P-38 Lightning

   On January 27, 1939, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning took its first flight. Nicknamed the "Fork-Tailed Devil", this particular P-38 is on display at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
    P-38s were used extensively during World War II for everything from reconnaissance to bombing to combat fighting. Production of them only went on during the war, ceasing in 1945 with the surrender of Japan. They were still used until being retired by the Air Force in 1949. Many were then sent to Italy and other countries air forces. Eventually most saw the scrap yard.

Audie Murphy

   Audie Murphy was born June 20, 1925 in Kingston, Texas. He tried to enlist after Pearl Harbor but was rejected by all branches for being underage and too small. Sounds like Captain America doesn't it? His sister forged papers for him and he was finally taken into the United State Army.
   His first tours of duty were in the Mediterranean, where he was promoted all the way to platoon sergeant and received a Bronze Star for helping take out a German tank in Italy. His platoon eventually took to the European campaign through southern France. Near Ramatuelle, he advanced on a house alone that was occupied by German soldiers, where he killed six, wounded two and took eleven of them as prisoner. For this he received the Distinguished Service Cross.
   He received his first Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel on September 15, 1944 in L'Omet, France. Over the next month he helped attack and capture more German held areas and prisoners and was also shot in the hip. He was back with his unit by January 1945, in the Colmar area of France. Near the town of Holtzwhir, the platoon came under attack and he was wounded in both legs. Despite his wounds, he was made commander of his company.
   On this day in 1945, January 26th, his company was forced to take position in the woods after the Germans had destroyed one of their tanks, though he remained at his post. He alone fired upon the Germans and directed artillery fire at them. He climbed on the destroyed tank, fired the massive machine gun mounted on it, and killed a squad of Germans who were crawling toward him. He killed or wounded nearly 50 Germans, only stopping when he ran out of ammo. He had been wounded again in the leg. He insisted on staying with his platoon. For these actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Two weeks later he would be promoted again and removed from the front lines.
   Murphy was one of the most decorated combat soldiers of World War II. He would go on after the war to be a Captain in the Texas Army National Guard. He also starred in nearly 40 movies including playing himself in the film "To Hell and Back".
   He died on May 28, 1971 when a small plane he was riding in crashed in the mountains of Virginia. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Throwback Thursday: Astrodome

    Took this photo most likely in 1994. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was in town, and I was apparently on the Ferris wheel at the time. I love the Dome. Opened in 1965, home to the Houston Astros baseball and Oilers football teams. I went to so many Astros games that I didn't know what it was like to watch a professional baseball game outdoors! It wasn't until I saw a game in Tiger Stadium in Detroit in 1999 that I experienced pro ball the way most people know it! I pray that they never tear the Dome down. It was the first of its kind and deserves to be preserved.

December 7th Pearl Harbor Day

   On December 7, 1941, the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was attacked by surprise by Japanese bombers, fighters, and torpedo planes. Four United States battleships were sunk, two more damaged. There were 2,403 Americans killed-68 of which were civilians. Nearly half, 1,177 of those killed were on the USS Arizona. The sunken Arizona is now the base of the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

   I saw the Pearl Harbor Memorial when I was a kid back in the 70s, but I don't have any photos from that trip. Shown on this page at two battleships that are on display here in the United States. Above is the USS Texas. She was commissioned in 1914 and served during World War I. As World War II broke out, she began patrols in the Atlantic. On December 7th she was on rest in Maine. The Texas now is moored next to the San Jacinto Monument near Houston, Texas.
   Below is the USS North Carolina, moored across the Cape Fear River from downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. The NC was commissioned in 1940. She was still in training when Pearl Harbor happened. During World War II she spent time in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. She was decommissioned in 1947 and brought to Wilmington in the 1960s. She is a memorial to all those from North Carolina who were killed in World War II.

National Fast Food Day

   It's National Fast Food Day on November 16th, so go out to your favorite fast food restaurant and celebrate!

Throwback Thursday: Snow in Houston

   Winter of 1973 I'm pretty sure. The Houston, Texas suburb of North Shore. The apartments I grew up in. That's our apartment back there, lower right with the curtains open a little. It doesn't snow often in Houston, but when it does you take as many photos as possible!

History of the Galveston Seawall

   On this day in 1902, construction began on the Galveston Seawall. It had been two years since the Great Storm of 1900 had hit the bustling seaport of Galveston, Texas. The massive hurricane hit a town unaware and killed as many as 8000 people(or many more, they had no way to know for sure). It is still not just the deadliest hurricane, but the deadliest natural disaster to ever hit the United States.

Signs, Everywhere Signs, Old Motel Signs

Another "sign" that I was born in the wrong decade(or perhaps have intense feelings from past lives), is the feeling I get when seeing old motel signs. There almost isn't anything that evokes life on the road quite like a kitschy and googie architectured motel sign. The giant arrows, "vacancy" neon, and bright colors-all now fading into nothingness. The old "motor hotels" along Route 66, Dixie Highway and other roads that were the interstate before the interstate. There aren't many left so I try to get snapshots when I can. New motel/hotel signs are so boring now. 

Give me the past anyday.

Etowah Motel in Etowah, Tennessee. I've been told it's gone now.

