Texas (mostly), April-May 2005

Travelogue: Texas (mostly)
April and May 2005

By Roger W. Reini

WORK IN PROGRESS

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21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | Part 2

Another year, another trip to Texas… Yes, it’s time for another trip and another travelogue. This time, it will be to Texas, to the land of my birth. For a while, I was giving serious consideration to making the trip by train. I had plans of taking the train to New Orleans, renting a car there and driving to Houston. Perhaps I would spend a day or two in New Orleans and see the sights, for I had never spent any time there. I’d driven through it on a few occasions, most recently last year, and I’d spent the night in Slidell once (I was catching a cold at the time), but those don’t count. However, I cancelled those plans when I got a new lease car a few months in advance of the scheduled turn-in date. I was bumping up against the mileage limits on the old lease car, and a trip to Texas would have put me way over. Now, with a new vehicle, I’m in no immediate mileage danger. I could take whatever I wanted to take, being limited only by what I could carry in a car, not what I could carry in my hands or in bags in my hands.

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Thursday April 21

This evening, I packed the car, washed clothes and dishes, and got ready for my trip. When I leave for work tomorrow morning, I won’t plan on coming home until the end of my trip. I’ll leave straight from work and head to Dayton, Ohio, where I have reserved a room at the Microtel Inn. In years past, I have taken a half-day or a full day off on the day of my departure, but not this year. That means my first day of travel cannot be very long. In this case, it’ll be 200 or so miles. How long will it take? That will depend on traffic around and south of town, as well as in Toledo and Dayton. I may encounter Toledo rush hour. I will encounter construction in Dayton; I know that from a trip around Easter to Cincinnati. I should have decent weather; I’ll be missing out on a cold snap forecast for this weekend.

My car seems a little less packed this time out. This time, I’ve got a sedan instead of a station wagon, which limits my carrying ability somewhat. Where I might have taken multiple guitars in the past, this time I’m just taking one, my 12-string acoustic. Next year, electric for sure!

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Friday April 22

As I said I would, I put in a full day at work, doing as much as I could to wrap up open assignments. The highlight of the day was lunch at Big Fish, courtesy of Casco (a cigar lighter and powerpoint manufacturer). By 4 o’clock, I was ready to leave. After a last consultation with my boss, during which I learned I might be given a cell phone to replace my desk phone, I headed for my car. It was drizzling a bit as I went through the parking lot. By this time tomorrow, it might have been snowing, for cold temperatures and snow were in the forecast. In fact, as I drove out of town, I heard that a winter storm watch would be in effect this weekend.

However, none of that would affect me. At 4:10 PM, I pulled out of the parking lot and headed south on Pelham. Pelham would eventually become Allen Road, and it would eventually intersect I-75. Yes, I would be heading south on I-75 for this first leg of the trip. My destination tonight was Dayton, where I had reserved a room at the Microtel Inn. It was some 200 miles away, which represented a nice start on a 1400-mile trip (I’d be one-seventh of the way there). There was heavy traffic leaving Detroit, and there was construction between Monroe and the Ohio border, and there was a steady rain. There were no backups, but traffic moved a bit more slowly than normal.

As I drove, the radio served as my traveling companion, as it usually does. First, I was listening to WWJ news radio, getting caught up on the events of the day and listening to the depressing weather forecasts. It is not supposed to snow in Detroit in late April! Later, I would turn on XM and the ‘60s on 6 channel. This afternoon, like every Friday afternoon of late, they would offer a tribute to a famous radio station of the past. Today, it was KFWB Los Angeles, Channel 98. Around 6, I would change over to the Old Time Radio channel for an episode of Gunsmoke, but I’d eventually change back to the ‘60s. At 7, I flipped over to one of the live baseball channels to listen to the Tigers play the Twins. XM signed a contract to carry Major League Baseball this year and the next few years, and I’ve become a big fan of it. I can listen to Astro games without having to subscribe to the online MLB Radio service. Come Sunday or Monday, though, I won’t need XM for Astro games, but I will for Tiger games.

The drive down to Dayton was uneventful. I stopped at one of the rest areas to get some munchies to tide me over until supper. Around 8, I found myself in Dayton. The Microtel Inn was on the US 35 freeway on the east side of town, so I had to drive through a different part of town to get there. There were few restaurants around for me to consider for supper. My choices were limited to Arby’s or McDonald’s; I went with Arby’s. Even though it was just across the street, I drove there, for the skies were threatening. It would not be a good idea to walk/run very far during a thunderstorm. And when I finished my Beef & Cheddar sandwich, it had begun to rain torrentially. I got to my car without getting too wet, but in the short drive from restaurant to inn, the rain got harder, and so did the wind. I did get somewhat soaked in the short distance from car to front door; the umbrella was of little use. I feared it had blown out, but it hadn’t. Back in the room, the clothes were set aside to dry, and I checked my e-mail, monitored the Weather Channel, and did a bit of reading before calling it a night.

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Saturday April 23

While I woke up a few times during the night to use the restroom, I woke up for good around 6 AM. I immediately put on the Weather Channel to see what was what. It was still raining outside. I checked e-mail and packed up, hitting the road just before 7. Driving conditions along I-675 and I-75 were terrible; the rain turned to snow, and the temperature was right around freezing. I think I encountered some icy spots, for the car felt slippery at times. It was still raining or snowing as I got gas in northern Kentucky; I had to dash through it in order to get to the bathrooms. If I had known I would have faced these conditions, I would have brought a heavier jacket. All I was wearing was a windbreaker; fortunately, I was also wearing a flannel shirt, which helped somewhat. The heavier jacket would have been better, though. A few miles down the freeway, I stopped for breakfast at a Waffle House. It was my first Waffle House visit in several months, and naturally, I had a waffle for breakfast.

When I left the restaurant, I headed down I-71 towards Louisville. The snow ended, but there was occasional rain. When I got to Louisville, I decided to take I-71 all the way downtown, something I’d never done before. Traffic shouldn’t be bad on a Saturday morning, should it? Well, it was, for there were a couple of accidents that delayed traffic. One was on the ramp leading from I-71 to I-65. Once I got past those, it was good traveling until north of Nashville. I was listening to XM on this portion of the drive – first, the Cal and Bill Ripken show on MLB Home Plate, then later a special on the Yardbirds on Sixties on 6. The Yardbirds played some great music, and this special reminded you of it. When I arrived in the Nashville area, I saw a long backup, but I was right at an exit when I noticed it, so I left the freeway and missed it altogether. And as it happened to be lunchtime, I thought I’d stop at the Jack In The Box that was right there at the end of the exit ramp. I did not see the salads on the menu before I ordered, or I would have had one of those instead of the burger combo I ended up getting. While I ate, I could use my GPS device to plot a route that would bypass this backup that I could see from the restaurant. The burger was good, but the fries were not; I ended up throwing most of mine away, and my arteries thanked me, although they probably complained a bit about the burger. I was sitting near a family with a couple of bratty kids. The younger one would not eat his burger; he wanted to put together and play with the toy he got with the meal.

