Road Trip - West Texas, Day 1

Arrived in AMA about noon on Friday after an uneventful flight from CS thru DFW...with a 3-hr layover in Dallas. I went down to the USA and made myself comfortable...been a long time since I was in a USO.

Found the rental car company, retrieved my bag nag headed to Tripp H-D in Amarillo before heading south. The dealership was right on I-40, not too far from the airport so it was easy to find.

A new styled dealership, Tripp was all spit and polish with a good number of new motorcycles to see and a large merchandise area. I found a t-shirt, got my passport stamped and headed down I-27 towards Lubbock...bypassing Canyon along the way. I figured since I had the time I should go ahead and make the round-trip and save time on Saturday...may have been a bad idea in retrospect.

If you haven't been to West Texas recently...or in the past 100 years, you may have forgotten how flat it is...sure is a drastic difference between here and the Hill Country where I was last weekend. One of the first things I noticed was that there are very few creeks and/or rivers...a few stock ponds only. Also a lot of grain elevators and cotton gins.

On the way to Lubbock I passed quite a few interestingly named towns, such as Tulia...where a coke cost me $1.89!...Kress, Hale Center New Deal...guess the old one wasn't any good anymore...and Shallowater.

I made good time and found myself on the outskirts of Lubbock in about 1 1/2 hours....everything had changed a lot since I had been here several years ago so I had to totally relay on my GPS, which thankfully took me right to the correct location.

The Wild West H-D dealership looked fairly new but it wasn't on a major thoroughfare like many others...you actually had to look for this one. After looking around some, I got yet another t-shirt, had my passport signed and headed north back the way I had come.

I arrived in Canyon about 1730, checked into the hotel and rested a bit before heading to dinner. I watched most of the 7th game of the World Series...until I couldn't stand it anymore...the went to bed early...Saturday was going to be a very long day so I needed my beauty sleep.

Twisted Sisters - Day 2

Before I get started with today's update, I wanted to tell everyone about two sights I saw yesterday that I forgot about...unfortunately, no pictures.  The first was a ranch on Hwy 16 near the ranch where I saw a herd of buffalo numbering about 3 dozen.  Then, on the same road just a few miles down the road, I saw several pieces of old rusty farm equipment, very neatly arranged in rows, and a sign above it all that read "Rust in Peace"...get it?

Day 2 started fairly early...meeting at the lodge at 8:00...however, since I was wide awake at 6am, it was easy to be on time.  By 7:45, the whole group was formed up and after a short briefing, we were off.

Out the gate of Koyote Ranch and on to Hwy 16, we headed south towards Utopia...yes, the same Utopia that was the subject of a recent Robert Duval movie titled 7 Days in Utopia.  It was a about 35 miles to town so after about 40 minutes we parked our bikes across the street from the Lost Maples Cafe and walked in.  We were expected so they put us in a room off to the side and even made up a special menu for us.

The service was good and the food was better.  I had a huge ham and cheese omelet, along with "real" potatoes, bacon and toast.  I was full for quite a while and really didn't need lunch, but that was not to be today.

Following breakfast, we rolled out to the bikes and loaded up.  Our next destination was two of the three Ranch Roads called the Twisted Sisters...Ranch Road 335 and 336, 336 first.  Leakey is a popular jumping off for motorcyclists riding these roads so we were by far not the only ones in town.  Since there were so many motorcycles, we decided to split into two groups...a "fast" one and a "slow" one...the fast group leaving first.  We would all meet up again back in Leakey for lunch.

I opted to go with the slower group since this was my first ride of the Twisted Sisters and I wanted to look around a little and not have to give 100% of my attention to the road...the theory really didn't pan out as the day played out.  You really don't have time to look around very much as the road...much less the riders in front of you...demand almost all of your attention.

Out of Leakey, we headed out on RR337 to Camp Wood where we took a quick bathroom break before going out to RR335, the first leg of the morning which turned out to be pretty nice for riding.  There were ups and downs and curves that were tight and seemingly never ending.  The scenery was very nice with panoramic views of mountains and valleys.

We  turned right on Hwy 41 where RR335 dead ended and headed to RR336.  A few miles down the highway, we turned right onto RR336 and the first thing that got my attention was a sign that warned of "roaming livestock ahead".   I wasn't even sure what that meant but soon after I noticed two or three cows grazing about 20 feet off the road...no fences!  I found out later that the entire area is open range...I didn't even know there was such a thing anymore.

