The fallout of September 11 is the fall of the United States.
America is the new Russia. As weekend patriots backed up freeways and blew off their hands in remembrance of the rockets' red glare, they should have been reminded of the black haze in lower Manhattan. The fallout of September 11 is the fall of the United States. Why revere the desecrated flag of a vanquished nation?…
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26 - Andy Marsh
Plus B-tone, have you ever driven across it on I10? It takes for ever!
When you're driving across country it's always good to hit state lines, it makes you feel like you're getting somewhere. If you head out from San Diego, heading for FL, you hit TX in El Paso and don't leave it until Shreveport, LA! It takes forever! And there's nothing to see!!!
27 - Clavos
Though it wasn't my first time there, when I moved to San Antonio in the early nineties, I'll never forget the sign on I-20, right after you cross the LA/TX state line, which said "El Paso, 762 Miles."
While I was living there, I remember one day when there was a simultaneous 80 degree temperature spread between San Antonio and Amarillo.
There's an old joke about the Texan who was bragging to an Englishman about how everything in TX is bigger and better. At one point he said to the Brit, "Why Texas is so big you kin git on a train in El Paso in the evening, head east, and next morning you'll still be in Texas!"
To which the Englishman replied, "I know what you mean, old boy. We have some very slow trains in England, as well."
28 - Baritone
I spent the better part of 2 years while proudly serving this great country of ours at Ft. Hood, TX.
Now this isn't exactly the garden spot of the state. (But then, what is?) I don't dislike Texas and Texans across the board - I can't forget my good friend and fellow BC blogger Dave.
A couple of places I liked were Austin and Padre Island. At the time - the mid 1960s - Padre Island was fairly deserted. I believe a great portion of it was used by the legendary King Ranch for grazing of their cattle. I once stayed on the beach for a long week-end by my lonesome and the only people I saw was a group of nuns in full habit playing in the surf.
Austin is a relatively liberal city owing, I suppose, to the presence of UT. A few of my Army buddies and I went to a German beer garden called Sholz' Garten where we got weinerschnitzel, red cabbage and dark beer. Sadly, Dave tells me that, while it still exists, it has become pretty much a dive serving pre-frozen crap.
But the area surrounding Ft. Hood - Killeen (the birthplace of Dave's wife if I am recalling correctly,) Belton (home of Mary Hardin Baylor College,) and, somewhat more distant, the town of Temple were hardly havens for a bunch of homesick post adolescent draftees in the mid 1960s.
I was a cook for about half my stint and one of my fellow mess hall compatriots was a bonafide Texan - a big, not too bright, honyok who believed that the ladies would assume that you owned a ranch if you walked around with horse shit on your boots. I don't know, maybe he was right.
Galveston was another place we spent several week-ends. At that time there remained a large concrete artillery bunker covered with earth along the beach which had been built to encounter German Uboats should they venture too close. Apparently, they did so on a couple of occasions and the large guns were fired. I don't believe any hits were recorded, though.
While the bunker remained, the guns themselves were, of course, long gone. But you could actually drive around to the rear of the emplacement and drive right down into where one of the guns once stood. We did so on one occasion with the thought of spending the night. Unfortunately, we discovered that it was also a favorite spot for mosquitoes. We gave that up quite abruptly.
Galveston was a fun place to go, though, although by mid-summer the gulf waters were far from being refreshing as the water temps usually were well above 80 degrees and the "surf" was laughable.
But, there was plenty of beer and usually a few gaggles of "wimmins" in bikinis and such.
Hey, maybe Texas isn't so bad afterall? Naw. It's still much too big, much too dry and much too hot for civilized human beings.
B-tone
29 - Andy Marsh
I think the coolest thing I've ever seen in TX has to be the Marfa Mystery Lights. But the lights are strange and a pretty cool thing to see...
I was building fiber backbone along the border a few years back on highway 90, it runs along the mexican border, pretty much from El Paso to...hell I dunno! I went as far as Comstock or Del Rio, can't remember exactly.
I remember staying at the Comstock Motel and checking into my room. There was a full sized fridge in the room and when I opened it it was full of beer! I went back to the front desk and spoke with the old woman that owned the place and she said, Oh yeah, I forgot about that, it's mine, help your self!
So yeah, I have to agree, TX ain't so bad!
30 - Clavos
"But the area surrounding Ft. Hood - Killeen (the birthplace of Dave's wife if I am recalling correctly,)"
Actually, that's my wife. I remember mentioning it once before, about a year ago.
"It's still much too big, much too dry and much too hot for civilized human beings."
Plus, it's full of Texans. :>)
31 - Andy Marsh
I knew a guy in the navy from Killeen, named John Henderson...married the same girl THREE times! From what I heard, the last one ended right after he gave her the clap!
32 - Dr Dreadful
Slow learner, was he?
33 - Andy Marsh
That's an awful polite way of putting it!
34 - Baritone
Hey Clav,
Of course, it is your wife who hails from Killeen. Sorry. I guess there are worse things than having been born in Killeen. Let's see. Hmmm. Uh, I'll have to get back with you on that.
Now that I think about it, I don't even know if Dave's married. I guess he is as I know he speaks often of his kids. I suppose wifey references have crept into his posts or comments from time to time.
Yeah, unfortunately there are a lot of Texans in Texas. What's worse is that a number of them are also Boomers. Can you imagine?
It's sort of like what I heard someone on the tube say about a problem traveling abroad is that you encounter so many foreigners. I guess they were right about that one.
Just to get back to the original thread: I bet some of those Texas Boomers and a lot of those "foreigners" in other countries want to kill or enslave all of us god fearin' 'Mericans. So, hold onto your butts!
B-tone