A bypass route was not far away at all. I drove west about a mile before I reached US 41, which took me to a bypass freeway that kept me out of Nashville altogether. Well, it did until I took the wrong ramp on an under-construction intersection, forcing me onto I-40 East when I wanted I-40 West. The intersection wasn’t marked very well at all, which caused me to take the wrong ramp. I had to travel several miles before I found an exit where I could turn around. Once I got straightened out, I had a bit of good driving. Unfortunately, some place west of Nashville, traffic came to a halt. For 30 minutes, it was stop and go (mostly stop) driving. I think there must have been an accident ahead, although it had to have been cleared out by the time I passed through. Afterwards, it was good driving to Memphis. I had a bottle of Deer Park water in the car with me; the water came from springs in Pennsylvania and Maryland, not the Houston Ship Channel. After stopping at a Cracker Barrel outside of Memphis for a bathroom break, it was time to drive around Memphis and contend with some construction on I-40. And then at last, there was the Mississippi River and Arkansas. Now I felt like I had made good progress today.

Where would I stop for the night? Historically, our family would stop at the Best Western Inn in Brinkley, but that hotel was in need of renovation. There was a Hampton Inn in Forrest City, so I planned to stop there for the night. Yes, they had a room. Yes, they had wireless Internet access. Yes, the room was larger and nicer than last night’s Microtel room (more expensive, too). And there were more choices for dinner, but most were still of the fast-food variety. I ended up getting a salad from McDonald’s and bringing it back to the hotel room. While I ate, I checked e-mail and put on the TV. I ended up watching a fight on HBO. And while I watched, I couldn’t help thinking that if my uncle Lloyd were still alive (he had passed away unexpectedly in January), he would be watching the fight tonight.

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Sunday April 24

I woke up around 5:15 (6:15 by my watch, which was still on Eastern time), checked e-mail, and took a shower. I put the Weather Channel on again; conditions for today’s drive looked good. Then it was time for breakfast. One of the nice things about Hampton Inns is their morning breakfast. Many hotels have something similar, but Hampton’s seems to be a bit fancier. There are some hot dishes along with the cold dishes, and everything is included in the bill. After breakfast, I went back to my room to pack up and load the car.

It was 7:30 in the morning when I left the hotel and headed west on I-40 towards Little Rock. Before departing, I had put several old-time-radio CD’s into the CD changer; these all came from a science fiction collection. As I traveled towards Little Rock, I was listening to Lux Radio Theater’s version of The Day The Earth Stood Still; it was very faithful to the movie, as I recall. Then, traveling on the loop around Little Rock, I listened to X Minus One, an NBC Radio series from the Fifties. This episode was a story about time traveling hunters who travel back in time to hunt dinosaurs; it was called A Gun For Dinosaur. Then I put Sirius on for a bit and listened to coverage of the NFL draft. At one point, I stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant southwest of Little Rock for a bathroom break, then visited the next-door Wal-Mart for an Icee for the road. The Icee was pretty good. As I traveled along I-30, I eventually turned off the Sirius and put the iPod on for a while. I listened to parts of the Kirsty MacColl tribute concert from 2002 (the tracks that featured Tracey Ullman), then listened to a few Buffalo Springfield tracks, then started to listen to Beatles ’65. But then my ears told me the music was too loud, so I stopped the iPod and turned on the XM Roady receiver. I put on the classical station briefly to give my ears and brain a break.

By this time, it was after 11:30, and I was crossing the border into Texas. I stopped at the rest area for a break. The rest area had been completely rebuilt since the last time I’d stopped there, and it was now a very modern facility. Inside, the travel information center had flyers from attractions from all over Texas. I looked at the ones for the Gulf Coast area – I didn’t know there was a Brazoria Historical Museum in Angleton. I saw flyers for Webster, Nassau Bay, Deer Park and Texas City, to name a few towns. After leaving the rest area, I traveled to the next exit and stopped for lunch at Bryce’s Cafeteria, which was very much like a Luby’s. I had roast beef for a main course, along with mashed potatoes, corn, cottage cheese and pineapple, a piece of Texas toast, and a slice of chocolate pie. It was pretty good. I’ve always liked cottage cheese and pineapple; it’s one of the earliest foods I can remember having as a child. I always get it whenever I go to Steak & Shake. But I digress…

Now it was time to head down US 59 and head for home. I had a drive of over 300 miles ahead of me (291 to downtown Houston, plus 20 or so to Nassau Bay). Even with segments with a 70 mph speed limit, it still took a long time to travel that distance. I had made this trip many times before, but that didn’t make it any shorter. The towns passed by: Atlanta – Linden – Jefferson – Marshall – Carthage – Tenaha – Nacogdoches – Lufkin – Livingston – Cleveland – New Caney – Porter – Humble. I listened to the Astros and Cards again today (the Tigers and Twins were snowed out for the second straight day), first on XM (the Cardinal broadcast) and then on KTRH (the Astro broadcast). This day did not have a pitcher’s duel, but it featured the Cardinals feasting on the pitching of Brandon Backe, who did not have his best stuff today. The Cards won, 8-5.

As I approached downtown, the sites become more and more familiar. From here on, I could cruise in on autopilot, I thought. I didn’t notice many obvious changes heading down the freeway, though I saw that one of the shopping centers near Baybrook (the one where Service Merchandise and Target used to be) had been remodeled, and that the theaters at Nasa 1 and the freeway had reopened as a combination theater and bar/grille. Webster had hardly changed from last year, but east of Highway 3, I could see some of the construction for the Nasa Road 1 bypass. And then, at last, came my destination, the Extended Stay America. It hadn’t really changed from before, although they now offered high-speed WiFi Internet access for a small fee. Sure beats dial-up!