Scenic Motel, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

411 Motel, Maryville, Tennessee

Tuckaleechee Village, Townsend, Tennessee

Canal Motel, Old Route 66, Chain of Rocks, Illinois

Bel-Aire Manor Motel, Old Route 66 Springfield, Illinois

Overton Motel, Livingston, Tennessee

Sands Motel, Van Horn, Texas

Bridgeway Motel, Smithville, Tennessee

Ragland Motel, Indian Mound, Tennessee

Travel Photos Tuesday: San Antonio, Texas

  Slowly but surely working through all the photos that we took on our major trek in 2013. Gosh it's hard to believe it's been that long ago already. So anxious for another real trip!

 Today's photos are from our day in San Antonio, Texas.

First up is the Alamo, of course.


Then we visited the lesser known missions all located south of the Alamo. This is Mission San Jose


Mission San Juan Capistrano(no, not *that* one! that's in California)


Mission Concepcion


Mission San Francisco


And then we are at Texas Pride Barbecue, best damn BBQ sandwich I've EVER had!

More Day 2 from last vacation: Around Houston

San Jacinto Monument

James Coney Island, Pasadena. One of the many food places I miss in Houston and Texas.
Houston skyline

Ugly Reliant and my Beloved Astrodome. 

Historic Union Station, now attached to the new Astros stadium, downtown

The First Day: Long and Winding Road

  The first day of the trip was an unspectacular journey from one place to another: South of Nashville, Tennessee to Galveston, Texas. And there were few stops in  between. 

   We left at 6:30am and arrived in Galveston around 7:30pm. The only stops were for gas and rest stops. We ate lunch at the Louisiana Welcome Center. The bridge in the photo above is the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge. 

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Swamp Bridge, Atchafalaya Swamp, Louisiana

  We did stop at the Tiger Stop in Gross Tete where they have a live tiger in a cage(LSU Tigers, you know). But it was hot and the tiger wasn't easily visible. I felt sort of bad pulling in to see this, felt bad for the tiger laying there in the heat(though I suppose tigers are used to heat, aren't they?). 

   We cut south off of Interstate 10 to go through Baytown, across the Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston Ship Channel as a quicker way to Galveston. 

  By the time we got our motel room and some dinner, it was dark-and they cut off the lights at the Pleasure Pier JUST as we pulled over and I got out with the tripod to get some shots! Disheartened, I took some really bad shots without the tripod of the ferris wheel, the only lights left on. 

   The first day was somewhat uneventful-but it was the only day that was. There are so many more photos to come!

Iconic Places, Iconic Faces

  Ok, ok, I couldn't wait to get to some of the places we visited by going day by day. Day one will be posted tomorrow, but honestly, there wasn't much to see on day one and I was anxious to show you some of the best places we saw along the way. 

   This is a teaser, if you will, then. A short photo essay to show off some of the iconic places and things we saw on our trip to the west. There are many, many more, but I thought these few images summed it all up pretty well. More info about each of these places will be posted when I get to the day when we saw them.

The Art of the Welcome Sign

While traveling through other states, one of our traditions is to get a photo of the "Welcome to 'Our State'" signs. No, not like many tourists, where you stop the car and have all the family pose in front of the sign-we don't have time for that sort of thing! But I get the shots nonetheless. And I love seeing how different states choose to welcome visitors who have arrived from their neighboring state.

"Welcome to Alabama the Beautiful" and an addition mentioning the current governor; Interstate 65. Short but sweet with a  nice little slogan and an extra sign that might have to be changed every few years.
Many more after the break....

Back In More Ways Than One!

    Yes, I am back. With so much to post, so much to say. Back from an illness that had me doing zilch from about April Fool's to mid-May. And then dealing with all the end-of-school-ness for the kiddo(OMG end of 8th grade, I'm the mom of a high schooler now! *faints*). And then finally back from a mega-vacation. Probably the best one we have taken, well maybe the best one of my life so far.

     It was the Wild West Trip, The Trip That Wouldn't End, The Trip to See As Much As Possible! We visited 12 states(not including our home state) in 9 days-west of the Mississippi-and 4 of those days were in Texas! I am going to post photos and comments day by day, just as soon as I get a chance to really go through all 3000 photos that I took. I hope to get a new post up every few days so keep checking back!

  Basics of the trip:

1. Tennessee to Galveston, Texas via Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
2. Galveston to San Antonio, Texas via all over Houston where I grew up
3. San Antonio to Austin, Texas 
4. Austin to Pecos, Texas via Abilene and back roads
5. Pecos to Roswell, New Mexico via El Paso, Las Cruces, Alamagordo
6. Roswell to Cheyenne, Wyoming via Colorado
7. Cheyenne to Rapid City, South Dakota via Devils Tower, Mt Rushmore
8. Rapid City to St Joseph, Missouri via Iowa
9. St Joseph to Tennessee via Illinois, Kentucky

  So yes, many of my photos(again) are taken from the front seat of the rental car(such as the shot of the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Wyoming seen above). And somehow I have an extreme knack for getting shots of bushes and signs in so many of the photos I attempt! And every now and then I get something somewhat decent to show(even a blind squirrel finds a nut, blah blah blah).

  Prepare for photos from Galveston, San Jacinto Monument, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Manor, Eastland, Abiline, Midland, Pecos, Toyah, Las Cruces, White Sands, Alamogordo, Lincoln, Roswell, Denver, Cheyenne, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Sioux City, and much more from the road.

  Stay tuned!