I had been warned about all the cattle guards on this particular road so when the first one appeared, I was giving it my full attention when I noticed a couple of riders coming towards us from the opposite direction.  Almost simultaneously, I saw 4-5 deer streak across the road.  They weren't just trotting but rather they were running full out like something was chasing them.  Then came another smaller one chasing the first group...he tripped over the edge of the road and fell flat on the road bed, jumped up while still moving and ran off into the underbrush.

At first I thought that last deer might have hit one of the oncoming motorcycles but when I checked they were still coming towards us.  It looked like the deer had run right through the middle of our line of motorcycles.  Later I found out that the first 3-4 had run between the leaders of both groups but the last deer did, in fact, run/slide through our group.  Fortunately, there was a large gap between the first two motorcycles and the third one...very fortunate.

With that bit of excitement early on the second leg of the morning, the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, save for the beautiful scenery.  We made one stop at one of the scenic pullouts and took some pictures...and talked about the close call we had earlier.

After taking some pictures and relaxing a bit, we finished the ride and ended up back in Leakey where we drove to the Frio Canyon Motorcycle Shop/Bent Rim Grill to eat lunch.   There were a lot of bikers there with the same idea as it took a while to get our orders and eat.  We had a good lunch with good conversation but all good things come to an end so we loaded up and headed back to the Koyote Ranch.

I was told our leader liked to eat and did so every 3 hours or so, so it wasn't too much of a surprise when we stopped in Medina at a nice little tourist trap that made wonderful apple turnovers and other tasty items.  I got a turnover and wasn't disappointed.

Finally, we were on the last leg back to the ranch.  We arrived around 4:30 and found the Aggie game on in the lodge so I had a coke and finished the game.  After watching the AggiesShafer and I walked back to the lodge for dinner...although neither of us was really hungry.  We ate light, talked a bit and then retired for the evening.  We were pretty tired and hoped we could sleep better to be ready for Day 3.

Twisted Sisters - Day 1

Last month at a meeting of the local Harley Owner's Group (HOG) it was announced that a group would be headed to the Hill Country in October so I signed up to go.  I have been to the Hill Country but never past Fredricksburg so I thought it was an excellent opportunity.  The trip was being planned to a place just south of Kerrville called Koyote Ranch...a series of cabins and camping sites...along with a restaurant/bar/outside club...a good jumping off place for riding the roads in the area...specifically what's called the "Twisted Sisters", a series of three  Ranch Roads that are very popular with motorcyclists of all types.

The plan was to leave on Friday and return on Sunday.  I took the day off and arrived at the appointed location at the appointed time...McDonalds, 8:45am, Friday, October 21st.  I arrived early...about 8:15...to find several people already there.  By 8:45, there were 15-16 motorcycles and about 20 people.  After a short briefing, we left the parking lot a little after 9:00...headed for the Hill Country.

This weekend wasn't all about the destination but the journey as well, thus, we did not take a direct route.  We went through Lexington, Noack and Round Rock...stopping for water and/or necessities...ending up in Marble Falls for lunch at the Riverside Cafe...great hamburgers!  It overlooks Marble Falls Lake...and I guess a river where it gets its name...although I'm not sure what river.

The weather was great...starting at about 50 in College Station warming up to the mid-80's by the middle of the afternoon.  I gave up trying to follow along with all the different roads we took but eventually we entered Johnson City and I finally knew where we were...for a while.  Out of Johnson City we headed to Fredricksburg and I figured we were headed to Luckenbach...can't go to the Hill Country and not stop in Luckenbach.  Well, I was right. 

When we arrived, the area was packed with people and motorcycles of all description.  As it turned out, it was the annual rally for  European and Classic motorcycles...ours didn't fit either description.  Many of the attendees had brought their motorcycles in by trailer and were camping nearby...it looked to be quite a weekend.  After we took some pictures, bought t-shirts...or whatever...and had something to drink, we were off to our final destination...Koyote Ranch.  On the map, it was located about 10 miles outside of Kerrville.

I almost forgot to mention that we took a little short cut between Johnson City and Luckenbach along Ranch Road 1, which parallels Hwy 290, crosses the Perdenales River and then runs along side of it and on the other side of the river we could see the LBJ Ranch.

As we left Luckenbach, we headed back up FM 1376 towards Hwy 290 so I thought we were going to go through Fredricksburg on the way to Kerrville and Koyote Ranch...boy was I wrong.  About half-way back to the highway, we turned left on Luckenbach City Road that merged into Old San Antonio Road, and then I lost track of where we were until we popped out on Hwy 16 that took us to Koyote Ranch.  There were many sharp turns, steep ups and downs, twists and turns...it was a very entertaining route.