I called my aunt and uncle to let them know I’d arrived safely, then went out for a trip to the store. Naturally, I went to the Kroger’s on El Camino, where I stocked up on drinks and food. I saw that Skyline Chili was in the frozen foods section; it’s available in Detroit, but I didn’t expect to see this Cincinnati product down here. There was plenty of Blue Bell Ice Cream product here (always good). I was surprised to see Saint Arnold Root Beer here. Last year, the only store I knew carried it was the Central Market on Westheimer. Clearly, the brewery had expanded its distribution. I noticed that the bottles of Canada Dry bottled water did not have the 99 cents on the label that the Detroit-area bottles did, but I bought some anyway. I also noticed some Astros memorabilia, including some Roger Clemens bobbleheads. I briefly considered getting one for my sister as a gag gift (she likes the Astros but hates Clemens), but I didn’t. Her real gift was already en route to Turkey. Then it was back to the hotel to have some chili for supper, to read for a bit and to unwind before bed.

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Monday April 25

I got up a little after 6 and did some e-mail checking. My friend Keith invited me to come up to Austin if I could and celebrate the imminent birth of his baby. I wasn’t sure if he meant before or after; I could better fit “before” into my schedule (due date was May 2). However, I think “after” worked better for him. But “after” was bad for me, for I would be leaving for Dallas next Wednesday, two days after the birth.

Overnight, I had been listening (sort of) to BBC Radio 3, their classical radio station, via my laptop. I’d fallen asleep to it, which explains the “sort of” listening to it. But today, it was time to hook up the satellite radio boom boxes. I hooked up the XM one and set the antenna facing west. Being on the end of the hotel, my room had two windows, one facing north and one facing west. The west-facing one had good reception, so I left it there. I listened to CQ, the request program on ‘60s on 6, until 9.

Now what would I do today? The first thing I did was to visit the new Fry’s Electronics in Webster. It was located at the corner of Kobayashi and the Gulf Freeway, about a half-mile south of Nasa Road 1 (I don’t think I’ll ever be able to call it NASA Parkway). Most Fry’s were built according to a theme; the one in north Houston had an oil industry theme. You might think a Fry’s down here would have a space theme, and you would be right. The building looks like the International Space Station, and that theme continues on the inside. [ASIDE: I learned that a third Fry’s had opened in town recently, at the Southwest Freeway and West Bellfort near Beltway 8; I wonder what theme that one has?] I took my time walking through the store, which has the same selection as other Fry’s stores throughout the country. There were many things that caught my eye, but I didn’t buy anything today. That might change upon a return visit, but today, I left empty-handed.

When I left, it was raining heavily outside. Fortunately, I’d carried my umbrella, so only my feet got wet (I was wearing sandals). It was lunchtime, and I knew where I wanted to go: Laredo’s in Seabrook. It was early for them, and there were few other customers in the place. I got my usual: the Deluxe Dinner, and a big glass of water. It was good, as always. Even though this dinner had enchiladas, rice and beans, a taco, a tostada and some chili con queso on a corn tortilla, it didn’t feel particularly heavy, unlike some combination dinners I’ve had in my lifetime. I then left for a drive through League City, where I didn’t notice too many new businesses this time out. I visited the Cracker Barrel restaurant and store off of Hobbs Road, for I wanted to look for something I had seen at a Cracker Barrel on the road, something that would be a gift. Unfortunately, I didn’t see it. When I left there, it was raining heavily again. People were running like heck to get from their cars to the store and vice versa. I had my umbrella again, so I was not one of those people. I put XM and the Tiger game back on once I returned to my car; this was a makeup game from one snowed out on Saturday. The Tigers were having a great first inning, scoring three times, including a Dmitri Young home run.

I turned onto Hobbs Road and headed toward our old house. While traveling there, I thought about calling George Mallios, our old next-door neighbor. But he was getting up there in years, and in the back of my mind was the fear that someday, I would drive up and there would be an ambulance there. When I turned down the street, there wasn’t any ambulance, but I did see a few cars over there and someone other than George getting the mail. I pulled up and saw that it was his son Chris. I opened the window and called to him. We said hello, but then he gave me some bad news: George had died in the middle of the night. He’d been ailing for around three months, but it was only a week or so ago that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Fortunately, he had received hospice care and was able to come home to leave this world. After a wake on Saturday, his body would be cremated, the remains placed in an urn, and the urn will rest next to the urn for wife Rose on the fireplace mantel. I went inside for a while and got to meet Chris’s daughter Michelle, who would leave soon for jury duty. A few minutes later, older brother Jeff arrived from the airport, where he’d picked up their uncle Chris (George’s younger brother) and his namesake. I ended up staying for an hour or so listening to some of the stories the elder Chris (who bore a strong resemblance to George) could tell about his older brother. Later on, Jeff’s son (also named Jeff) and his girlfriend Ashton came over. I left a little before 2, when Jeff and Chris left for the funeral home to make the arrangements.

Back in my hotel room, I posted a message to the 1981CCHS list, asking if we could meet at Tookie’s at 1 PM Saturday, which would allow me to attend at least some of the wake for George. Those who responded were receptive to the idea. Now on to other things: I wanted to visit the Central Market tonight, but was reluctant to do so because of the weather. I thought there was a break in the weather, so I started up there. It wasn’t much of a break, for it started to rain heavily when I got on the freeway. Given that, traffic wasn’t terribly bad getting to the Central Market, though it got rather heavy on Kirby with construction and rush hour. I thought it would be a good idea to stop for supper, since I expected to get perishable goods tonight and wanted to go straight back to the hotel with them, lest they perish. I turned off at Goode Co. BBQ for a chopped beef sandwich, baked beans, and a bottle of IBC Root Beer (no Saint Arnold root beer this time). I went outside again and ate it all up. I didn’t leave much for the birds, but I’m sure they picked over the plate when I left. It was good. Not as good as Joe’s in Alvin, but it was good.

The Central Market hadn’t changed much in a year; that was a good thing. I sampled some of their juices but didn’t get any, for I had a lot of juice back at the hotel. Naturally, I got some more wasabi coated peas. I also got a 6-pack of 8-oz Dr Pepper made with Imperial Pure Cane Sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. Presumably, this was the way Dr Pepper used to be. And now that I’d found that my body could tolerate small amounts of caffeine again, I didn’t have to shy away from getting drinks with it. I had to remember not to go overboard with it, though. Water was and is still the best.

Perhaps I should have gone someplace else before visiting the Central Market, for I had a heck of a time getting home. Traffic on the loop was crawling, so I got off at Kirby, only to be directed back onto the freeway by police. As soon as I could, I exited again, hoping to take the feeder down to the South Freeway. But it didn’t go that way; it looped through that intersection and continued as the South Loop feeder road. So back onto the freeway I went; the backup was gone for now. But it returned at the intersection with the Gulf Freeway. I spent a few minutes in that backup, then thought it best to continue to go straight on the Loop. I eventually found myself on Galveston Road, and I headed back to the hotel that way. It rained all of the way “home”; fortunately, I only had two bags from the Central Market to carry inside.

