USA Trip - Part 3 - Dallas/Fort Worth TEXAS

We landed successfully at Dallas and found our way to the car hire centre using a shuttle bus. This time the process was smoother than Tulsa and we found ourselves in a Ford Focus, similar in many aspects to the Ford Focus we had owned previously. The Dollar people warned us that it was vital to avoid toll roads as it was no longer possible to pay by cash. I tried to set up the satnav but for a long five minutes it refused to co-operate causing us considerable stress during which we tried to get out of the immediate area of the airport. Suddenly it came to life and accepted the address of Tenya and computed a route which got us there without problem. Julia managed the driving brilliantly and I gamely translated/relayed the instructions as she battled the freeways with up to five lanes at a time and the satnav only recognizing two lanes. We found in general if it said keep left or right it was sufficient to stay in a middle lane and hope that we would be offered two lanes going in our direction.
We pulled up outside what we hoped was Tenya’s house, as we approached the front door we saw a massive pair of basketball boots – which did turn out to be castoffs of Tommy, her son – we knocked and were admitted by Sheila, Tenya’s travelling companion and our friend from New Orleans.
We met Tenya and Sheila when they came over to visit Tommy Swanson who was playing for Leicester Riders last season. Tenya is Tommy’s mother and Sheila is an old friend of hers, they worked together in the post office, Sheila is now retired making her available to travel. When he was busy with training and coaching the ladies spent an enjoyable day with us in Derbyshire, we visited Kedleston Hall, which is a great house in its own right but the more interesting because it was extensively used in the movie “The Duchess”. When the film crew wanted to film an evening scene in the round ballroom which has a circular window to the sky they inflated a large dark balloon with helium and allowed it to rise to block out the light. The house was never properly lived in; the family lived in smaller accommodations in the grounds, but was a showpiece for entertaining. Anyway as four people put together by circumstance, we had the best of times, everything was enjoyable and above all we found ourselves to have much in common. It was most touching that when we had returned to our house, before going out for a meal locally, Julia and I wanted to take the flowers to Andy at Marston Cemetery, and both ladies came with us to pay their respects to a young man they had never met.
Arriving at their door in Fort Worth was as if we lived next door, Tenya works nights for the US Mail Service but she appeared from her bed to greet us and we felt extremely welcome. We had organized our visit several months before and Tenya had been insistent that we should stay with her, nearer the time she had hoped that we would be her first house guests at her new home, it had not worked out that way, she was packed up ready to move out but the paperwork was causing problems and she could not yet take possession of her new house. Sheila had come through from New Orleans to see us and to do the day light hosting when Tenya would be sleeping.
We allowed Tenya to return to bed before her shift and following her directions we, and Sheila, set off to find some supper. We did not go far enough in the correct direction and decided that we needed to go in the other direction, we ended up at a Subway, which our American friends tells is similar either side of the Atlantic. It served us well and Sheila brought back a sandwich for Tenya to take to work.
The following morning Tenya returned from work as we were getting up and we all four went out for breakfast. With Tenya driving we discovered our error of the previous night, we continued just another couple of blocks and there was plenty of choice of places to eat. We had a big breakfast to set ourselves up for the day at IHOP, which Julia suddenly realized stood for International House of Pancakes, and announced it to the amusement of the diners. After breakfast Tenya took us to see her new house without, of course, being able to let us in, it was from the outside similar to the Ehlers home.
Owing to the fact it was another working night for Tenya she then drove us home and we others set off in our car to the Fort Worth Stockyards. We parked up in an almost deserted lot and found the payment method to be new to us. The spaces were numbered and a large board had matching numbered slots, the deal was we had to slide five dollars in notes into our slot to avoid the car being clamped, since we had a considerable number of dollar bills, I was given $300 in dollar bills on my retirement by my department, this proved to be no problem.
As we walked into the area we observed that all the flags were at half-mast in recognition of the Fort Hood massacre which had just taken place.
The Stockyards grew up here as for the drovers heading longhorn cattle up the Chisholm Trail to the railheads, Fort Worth was the last major stop for rest and supplies. Beyond Fort Worth they would have to deal with crossing the Red River into Indian Territory. Between 1866 and 1890 more than four million head of cattle were trailed through Fort Worth which was soon known as “Cowtown” When the railroad finally arrived in 1876, Fort Worth became a major shipping point for livestock. This prompted plans in 1887 for the construction of the Union Stockyards. It went into full operation about 1889.