We arrived at Koyote Ranch about 5:30pm, checked in and went off to find our cabin.  Dinner was at the ranch...fried catfish and chicken strips...followed by some local talent singing outside.  Us old guys went to bed about 8:30pm...tomorrow's going to be a long day.

Road Trip #5

Once again, today wasn't really a road trip in the traditional sense...I wasn't on the motorcycle and it wasn't a trip just to see East Texas or visit a few Harley dealerships.  The purpose of the trip was to get to Arkansas...Little Rock National Airport to be exact...to pick Sharon up.  She spent the week in Washington D.C. at a conference and is flying in to Little Rock so we can go on up to Melbourne to see our newest grandchild...being delivered on Friday, October 7.

Last night, after I got home, I packed up the dogs and took them to their Vet where they will be boarded for the next 10 days...hope they don't forget who we are.  After dinner with Cassidy, I went home and spent the rest of the night packing and gathering things I wanted to take to Arkansas.  I was in bed fairly early...about 11pm...but had a very restless night, waking up almost every hour throughout the night.  Finally, I got up about 4:15am, took a shower, finished loading the car and hit the road a little after 5am.  The plan had been to leave about 6:30am so as to arrive at the first stop in Nacogdoches a little before the opened at 9am.

Leaving home early threw my plan for the start of the day all off but I thought it best to head in the general direction of Arkansas rather than sit around home until 6am, so I changed the plan and headed for Tyler, the second stop on the original plan.  Nacogdoches would have to wait until another day.

I arrived in Tyler during the morning rush hour but the traffic wasn't too bad and by the time I found the dealership on the east side of the city, it was only 8:15 so I found a McDonalds and had a little breakfast to burn a little time.  The dealership did not look to promising from the outside, but once I went in I was impressed by the looks of the place...they had tons of motorcycles and merchandise.  This was obviously an older place but looks can be deceiving.  Unlike the newer dealerships, this one wasn't on a major highway either.

I got my passport stamped and headed for stop #2, Longview.  The distance between Tyler and Longview was only 40 miles or so and I was pulling up in front of the dealership in Longview in 35-40 minutes after leaving Tyler.  Once again, this was an older dealership and was not on a major highway, but rather on a side street.  Still, it was a nice dealership...smaller than many and with less merchandise, but still nice.  I got the passport stamped and headed to Texarkana, the 3rd and last stop for the day...or so I thought.

I almost forgot to tell you about the beautiful scenery along Hwy 59 on the way to Longview.  I saw a sign advertising a rest stop but it also said there was a scenic overlook, so I exited to find an amazing view...at least for Texas.  The place is called Love's Lookout and from the rest stop you can see out to the east miles and miles of wooded hills and valleys.  The lookout sits on top of a ridge than runs about 35 miles north and south along Hwy 59...or should I say Hwy 59 runs along the ridge.  On a clear day, which today was, you can see for 15-20 miles...maybe more.  The pictures I took don't do the view justice I'm afraid.  You will just have to make the trip yourself.

It was about 90 miles to Texarkana but I made good time.  Shortly before arriving at the dealership, which is prominently situated on I-30 on the west side of town, I stopped for gas and got some lunch....Grandy's chicken nuggets.  Whiskey River Harley Davidson...which is a relatively new name after the dealership was purchased by a new owner back in January...looks to be a new building and they are well stocked with parts, motorcycles and merchandise.  They are a little hard to get too but after driving around a little, you finally get to the parking lot...the entrance isn't off the access road but rather a road that parallels the access road and interstate that wraps around and eventually goes over the interstate and I believe it turns into University Blvd which goes to the new Texas A&M University - Texarkana campus.

In short order, I was in and out of the dealership and on the interstate headed east towards Little Rock and the airport.  The drive was going to take about three hours and it was 12:30pm...looked like I was going to be right on time.

Between Longview and Texarkana, I passed through the community of Jefferson, which is supposed to have an amazing display of Christmas lights and scenery in the old part of town.  I had also heard there were some good B&B's in town so I decided to follow the signs to the historic downtown area and see what it looked like.  As advertised, the downtown, with it's brick streets and old stores turned into tourist lures, was very quaint and something Sharon and I might like to visit again.  The area was hopping with motorcycles and at first I thought it was just because the weather was perfect for riding, until I noticed a flyer advertising the annual Boo Benefit Rally...a fundraiser for the childrens' burn center in Galveston.  The vendors were already setting up for the 3-day affair but I didn't have time to look around.