Among my e-mails that evening was a note from my boss, who asked me about some cigar lighter releases that didn’t seem proper to him. I replied back that I wasn’t aware of such improper releases, although I didn’t have my parts list to refer to (that was back at the office on my local system, and I had no way to retrieve it). New releases for that vehicle had been discussed but not yet processed, to my knowledge.

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Tuesday April 26

I got up around 7 this morning and did my morning e-mail check. This time, there was a note from my sister. I’d told her about the Clemens bobblehead and how I almost got it for her. She was very glad that I didn’t get it. She also asked me to provide condolences to the Mallios family, which I would do later.

When I went out after 9, my first stop was the new store Rocket Town on Bay Area. I had discovered this store by using the Web and saw it as a competitor to The Space Store, which was located next to my hotel. I had thought this was in the new Best Buy shopping center, but I was mistaken; it was actually in a shopping center midway between Highway 3 and the freeway, located near a Ben & Jerry’s and not so near a Buffalo Wild Wings. It was a small store, but there was plenty of souvenirs, some videos, a few books, and even some material that had actually flown in space. I found the Spacecraft Films DVD sets for Apollos 7, 9 and 10, and I found a gyro toy for my nephew Brandon. I didn’t think my nieces would have been interested in anything from there. Next stop: the Barnes and Noble down the road. Here, I would get the May Texas Monthly (with Kelly Clarkson on the cover) and The Complete Peanuts for 1955-56 (with Pig-Pen on the cover). Then it was off to the Wal-Mart up the freeway. As I crossed the freeway on the overpass, I saw what I thought was the new Westbrook Intermediate School in the distance, the school that would replace Webster Intermediate. But El Dorado dead-ended just past the Wal-Mart; that would have to be fixed in the next few months. That was not my concern, though; finding some new pants was. I had lost several pounds in the last few months, and my old pants and shorts were very loose on me, so I was in urgent need of new clothing. Fortunately, I found some.

By this time, it was lunchtime for me. I wanted to go to Joe’s Barbeque in Alvin for a barbecue baked potato. As I was a little thirsty, I got an Icee to go from the Wal-Mart. I didn’t see much that was new on the way to Alvin, and there wasn’t much new at Joe’s, either. Not that there needed to be, for it was just fine as it was. Their barbecue baked potato was as good, and as big, as always. I hadn’t had much of a breakfast, so I had a lot of room for potato. Still, I couldn’t finish it. I came close; there was maybe an eighth of it left. I had a Dr Pepper to drink; it had been some time since I’d ordered one there. I used to get Dr Peppers every time I went, but I switched to Sprites after I decided to cut out caffeine from my drinks. Recently, I found that I could tolerate a few caffeinated drinks, so I would have one occasionally, but only a few and only occasionally. Back at the room, the main cola was Diet Rite, with no sugar and no caffeine.

As I left Alvin, I saw that a Home Depot was under construction at Highways 35 and 6. I took FM 517 over to FM 646, which allowed me to visit League City’s new HEB store. It was a very large and fancy store, and very clean (being a new store, it had better be clean!). If Mom and Dad were still alive and still living down here, I’m sure they would have gone to this store, at least a few times. But I didn’t get anything here today except a bottle of Hawaiian Punch, which was supposed to have been a bottle of Lipton tea, but the machine either gave me the wrong product, or I pressed the wrong button by mistake. Then it was back to the hotel.

All of the pants and shorts I bought today fit me properly enough; I wouldn’t have to return them. Around 2 PM, I heard a racket outside sounding like low-flying helicopters. There were indeed two low-flying helicopters passing overhead and heading to the northwest. They looked somewhat official-looking – government but non-military. Knowing that the president had been in Galveston today, I wondered if those choppers were the presidential party. I didn’t think the Galveston airport could handle Air Force One, and it would be a long motorcade from Ellington Field, so I suspected that was indeed the president flying past. I would probably never know for sure. Around 5, I heard a lot of sirens and saw several emergency vehicles heading east on Nasa Road 1. I didn’t see any large smoke clouds, but my view to the east was blocked. Around 6, I put on KTRH hoping to hear the ball game. Unfortunately, the game in Pittsburgh had been rained out, so I put on the Tiger game on the XM radio. That game was in a rain delay and would eventually be rained out, too. So I ate my frozen pizza and chips and salsa while not listening to any baseball game. The salsa was VERY hot; I couldn’t find a drink that would adequately cool off my tongue. Everything was OK, but a couple of hours later, I got a craving for a Whataburger. After visiting the Best Buy and not getting anything, I went to the Whataburger and brought one back to the hotel. But before I could sit down to eat it, my cell phone rang. I was in the bathroom when it went off, so I could not answer it. When I saw who it was, I didn’t return the call right away; I ate my burger first. It was already getting a bit cold from the long distance between the restaurant and the hotel.

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Wednesday April 27

Today, I got up around 6. I had to shower today, for I would be giving another talk at Webster Intermediate. I showered and shaved and had breakfast, got dressed and then tuned up the guitar. This time, the guitar would feature prominently in the talk, for I would not be speaking about the automotive industry today. No, I would be giving a talk on folk music, or folk-rock to be more precise. I arrived at WIS a little before 8 o’clock, checked in at the office, and went off in search of room 305. I didn’t have to search very hard for it, for I knew or remembered enough of the school layout. Back when I went here, room 305 would have been room 315. I never had a class in that room, as I recall. I introduced myself to the instructor, Ms. Ruth Baxter. For some reason, she wasn’t expecting me today, but she was able to delay her originally scheduled lesson to Friday (the students were to try writing a song). The students formed a circle with their desks, and there I was in the middle with my guitar and my Powerbook (the notebook had some of the words to the songs). I had to go a bit longer with my talk about the Byrds and the beginning of folk rock than I had planned, but I was able to pull it off.

