene, TX

November 4 the forecast rain began in earnest as we rigged up.  Terry had to don his full rain gear.  Lucky for him the rain gear had dried by the time we arrived at Ron and Heather’s in Poolville as he had to wear it again.  Ron told Terry, “You Canadians have all the best gear”, when he saw Terry’s lined rubber boots.  It rained most of the day but lucky for us Ron kept us entertained with all his stories.  We had a much appreciated home cooked meal when Heather arrived home from work.  Sure enjoyed the  visit we had with this gal who 26 year ago called Terry “a dick”, after he played a trick on her.

Ron toured us around the area, we are in horse country, Ron is a farrier and is kept busy shoeing and trimming hooves.

A Farrier’s recycle bin

Fencing called Cobb and Co Hitch, in place 10 years. Posts and railings are mountain cedar, it looks like it should last a long time at Ron & Heather’s

While we waited for Heather to return Wednesday Ron and I had a little cooking marathon.   Heather graduates mid December and will be a RN, congratulations to her for all her hard and upon receiving notification she will receive the outstanding graduate of her class.  We sure enjoyed out laughs and the hospitality and were sad to leave our little canuck.

November 6 in the SUN our 45 minutes trip to CowTown RV in Aledo where we meet up with the Watson’s and enjoy an afternoon in the sun and wind.  Will the wind ever stop we wonder.

November 7

45 minutes into Dallas for our Apple appointment.  The line up for new phones is out the door.  Thank goodness we just needed a quick fix.  We had lunch at a Dallas staple, Wild About Harry’s.  Hot Dogs, diet coke and ice cream for dessert, Terry’s ideal lunch.

November 23, 1963 – the majority of people our age remember where and what they were doing when they heard the shocking news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  The museum on the 6th floor of the School Book Depository Building is sobering.  The self guided audio tour covers the Kennedy era primarily from campaign to death and the various conspiracy theories.  Even though the museum was crowded people were respectably quiet. The view from the 6th floor looking down onto Elm Street chilled us and we recalled the many times we saw on TV the limo racing away.  AAA discount applied and the tour took about an hour.

 

On a lamp post in Dallas, the isolation period for the first victim was just coming to the end

The limo turns onto Elm Street at the corner

Elm Street where the limo’s raced off. Supposed to be and X to mark the spot but we didn’t see it.

November 8 Fort Worth Stockyards

We arrived in time for the Texas Longhorn Cattle Drive down Exchange Avenue.  Almost as many cowboys and cowgirls as there was cattle.  The spectacular horn’s spanned over 4 feet.  Then onto the Legends of Texas Gunfight Show.  Farcical and good fun.  Had lunch at the Star Cafe a former bordello, with the 1880 license posted on the wall to prove it.  The second best chicken fried steak in Fort Worth, we were told, the first of course being Momma’s.

Fort Worth Cattle Drive

The entrance door to the Cowboy Hall of Fame – must get hot in Fort Worth!!

 

Gun fight

License posted at the Star Cafe

The purchase of hats and boots to attest to the fact I’ve lost my mind, which was the reason I rode the Longhorn bull!!!

Not near as flashy as some nor as expensive as the made to order I tried on with the very pointy toe

Me thinking, don’t breathe, don’t move. Terry thinking he should whack the bull – yee haw and let the rodeo begin

At the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame Terry recognized 7 names, as this was my first day of being a cowgirl I recognized no names.

A reminder in case you are planning a trip.

We finished off the day at Billy Bob’s, the worlds largest honky-tonk, it can hold 6000 people.  Smoking permitted.

November 9 “Haug Day”

Haug Day in Fort Worth where we met Tyler and CeCe  at Pappasito’s Cantina, where they introduced us to Tex-Mex food, so delicious we were stuffed just like the fajitas we ate. On Terry’s list was the Charles Russell and Frederic Remington exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.  Bonus in that it was free.  Tyler drove us around Fort Worth and then a visit to their beautiful house to meet Duke.  Topped off the day with Gelato, a fine way to end our day with treasured cousins.

CeCe and Tyler at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art

November 10 and R & R day.  We read our books outside in the shade and the wind.

We sold the house and bought this. KIDDING, the gap between the truck and 5th wheel holds the matching smart  car.

November 11 we leave in +3 C, a 25 degree change in less than 24 hours.  Lucky for us the wind is in our favour and we sail into Houston and find Marina Bay Lake Cove RV Park in Dickinson with difficulty thanks to construction and the failure of our GPS to find the address for our RV Park.

November 12 and its supposed to reach +13C today, thank you Arctic Vortex.  As some of our tour is outside at the JSC, Johnson Space Center, we dress warmly.  JSC is home to Mission Control, the place where human space missions are monitored, it directs operation of the International Space Station and it is where astronauts prepare and train for their missions.  I have read Chris Hatfield’s book, he wrote about his time spent training here for his flights so I am excited about the tour.  The visitor center at NASA, JSC tells the story of America’s manned space program with historic exhibits, live presentations and behind the scenes tours.  There are also programs throughout the day for the kids to participate and learn from.  On the tram tour we saw the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules.  In Building 9 we see Skylab Lunar Module Trainers, a space shuttle replica and a Canada Arm, all of which are used for training by the astronauts and saw engineers and scientist performing tasks.   We observed 4 people working on a space suit, it had a partial screen in front so we only saw the head and legs.  We were told robots will be the future of space exploration and the rovers that will be used to explore far planets are all housed in this building.  The next generation, Orion, NASA’s exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations in deep space with exciting new capabilities.  On Dec 4, 2014 Orion will launch atop a Delta IV Heavy Rocket from Cape Canaveral in a 2-orbit, 4 hour test flight.   We saw Historic Mission Control and sat in the famed observation room.

Historic Mission Control

working on a space suit

Robots and rovers

Orion

Canada Arm

Huge, there is a road and parking between the Challenger and me

November 13 too cold and too windy to do anything.

November 14 and the drive to San Antonio is 220 miles, but it takes us 60 miles just to get out of Houston.  We made another stop at Buc-ee’s which are only located in the Central and Gulf Coast region of Texas.   This is an amazing fuel stop, 120 fuel pumps and we had to wait in line.  The convenience store is longer than a football field.  Diesel is 25 cents a gallon cheaper.  Full service deli, coffee shop, jerky, bakery, fudge, ice cream, jams, pickles, salsa, plus standard items, Texas themed gifts, products catering to hunters and river rafters, car wash and they do not sell lottery tickets as this slows down the check out process.  We loved the cherry maple jerky, Terry bought fudge and ice cream.    During the drive we saw our first cattle gate on the rail tracks.  The scenery consisted of hills with lots of scrub brush.  We are staying at the Alamo KOA in San Antonio.  Highly recommend it to all.