After making only one other short stop for a drink and a bathroom break, I passed the city limits sign for Texarkana about 3:00pm so when I saw a  billboard advertising Landers Harley Davidson in a couple of exits, I thought I should make a quick stop even if they weren't participating in the passport program...after all, it was on the way to the airport.

This dealership looked to have been here a long time, even though it was on the interstate, but it was still nice.  They had a 12 foot fence with barbed wire on top all the way around the place...must be a high crime area or something...with two large gates...one in front and another in back.  There was a biker bar and grill on the premises...across a breezeway from the dealership...that looked pretty good.  I was inside for a grand total of 15 minutes and back on the road to the airport.

Sharon's plane was scheduled to arrive at 3:30pm and I was 10 minutes early.  Right in front of the baggage claim area, there were metered parking spaces, good for 30 minutes, and one was open, so I took it.  I filled the meter with all the change I had, except for pennies, and went inside.  I checked the computer screen for arrival and her flight was on time, so I sat down and waited.

After only 5 minutes or so there was an annoucement on the loudspeaker that the light from Washington D.C. had arrived and the baggage would be coming out on the carousel right in front of me.  A few minutes later, here she came down the escalator.  By the time she made it to the baggage carousel area, the bags were already showing up...I've never seen bags come to the terminal so quickly, even in College Station.  We greeted each other, retrieved her bags, loaded the car and were pulling out of the airport parking lot before 4pm.

The drive to Melbourne went very quickly and we pulled up to the Jackson's house a little after 6pm to find Christopher and the kids in the driveway cleaning out their car.

Tomorrow is the big day...arrival of new Jackson baby.  Christopher and Merinda will leave the house about 4am to arrive at the hospital at 5am...surgery is scheduled for 7:45am.  Sharon and I will take the kids over around 9am to meet their new sibling...we don't know yet whether that will be a brother or sister.

There are no new road trips planned at this time...other than a visit to the dealership in Amarillo when I head out west to attend a football game at West Texas A&M in 2-3 weeks.  I had this great idea a couple of days ago that I'd keep the rental car and drive home by way of Lubbock, Odessa, Abilene and Arlington...visiting the dealerships in those cities along the way...until I realized that the day I would be leaving Amarillo/Canyon would be a Sunday and none of those dealerships are open on Sunday.  Just as well I guess because I'm getting tired of driving so many miles...I need to slow down a little.

Well, until next time, thanks for reading.

Road Trip #4.2

It has taken me a bit longer to write this day's blog as I have been very busy since returning from South Texas.  I got very little sleep the night before driving home and the driving last Sunday added to my tired condition.

Where to start?  My intent for the second part of Road Trip #4 was to get up early today...Saturday...and drive over to the Victoria dealership and then hit Corpus Christi on the way back.  I figured about 4 hours of driving plus the time spent in the dealerships...that would get me back to Kingsville in plenty of time to rest up for the football game...the purpose of my trip in the first place.

However, when I began to look at the map, I realized that the dealerships in McAllen and San Benito would require the same amount of driving...and I figured I would not be as close to them as I was right now.  I could always make another business trip to Corpus before November 20th but there's no telling when I would be back to Kingsville...at least with time to drive to McAllen.

So it was decided...I would go to McAllen and San Benito.  In order to be at the first dealership when they opened at 9am, I would leave the hotel at 7am.  The alarm went off at 6:15am and I popped up and hit the shower.  I grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and hit the road headed south on Hwy 77.  My first stop was to be San Benito and then over to McAllen and back...one big loop...roughly 4 hours of driving.

The drive down to San Benito was pleasant enough...hardly any traffic.  I watched the sun come up on my left about halfway there and enjoyed the solitude of the drive.  As I approached San Benito, I noticed that I was about 45 minutes early...the computer is always a bit on the high side when it comes to time, but 45 minutes?!?  I had another decision to make...find a place to eat a real breakfast and wait until the dealership opened or head over to McAllen and use the 45 minutes driving.  I went for the latter.

I plugged the address of the dealership in McAllen into my GPS and headed in a more westerly direction...across country over some rather small farm-to-market roads.  I also ended up going through a few small towns where the speed limit dropped significantly.  However, I had a little extra time so no big deal.  The drive through the poorer rural areas of South Texas was interesting.  It's amazing how many yard sales and flea market-type set ups there were...nothing looked very interesting so I didn't stop, besides I was on a mission.