In a few instances, I would play some songs or parts with the original Bob Dylan arrangements, then do them in the Byrds’ arrangements, or as close to them as I could get with a single acoustic 12-string. Of course, I had to play Mr. Tambourine Man and All I Really Want To Do. I also did Wild Mountain Thyme and My Back Pages. I performed You Were On My Mind, the old Ian and Sylvia and We Five song, and then I played back the We Five version that I happened to have on my Powerbook. The students were impressed with the Powerbook and wanted ones of their own; I suspect the school budget wouldn’t permit it. One of the students noted the additional sounds on the We Five song; they were a full band, and I was only a single guitarist. At one point, I explained that the Beatles and Byrds were influencing each other, and I mentioned If I Needed Someone being influenced by The Bells of Rhymney. Ms. Baxter said If I Needed Someone was one of her favorite Beatle songs, and that motivated me to play it. I muffed the chords in the middle 8, though; I was playing the song with a capo on the 7th fret, but I played the chords in the open position. Oops! I found the right chords and continued playing. Ms. Baxter asked me how I happened to become a fan of the Beatles and Byrds, for most people our age tended to be fans of Fleetwood Mac, Boston, etc. Well, I happen to be a fan of those groups, too, and I was somewhat aware of the Beatles and Byrds growing up before becoming a fan. I think it had something to do with friends living next door who were older and had been first-generation fans (the Mallios brothers). In Ms. Baxter’s case, it was older brothers. One of the students said he was strongly tempted to go to the store and check out the Beatle and Byrd CD’s (a convert!). When the class was about to end, I had time for one last song, The Times They Are A-Changing. Naturally, I did it in the Byrd arrangement. By all accounts, I did pretty well.

Then it was up to the office to visit or attempt to visit with Candy Silcott, WAVE liaison and former teacher of mine. Just as I brought my stuff (guitar and computer bag) into her office, the school horn goes off. It’s a fire drill, so out goes everyone. Since I was outside with my stuff, I might as well put it in the car, which I did. Once the fire drill business was concluded, we went back inside. As in my previous visits, it proved difficult for any long uninterrupted conversation to take place, for while I was on vacation, she was not. But, also as in prior visits, I made myself somewhat useful, this time by trying to verify an address and find a phone number for former choir instructor Clydene Miles, who had apparently moved to Lufkin from Seabrook. The address we had was “100 Park Place”, but that did not appear to be a valid address in Lufkin. There was a Parkwood Place assisted living facility there, but she was not a resident there. That was good, but we still had no good phone number for her. We would not be able to invite her to the WIS farewell ceremony tomorrow. Later on, a 7th-grader came by for a short meeting. I attempted to be unobtrusive while he complained about not receiving the electives he had selected for next year. When he left, I asked the rhetorical question “Was I ever that young?” Of course, the answer was yes.

On my last visit, I was not able to visit Chabuca’s in Webster. I made sure I would not repeat that omission, for I went to Chabuca’s for lunch. They had not yet closed (lunch ended at 2, and it was 1:30), so I got in and ordered the lunchtime rodizio. It was fantastic, as always. And the atmosphere was enhanced when a very attractive and well-tanned young blonde in a short white dress arrived and joined her mother and sister/friend/other family member (I’m not sure which; I couldn’t tell from the conversation, and I didn’t ask). By this point, we had the restaurant almost to ourselves, for it had closed to prepare for dinner.

I was full when I left the restaurant, though not as full as on previous visits. I didn’t want to go right back to the hotel, so I visited the Guitar Center down by the freeway. I didn’t see anything I desperately wanted (no Rickenbackers, not too many 12-strings of any brand). I made another visit to Fry’s; didn’t see anything there, either. Then it was back to the hotel to rest and recharge.

Around 6, I set off in search of the new Westbrook Intermediate. With GPS device in sight, I attempted to follow the directions that Candy gave me. Turn on the first road leading to Wedgewood Village, she said. I took this to mean Friendswood Link Road. This turned out to be a mistake, for I saw no indication that El Dorado ever intersected this road. Then I thought about trying from a different direction: go up to 2351 and over to Beamer, then down. With the help of the GPS device, I found that this would get me in the vicinity of the school. I couldn’t get very close to it for the roads hadn’t been built yet, but I could see a modern school building in the distance. I suspected I would be visiting it in the future. When I backtracked on El Dorado and turned at the light, I found that this road intersected Bay Area. This was where I should have turned earlier. But I had no idea that it would have taken me where I wanted to go.

After the search was over, I stopped at the Super Target for a bit, noting things to get for later, for I then went over to Baybrook. I could still park in the traditional parking spot, but it was no longer in front of Joske’s/Dillards; it was now in front of Foley’s, which had remodeled/rebuilt the store. Dillard’s was now in the old Macy’s; the Wards store, which had been Foley’s first location here, was gone. It had been leveled. Not much else had changed inside; the Waldenbooks was still there in its original location. Other than it, Sears and Luby’s, I couldn’t think of any other stores that were there at the opening in 1978 and were in the same place today. Back to the moment: I had a slice of Roman Delight pizza and a Coke for supper, then left for a return visit to the Super Target. This time, I got what I had noted earlier, for some of it was perishable. Then it was back to the hotel for the night.

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Thursday April 28

One of the first things I did today was to order a birthday present for myself, in a manner of speaking. My aunt Marie had promised to get me tickets to Paul McCartney’s concert in Detroit in October, but she thought I would be in a better position to actually get the tickets, then seek reimbursement. So I checked this morning. He was playing two dates at the Palace, October 14 and 15. The 15th was a late addition, so I checked to see if anything was available for that date. I did this with some trepidation, for I heard that the Houston date sold out quickly. But yes, there were seats available. I got 2 tickets, one for myself and one for my uncle Bill, who expressed interest in going too. These were mid-range seats -- $92 each.

I left for Galveston around 10 this morning. I didn’t have any definite plans down there, but I hadn’t been for a bit. The biggest change I noticed on the way down there (not counting the HEB and the Big League Dreams in League City, which I’d already seen) was the new causeway being built. This was going in next to the northbound lanes and was generally going to be higher than the current one. The peak height wouldn’t be much higher, but the flat runs were going to be several feet higher. That would buy more time for evacuations during hurricanes. I headed over to Moody Gardens for a quick look-see of the hotel, which I’d never visited. Would it be a good place for a reunion? It sure would, in terms of facilities and atmosphere. In terms of finances, I didn’t know and didn’t ask. The San Luis Hotel also appeared to be a decent place for a reunion in terms of the atmosphere. Being right on the Gulf of Mexico – two other hotels nearby for those who thought the San Luis might be too expensive – an IHOP right on the grounds (recalling our post-20-year reunion excursion to the Nasa Road 1 IHOP). Again, though, I just walked through; I wasn’t checking on prices or anything.

