Texas Memories

The upcoming blogmeet in Texas has stirred forgotten memories of one of my trips to the Lone Star State. It was 1985, the wife and I had been hitched about a year. We had no kiddies yet, but we were having great fun practicing their manufacture. The wife had two sisters then living in the Austin area and we decided to drive down for a week or two and visit.

On the way down we decided to take old US Highways and state roads all the way. No interstates were to be involved, except maybe as bypasses around the big cities. "Crazy" you say aloud to the keyboard. "Why?" you mutter under your breath. 'Maybe' I answer to your first comment and that is just how I roll I reply to the latter. Hey, for the HB getting there is half the fun. The wife did not enjoy the journey much and we took straight boring Interstate home. The return trip was about two hours shorter and a lot less interesting. As a side benefit the wife was forced to learn to read a map to navigate us successfully there and back. Oh, and as a side note to the side note, did I mention we did this trip in July? Did I mention we had a Chevette, without air conditioning? I can hear you, and I do not appreciate being called a "totally fucking batshit lunatic."

We hit some of the tourist spots in that part of Texas, we partied in Austin, we went down to the park by the river, we viewed the tower where the sniper wreaked his havoc. We went to a huge bar where everyone was doing the Texas Two Step in their cowboy hats and snap pocket shirts. We saw the beginning of hill country. We went to the water park in New Braunfels and we hit the Alamo. We drank a few beers and rode the boats on the river walk while in San Antonio.

One of the best parts of the trip was a side trip for a weekend in Corpus Cristi. We went to check into our deluxe accommodations at the Holiday Inn. We dropped our luggage to find the room was not cleaned. As we went into the bathroom I understood why. Someone had been fishing and they had cleaned and gutted the fish in the bathroom. There was blood and entrails everywhere. I guess the maid just claimed it was clean knowing someone else would have to do the job later. The place looked like a mob hit had occurred. We had a great time on San Padre. There exists somewhere one of my favorite pictures of a young Mrs. HB in the sunset, long curly dark hair blowing in the breeze. The curves of her body showing clear in the back light. I cannot find it to post. Use your imagination.

The trip was for the most part good fun, except dealing with the wife's BIL (an ex BIL now, thank God) who was/is a loud mouth jerkbag. He was one of those "anything you can do I can do better" types. A full blown liar and a bore to boot. Her sister is OK , though. The trip was nearly ruined when their neighbors brought over their 'pet' black snake. I came pretty close to punching that bitch right in the face when she pushed me into a corner with the serpent of death. They finally decided I was not kidding when I told her if she touched me with that goddamn snake I would kick the shit out of her then I would kill her in her sleep and the fucking snake too. The near hysteria in my voice convinced them I was not joking -- and to set the record straight -- I wasn't.

In all we had a good time in Texas, our first real vacation together (other than our honeymoon).