I did see one interesting site...a cane sugar processing plant.  I saw smoke in the distance and as I got closer I discovered a rather large plant of some sort.  I was almost past the plant before I saw the sign identifying it as a cane sugar processing plant.  The city boy in me did not notice the sugar cane fields along the highway or I might have figured it out earlier.

At almost 9:00am on the dot I pulled up in front of the RGV Harley Davidson in McAllen.  I did not realize what the "RGV" in the name stood for until I went inside...Rio Grande Valley...duh!  There were already a few riders pulling up in front...probably buying something before going on a ride.  The weather was great...perhaps some rain to the south.  I did my thing and headed south to San Benito...the sister dealership of this one as it turned out.

This part of the valley...McAllen, Harlingen, San Benito and other cities...looks a lot like one of the metroplexes to the north...they all run together along the highway.  I was in San Benito before I knew it, so much so that I overran it and had to make a u-turn.  Once again, I got my passport stamped, looked around a little and hit the road back toward Kingsville via Hwy 77.  The loop I thought I was going to take did not work out but it was all for the best...this way was faster.

As I drove I passed several palm-lined sections of the highway...and one mobile home park with hundreds of palm trees.  The palm trees give the area a Florida feel...at least until you look beyond the trees to the surrounding area.  However, the trees are a nice touch.  Since it's obvious the trees are not native to South Texas, I wondered when they were first introduced and why did they pick palm trees.  Well, perhaps one day I'll find out.

I was doing some mental gymnastics as I drove, evaluating the time I had before the game, what other activities I could do and most importantly, where was I going to eat lunch.   I was getting hungry...I never stopped for a real breakfast...and it was not even noon yet so I decided to try Kings Inn, just outside Kingsville.  If I could get in and out fairly quickly, there was still plenty of time to drive over to Corpus, get my passport stamped and still have time to take a short nap before reporting to the stadium by 5pm.

I did not have time to look up the location of Kings Inn in my GPS but I had seen a billboard advertising the place on my way out of Kingsville that morning.  If I could find that billboard, I would just follow the road towards Baffin Bay and I would probably run into the place.  I ate there a couple of years ago so I might recognize it when I saw it.

About the time I was ready to give up and drive into Corpus before eating...I was considering Joe's Crab Shack as a backup...I saw the billboard.  I made my exit and headed south...or perhaps it is east.  I get really mixed up in the Corpus/Kingsville area...nothing is in the direction I think it should be.  Anyway, I was on a small two-lane farm-to-market road headed toward Baffin Bay and I knew the Kings Inn was right on the bay...and besides, there would be other signage.

On the road to the Kings Inn, I passed this little red chapel off the road a few hundred feet...seemed like it was out in the middle of nowhere but I'm sure it was a little town of a few people but I didn't see a sign anywhere.  I watched my odometer click off the miles...5, 8, 10...and was about to turn around and go back to the highway when I noticed a parking lot through a break in the trees which looked familiar.  I turned in and then saw the Kings Inn.  The restaurant serves family style, which is the reason I had not been back by myself since that first time, but I figured I could order 1/2 orders and be alright.  When the waitress came to the table, I noticed there were no menus.  In fact, she gave me the choices verbally, which I quickly misunderstood...probably due to my hearing problems.

For example, I thought she asked me if I wanted "potato salad" before my meal...which I thought was a bit strange...and I said no thank you.  As it turned out, what she must have asked me was did I want a "plate of salad" because I did not get a salad like the couple at the next table.  Another example was when she gave me my options for the main course.  The way she was grouping the items together it sounded like combos so I ordered the "fish and shrimp" combo...I even asked her if they were a combo and she said they were.  She did warn me that the meat was served by the pound but that went in one ear and out the other.  I ordered a 1/2 order of hush puppies and some french fries to round out the meal.

A few minutes later the food arrived...do you know what a pound of shrimp and a pound of fish looks like?  Well, it is a lot of food.  As I told Sharon later, there were only about 6 shrimps...that equaled a pound, so you can imagine how large they were.  I eventually ate all the shrimp, about 2/3 of the fish, a couple of hush puppies and some fries and then waddled out to the car.  Oh, the icing on the cake of my lunch was that it cost me my entire day's per diem...however, I doubted I was going to be hungry for some time.

Leaving the cafe, I realized that is was only a little past noon...I had at least 2 hours to get to Corpus and back and still have time to rest before going to the game at 5pm, so off I went.   Good thing I opted for the Chevy Impala versus the Chevy Tahoe since I paid for the gas for the day of driving. 