There was a strong breeze coming off of the Gulf today; the flags were flying fully outstretched. Surf was very heavy; I didn’t see anyone on a surfboard today, not along this portion of the seawall. Now by this time, I was ready for lunch. I had three options; IHOP, a Landry’s, and a Rainforest Café. I wanted something simpler than Landry’s and wasn’t in the mood for IHOP, so over to the Rainforest Café I went. This one had an adventure ride connected to it, the only Café so equipped (but it was out of order today). I took a picture of a couple in front of the restaurant sign, and they took one of me in front of a frog with a sign saying “Welcome to Rainforest Café Galveston Island” or something similar. I’d visited other Rainforest Cafés before, but not this particular one. The layout was nearly identical to the others I’d visited, so I knew what was going on. The portions they served were very large, and that was true for the salads as well. I ordered a Buffalo Chicken salad, and it was too big for me to finish. If it had been half the size, I would have finished it all, I think. It wasn’t so big that I didn’t have room for dessert, however. I took the waiter’s suggestion and had some bananas Foster. Good! Very good!

I drove down Seawall Boulevard towards Stewart Beach, not knowing what else I was going to do. As I turned off and headed towards downtown, I got an idea. I knew there was a railway museum here I’d never visited, so why not visit? I parked on the street, fed the parking meter, and went to the museum, which was located in the former Santa Fe depot. It saw its last passenger traffic in April 1967. The old lobby had several statues representing passengers from the station’s heyday. There were also exhibits of china used in the dining cars in those days. Train travel seemed fancier then.

The main exhibits were the old railcars in the yard, many of which could be boarded. There were several Pullman (sleeper) cars there. They all could have used some touch-up work, but they were still in OK condition. The configurations were very similar to the sleepers on today’s Amtrak trains, although these cars were single-level rather than the two-level Superliner sleepers I had ridden. Seeing the open lower and upper berths reminded me of the standard bedrooms on Amtrak. If you enclosed the berths, you would get rooms close to the size of those bedrooms. Moving on, I visited a mail car (it was a post office on the inside) and a caboose (a desk and a toilet, that’s what was inside). I didn’t notice any regular coach cars open, but a ‘20’s or ‘30s vintage dining car was open. Some of the exhibition theaters were closed for renovation; one that was not was a model railroad setup, which had both city and mountain areas.

It was nearing 2 o’clock at this point, so I thought it best to head back home to get ready for the ceremonies at Webster Intermediate this afternoon. I stopped at the Target at 61st Street (where the Sears used to be) and got a Coke Icee from the grill there (was the grill the descendent of the old Orange Bowl in Galvez Mall?). I didn’t fill the cup all the way to the top, but the Icee expanded on me, and I had to do some fast licking to keep the cup from overflowing. But I got that under control, and I got back on the freeway, listening to XM’s Old Time Radio and an episode of Burns and Allen guest-starring Jack Benny (George and Jack plan to give a concert while posing as Gypsies).

The ceremony at WIS had two purposes. One was to dedicate the gym to the late coach Billy Wayne Andrews, who’d had a stroke and died in 2002. Oddly enough, I was visiting the school on the day he died (or the day it was announced to the students). He came to the school after I’d left for Creek, so I never knew him. After the tributes given him today, I wish I had known him. He was a year older than Mom and Dad, had played in the NFL for the Rams for a couple of years, coached at the junior college level for many years, and been a tremendous influence in the lives of his students and players. The other part of the ceremony was to say farewell to WIS, which was going to be taken over by one of the alternative high schools in the district. In a sense, it was returning to its original purpose, for it was originally built as Webster High School in 1939. It was the district high school until 1956, when Clear Creek High was built. The intermediate school is moving to El Dorado and Beamer in the fall and will be called Westbrook Intermediate. There was a screen displaying various images of Webster and its students over the years; I was even in one of them. The former principals were recognized; with one exception, they or their family members were in attendance (the exception was the late Johnnie Puckett). At one point, all those who had ever worked at or attended WIS were asked to stand and be recognized; about half of the attendees rose, and so did I. The band performed a song, and they did a good job.

When the ceremony ended, we all moved down to the gym for refreshments and a chance to view some memoriabilia related to Coach Andrews and to review old WIS yearbooks from the high school and intermediate school days. Now our mid-70s classes didn’t have yearbooks, so there were bound editions of the school newspaper, the Cougar Crier, for us to peruse. Cake and punch were available; the cake was good enough, but the punch was very bland, with just a hint of flavoring. I’d tasted water with more flavoring than the punch – “guaranteed not to offend but not necessarily thrill” must have been the motivation for those who prepared it. I spoke for a short time with John Seidensticker, former assistant principal (during my time there) and principal. He remembered me somewhat; he remembered the name, anyway, and he remembered that I had a sister who’d gone there, too. He was somewhat shorter than I remembered; it’s more likely that I’m taller than when I’d last seen him. He was still teaching, though now it was at a Baptist school in Dickinson.

The gym hadn’t changed that much since the last time I was in there, back in 1977. The bleachers appeared to be the same. Now there were some new restrooms, but what struck me as unusual was how low the drinking fountain was. This fountain, as well as two in the auditorium lobby, was so low that I had to almost kneel to the ground before I could drink from it. I don’t remember fountains being so low in elementary schools! What could be the purpose behind this?

When I left, I put on the Tiger game on XM (the Astros were off tonight) and went back to the hotel for a bit. Later, I would go out for a late supper at Laredo’s and have the usual, the Deluxe Dinner. It was more expensive than at lunchtime, but it tasted just as good. Then it was back to the hotel, where I wrote up a summary of the WIS proceedings for the 1981CCHS list. Not long after that, it was time for bed.

At one point during the night, I woke up and opened a bottle of Dr Pepper. Perhaps I should have stuck with water, for I had a hard time getting back to sleep. But I eventually did.

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Friday April 29

Today, I had two major events planned. First, I would go to the movies to see the premiering Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and in the evening, I would be going to the baseball game. I took my time getting ready this morning – I had Cheerios for breakfast, then washed my hair, checked e-mail, etc. And then I left for the theater, the Cinemark in Webster. I’d seen a few movies here before – Star Wars Episode II and The Alamo, in fact. And now, I would be adding Hitchhiker’s Guide to that list. I paid for my ticket and went to the concession line; this being the 11:05 showing, I was a bit hungry. Who should I happen to run into in line but former classmate Denise Donaghe Snedden? She, too, was here for Hitchhiker’s and was wondering if we should have invited Rob Wohrer to come down from Houston and join us. Her line moved faster than mine did, though, so we didn’t talk very long. Eventually, I got my popcorn and pop and went into the theater. I had missed several trailers but got there in plenty of time for the main event.

I had been a fan of H2G2 for many years, beginning with some of the radio show episodes, then the novels and TV show, so I was conditioned to like the movie. And it wasn’t bad. It definitely had its moments, though it wasn’t a continual laugh-a-minute movie. Some things had been dropped, such as references to “Beware of the leopard”; some had been added, such as the Point of View gun. Alan Rickman was hilarious as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android. There was plenty of unused material for a sequel or two, if the box office was worthy of such. And I must admit being struck at how attractive Zooey Deschanel was.

When the movie was over, I set off for lunch at Souper Salad in Pasadena, the closest one around. This was an opportunity for me to try the new Space Center Boulevard extension that led from Clear Lake City to Pasadena. This road had had to be rebuilt due to a contractor’s error: they built it too low. Big-time oops! But they got it right. I was passing through parts of town (country, actually) that I’d never been in before. The road went along the back side of Ellington Field, passed in front of NASA’s Sonny Carter training facility, then intersected with Genoa-Red Bluff and with Fairmont Parkway. It would be a convenient second way for those in the eastern part of the Clear Lake area to get to Beltway 8. And it was a convenient way for me to get to Souper Salad, which was at Beltway 8 and Fairmont Parkway. I only went through the salad line once (but got two bowls of clam chowder), for this was a late lunch and I didn’t want to be too full for supper. The food was good, as always. I noticed a Barnes and Noble down a ways, so I stopped there for a bit but didn’t get anything. Then it was back to the hotel via the same route.

As I was checking my e-mail shortly after 4, the phone rang. My first thought was, my boss is calling. But it wasn’t my boss, it was Chris Mallios, down in the lobby waiting to pick me up for the ballgame. I wasn’t expecting him for another half-hour, so I quickly got ready. My cellphone didn’t want to work; turns out it had never properly charged, so I set it charging and left without it. I took a bathroom break before heading out the door. Yes, we were heading downtown a bit early. But traffic on Nasa 1 and the Gulf Freeway was rather heavy, so we weren’t ridiculously early. We arrived at the ballpark shortly after 5; the gates had not yet opened, and people were lined up waiting to enter. We had our tickets, so we didn’t need to visit the box office. However, as I needed to visit the toilet, we went over to the nearby Home Plate Bar and Grille. I took care of my business, and then we each ordered a Coke (neither of us were beer drinkers). We examined the memorabilia that was on display; some of it was actually for sale. Chris questioned the value of the signed Octavio Dotel ball; he was not a Dotel fan (Dotel had been an Astro until being traded in 2004).

When we finished our drinks, it was time to cross the street and enter the ballpark. Our seats were in section 316, to the third base side of home plate, in line with the first base foul line. We were in the front row, with hardly any obstructions to block our view (one section of railing stuck up a bit, which interviewed with my view but not with Chris’s). We journeyed around the park, visiting the gift shops. I had nothing specific in mind, but Chris was looking for a new fitted hat and for some patches. He found the hat in the Shed, the official gift shop; this hat was orange and had a late’70s team logo. The store also had some vintage pennants (or re-creations thereof) for sale; I think I had one of those on my bedroom wall at home at one time. That prompted me to ask Chris if he ever got to see a game at Colt Stadium, the first home of the team before the Astrodome opened. Yes, he said, but he couldn’t remember it, for he would have been too young. There were family pictures to prove it, though. I don’t believe I ever went to a game there. If I did, I could have been no older than 1 ½, and there are no family pictures from such a game. I know that my father and uncle Eshy saw a game there in 1963, but I don’t think I would have gone, for I would have been 3 months old or less, and a stadium with no shade was no place for a newborn baby.

Back to the game: we walked around the ballpark looking for patches, eventually finding them at the last giftshop we encountered. I noticed some Astros mousepads, one featuring the stadium, and another featuring Roger Clemens. Since I mainly use trackballs or trackpads these days, I was not interested in the mousepads for myself, but I thought my sister would like the ballpark one (there would be hell to pay if I got her the Clemens one). But I didn’t want to carry the package around with me all game, so I decided to wait until the late innings to buy it. We went back to our seats, but not before stopping at the concession stand and getting some foot-long hot dogs and drinks. Those dogs really hit the spot!

Today’s game featured a duel between 300-game winners Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux, only the fifth time such a meeting had taken place since 1900. They would sign a ball that would be put on display at the Hall of Fame. The game was close the whole evening long. There were some vocal Cubs fans who were close all evening long, for they were sitting right behind us. The Astros finally scored some runs in support of Clemens; unfortunately, the Cubs scored more runs in favor of Maddux. The game would end 3-2 Cubs, a disappointing end to a fine evening. But we weren’t as disappointed as one of those Cub fans, who lost an earring in the seats – a diamond earring, she said. We looked but didn’t find anything.

We got out of the stadium and into the truck fairly quickly. Unfortunately, we got off track on the downtown streets due to traffic and found ourselves on Harrisburg Avenue heading east. I knew that would eventually take us to the freeway, for this was the old road heading to our part of town. But if we took Wayside, we would get to the freeway sooner, and I told Chris that. He took it, and we got there. We got a night-owl tour of parts of town we wouldn’t necessarily visit during the day, but we got to where we wanted to go. He thanked me for a good job of navigation. And it wasn’t long before we were at the hotel. I left, thanked him for the tickets, and said I’d see him tomorrow at the funeral and wake.

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Saturday April 30

I woke up around 7 this morning. One of the first major things I did this morning was to go to the store. I went to Kroger’s, but not to the one on El Dorado. No, I went to the one in League City, the one by the freeway, the one descended from the original one in town, as opposed to the one near the high school that was originally an Albertson’s. I didn’t get much today, just more water and juice. I looked for St. Arnold root beer, but this Kroger didn’t carry it. Then it was up to Fry’s to get my copy of the new Mac operating system OS X 10.4, codenamed Tiger. I found that amusing because one of my sister’s cats was named Tiger. He was also called Poopsie because he sometimes acted more like a Poopsie than a Tiger. No one was calling this new operating system Poopsie, for it was getting rave reviews. And here at Fry’s, it was $29 off, so I got my copy. I had no plans to install it immediately, though; that would wait until my return home.

Back at the hotel, I put the juice and the water in the refrigerator. I took a shower, then sat down to read the paper. I also found some time to work on this travelogue. At one point, I tried calling Lou Miller, a friend of the family whom I’d not seen in several years; my mom used to work for her, and so did I for a couple of summers. On previous trips, I’d called but been unable to reach her. Today, though, I got through, and we made arrangements to visit on Monday.