The drive to and from the Corpus dealership was uneventful and I made it back to the hotel by 2:30.  I made sure all my clothes were ready, set my alarm for 4pm and then laid down for a short nap...another mini-road trip accomplished.

Next on the agenda is a drive through East Texas on my way to pick Sharon up at Little Rock National Airport.  I'll leave home as early as 6:30am and head to Nacogdoches...the first stop.

If all goes well and I make good time, I'll hit another 4 dealerships before putting the pedal to the metal for the last stretch from Texarkana to Little Rock.  Look for another installment soon.

Road Trip #4.1

Well, here we are, on the road again.  This trip was planned earlier as a visit to TAMU-Kingsville for a home football game to observe their security operations.  The game is on Saturday night but I decided I needed to head that way on Friday...and since there are Harley dealerships "on the way" I decided I needed to drop in a see a few of them.

My plan was to arrive at the first dealership on the south side of Austin shortly after they opened at 9am so I left home a little after 7 and headed south.  I decided I should go through Bastrop and enter Austin from the south...which turned out to be a perfect plan.  Because I hit town after the morning rush hour, the traffic wasn't any heavier than a normal day.

The  drive through Bastrop was a little depressing as I drove through The Lost Pines area turned black by the recent wild fires.  Once a beautiful tree lined section of Hwy 21with houses built up in the trees, the road now is a reminder of just how fickled grass fires can be.  You would be driving  along seeing all the devastation and then there would be a house completely surrounded by burned grass and trees, completely untouched.  It will be many years before this area will be anything close to what it once was.  I guess this could be said for areas all around the State this year.

I arrived at Cowboy Harley Davidson on the south side of Austin at 9:10, walked in, looked around a bit and then got my stamp and continued my journey south to the next stop...Gruene (pronounced Green).  The dealership in Gruene is one of the very few exceptions in that it isn't on a major interstate or highway.  Rather it is on an older stretch of a Farm-to-Market road, but not too far off I-35 in an area where New Braunfels and Gruene run together.  I made a quick stop and then it was back on the road to San Antonio where I would hit two more dealerships before stopping for lunch.

One of the dealerships...Alamo City...was on the interstate not too far north of Loop 410.  I had been to this dealership previously so it was easy to find...and my trusty GPS was working good today.  I made a quick stop, got the passport stamped and began to look for the next place, Caliente H-D.

Caliente was on the west side of town on Loop 410 and as I got closer I also got hungrier so I started looking for a good place to eat lunch.  San Antonio has about everything you can ask for except what I was hungry for...Saltgrass.  I wanted some baked potato soup, but that was not to be...at least according to my GPS.  I found the dealership without a problem, got my passport stamped, bought a t-shirt and headed back the way I came to where I saw a Marie Calendars.  If I couldn't have baked potato soup from Salt Grass then I'd have cornbread from Marie Calendars.

I had intended to go to lunch with the police chief at TAMU-San Antonio but when I called to talk with him I found out he was out of town for the day so I ended up eating by myself...although I texted Sharon, Cassidy and Courtney between bites.  After lunch I headed south on the loop towards the TAMU-SA campus...actually the Brooks-City campus.  Brooks AFB is being converted to a civilian facility...called Brooks-City Base and not long ago TAMU-SA was offered a lease on a 77,000 sq ft academic building that once housed the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine.

On the way to the campus, I saw the exit for the Lackland Annex...also called Medina in the old days.  This base is where they had Officer Training School before and where I graduated on December 21, 1972...seems like just the other day.  I made the exit and drove down the road to the gate where I showed my ID and drove back in time a few years...or should I say decades. 

The based looked different than it did back in the '70's but some things looked the same.  The parade field...a large expanse of concrete where we had a parade every Saturday morning and where we marched on graduation day.  The O'Club...apparently abandoned...was still there as was the gym and chow hall, but the dorm I lived in back there had been torn down and replace with new housing.

After a short trip down nostalgia lane, I headed over the campus, took a short tour of the new academic building and then hit the highway to Kingsville.  I pulled into town about 5pm, found the hotel and checked in.

On the way down today I came up with the idea of driving over to Victoria and Corpus Christi on Saturday morning and then resting for the rest of the afternoon until time to head to the stadium, but once I started looking at the map I realized that dealerships in McAllen and San Benito were closer than Victoria.  Now I have a plan for tomorrow.