It was nearly noon, which meant that it was time for me to go to George Mallios’s funeral. It was at the Jack Rowe Funeral Home in League City, then and now the only funeral home in town, to my knowledge. The last time I’d been inside, it had been for my dad’s funeral in 1992. George and Rose had attended Dad’s funeral, and now I was attending George’s. At the sign-in book, there was a box of his cigars, and everyone was free to take one. I didn’t smoke, but I took one anyway, for that was one thing I would always remember about him: his cigars, his reading the paper on the driveway, etc. I spoke to Chris briefly before the service began, then went inside the chapel.

At the front of the chapel were the flowers, which were at the base of a portrait of Rose and George. There were some other pictures of him there, and on the display screen above it all were more pictures being shown in rotation from all stages of his life. All of his sons were there, as well as many grandchildren. Several friends were there as well, though I didn’t recognize them. Younger brother Chris spoke first, followed by older sons Jim and John, then by younger sons Chris and Jeff. One of his granddaughters spoke, too, though I do not recall which one. One of his neighbors, Janet “from two houses down”, spoke as well. Was this the Janet who lived on the other side of us in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s? Perhaps, though I did not know for sure. Then the preacher spoke about George. During his talk, I had a sudden urge to use the restroom, so I did. While in the restroom, I called Stacie Barnett Bemis and reminded her about Tookie’s today. She was five lines away from finishing a psychology paper, but she promised to try to meet us there. My business concluded, I returned to the chapel and remained until the end.

Afterwards, I made it a point to meet with Jim, John, Jeff and Chris. The service had run long, and I was going to be late to Tookie’s, but this was more important. I had known them all my life, effectively, ever since they moved in next door to us. That happened so long ago I can’t remember their not living there. Jeff invited me to come to his house afterwards for the wake; I said I would after the Tookie’s luncheon. He gave me his address and, after finding a pen, wrote it down for me on the back of the funeral program. At the same time, the gentleman who now occupied our former home invited me to come and see the renovations he’d made; apparently, they were substantial. He gave me his number and said to call. I said I would.

Now it was time to head to Tookie’s. It took me about 15 minutes to get there from the funeral home. I had mentioned on the 1981CCHS mailing list that I would be attending a funeral, so those who were waiting there should not have been surprised if I were to be late, which I was. When I walked up to the door of the restaurant, I could see Rob Wohrer in the waiting room. When I saw him, he saw me. Also there was Lisa Leonard, whom I hadn’t seen since the 10-year reunion. She was married, but I couldn’t remember her married name. We went inside and got a table in the back. It wasn’t completely cleared off and cleaned up, so we took care of that. We placed our orders; I got a #99 burger, some fries and a Sprite. Rob got a cherry Coke; this was not the premixed drink you could buy at the store, but rather a Coke with cherry syrup added right there. With light shining through the drink, you could easily see the redness of the drink. Halfway through our meal, or somewhat past halfway, Stacie joined us. The paper was all finished.

We spoke of many things related to the doings of former classmates, plans for next year’s reunion, etc. Rob told of how he had met David Zabalaoui and Joe Buggy in DC one time; they were all staying in the same hotel but didn’t know it until a chance elevator encounter. This might have been the time that they sent a hamburger to Greg Laurence in Memphis (why they did that, I have no idea). Lisa recalled meeting and not recognizing Joe Buggy; he had grown a beard and had lost some hair on top, which would explain her difficulty. There were conflicting reports on David Kasbaum, who was suffering from lung cancer; was he doing better or worse? Nobody knew for sure. Stacie said she’d heard from Dawn Halbrook Rice that one of our classmates had died recently, but she (Stacie) couldn’t remember who, so she called Dawn or husband Tim and learned that it was Neal Roper. It seems he was visiting a friend and complaining of severe leg pains, apparently caused by blood clots. One of those clots found its way to his brain. We were all saddened to hear the news; we remembered him for his JROTC activities. Back to Dawn and Tim for a moment: Stacie had told them we were all getting together today at 1 and be sure to come. Only problem was, she didn’t tell them where we were meeting, so they didn’t show up. How could they? Oops!

We tried to remember who wore a beard in our class, other than John Jones. We heard bad things about the reunion company that organized the 10-year reunion; one exceptionally bad thing was that they sent an invitation to Cristen Gardner at her parent’s house, not having bothered to learn that she had been killed in a traffic accident at the start of our senior year. That was probably why we didn’t use a professional organizer for the 20-year one and why we probably won’t for the 25-year one. By this time, we’d been there for nearly two hours. We asked a diner at a nearby table to take a picture of us using my camera, which she did.

As we left Tookie’s and went our separate ways, I headed not to my hotel but to Jeff Mallios’s house in west League City. It was in the first subdivision past the First Baptist Church, called the Oaks. It was a very nice subdivision with large houses. I found the house and parked on the street. When I went inside, many had changed into regular clothes, but some had not. Food had been served and was still available. Chris the elder was telling some stories about George, stories I’d heard on Monday over at the house. I met Laura, Jeff’s wife, for the first time in a long time; I had a bit of difficulty recognizing her at first. When looking from the kitchen out the window down the street, I was struck by the similarity of that arrangement to the view from the old family home. In the position of our house was a large house under construction.

Eventually, most of the attendees moved into the dining room, where they prepared to play poker. This was for real money, albeit for low stakes (a quarter a chip). I stayed out of the fray, preferring instead to observe. Most of the games were Texas Hold ‘Em, the popular game of the moment, though there were a few different games played as the deal went around the table. Nobody won consistently; it seemed like everyone took their turns at winning. John’s son Justin won one game in grand style; he revealed himself to be quite a player. Players rotated in and out; at one point, Jim’s daughter Jessica left and returned with copies of a photo she had prepared for everyone (everyone in the family, that is). It was a copy of a picture she had taken of George in 1999, where he was in front of the garage reading the paper – no doubt, the Galveston Daily News. She was actually a professional photographer who was about to have an exhibit open up in Manhattan. And speaking of Jim, as the game went on, I was struck by how much he was starting to sound like his father.

Before I left, I asked to have a picture taken with all of the brothers. This was a rare opportunity, one that might never arise again (I didn’t say that, though). We all got together in the hallway; as tallest, I was in the middle, with Jim and Jeff to my left and John and Chris to my right. Jessica took the picture for me, and it turned out well. Then I went back to the hotel, for it had been a long day for me.

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Written by Roger Reini
RevisedApril 20, 2008

Travelogue: Texas (mostly) April and May 2005

By Roger W. Reini

Travelogue: Texas (mostly)
April and May 2005