On the main street there was a peculiar mix of Western history and modern traffic, we saw mounted cowboys demonstrating their abilities with rope and whip, some of whom looked old enough to be the original drovers. The Stockyards, unsurprisingly, consist of acres of pens which now are empty except for the token longhorn herd which is driven round the block twice a day, it is still impressive to see thirty or so longhorns wandering down the street totally free to impale spectators on their four feet long horns except for the intervention of the six or seven bored cowboys.
We invested $5 each to see the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, with my interest in western folk law, as show in the movies, I was hoping for a more historic set of exhibits than we found. The museum specialised in two distinct strands, both unfortunately things that left me cold. The first was horse-drawn wagons and carriages, seen one buckboard seen them all! The other was the Rodeo Cowboys hall of fame – each inductee had a space like a locker-room cubicle in which there were hats, spurs, photos and other memorabilia, I’m using the term memorabilia very loosely as memorable was the last thing it was. It was amusing to learn that some of these cowboys had learnt their skills in school and had competed against other schools. In Texas things are rarely half-hearted but this set up lacked any real drive. Our best laugh came when we found the Chuck Wagon tableau - the four model cowboys were clearly female mannequins with stuck on facial hair to denote their rough life on the range – unless the organizers were trying to tell us something about the Wild West.
We did enjoy the area and it was late afternoon when we decided to move on, our car was now entirely alone in the carpark and those carparks nearer the action only charged $3 for the day – no justice!
Sheila is an intrepid traveler, and as such she thinks ahead, she had provided herself with a Texas guide book, which she insisted on us keeping when we later moved on from Dallas. She looked up points of interest and obtained their zip codes for us to use with the satnav. This method took us to the botanical gardens and we walked in its beauty for an hour or so as the light faded.
We then headed into downtown Fort Worth; we intended to find somewhere to eat, this time no science was involved, Julia sensed the direction towards the central business district and in due course we arrived in Sundance Square. We had a wander around another attractive area and settled on a steakhouse. We ate well and once again Sheila took food home for Tenya, the ribs that she selected and were brought to us when we were to leave smelled great and Tenya was lucky that they made it home to her.
The next day was Tuesday and Tenya had the night off for Veterans Day, Wednesday 11.11, so she was able to join us for the later part of the day after hopefully getting some sleep and also chasing up her house purchase with her lender who seemed to be stalling the process.
Our trio went out for breakfast and ate at somewhere which claimed to be the “Home of the Biggest Buns in Texas” I’m not confident enough with the Texan sense of humour to express an opinion if this was about the baked items they serve.
We attempted to track down a pair of basketball boots for Sarah and a basketball vest with the name “Bibby” on it but, despite the genuine efforts of all the sports shops to assist us, no business resulted. It helps if you have an English accent if you want Texans to be really nice to you.
When we returned to Tenya’s she had managed little sleep but was now determined to change her lender to a smaller outfit more prepared to get things progressing. She drove us into Dallas, much more daunting than our trips around Fort Worth.
We spent the first couple of hours going around the 6th Floor Museum which is actually in the Texas Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald worked, and allegedly from where he assassinated President John Kennedy. My own views about the assassination, in as much as I’m entitled to them, have changed over the years. I feel that no conspiracy would still be water-tight after all these years and therefore on balance perhaps Oswald acted alone. The feat of marksmanship he achieved might have been beyond him more times than not if he had attempted it repeatedly but that doesn’t make it impossible on a one off. The conspiracy theories are explored in the museum but no strong opinion emerges. Two things struck me, the first was that LHO had not completed the work set for him to do in the morning of the fateful day, indicating perhaps that he knew that things were never going to be the same for him. Also the idea that he was a completely innocent dupe cannot be sustained in the face of the seemingly accepted fact that he left the book depository and murdered the policeman who challenged him outside the cinema. It seems clear that he was involved but with whom? The grassy knoll provides a better killing angle than the high perch in the book depositary and the idea that there was a second shooter there might explain why LHO fired as the convoy was retreating from him rather than as it turned slowly. The only supporting evidence for a second shooter was based on analysis of the existing audio tapes which concluded that there had been one extra shot from the knoll area but it missed. This has since been partly discredited by further research but to my mind it flies in the face of reason that LHO was put in place to cover the existence of a better sniper in a better position to deliver the meaningful shot and he misses!
My interest in the topic was inspired by various reading that I did in my teens and early twenties; a thought provoking read was “Winter Kills” by Richard Condon, although fiction, and at time almost satire, it seemed to hint at some inside knowledge and as a conspiracy it seemed plausible. Here is the Wikipedia entry for the novel:
Before the main story of the novel begins, U.S. President Timothy Kegan is shot in Philadelphia at Hunt Plaza. The ensuing presidential commission condemns a lone gunman as the killer. The book starts years later, when Kegan's half-brother, Nick, witnesses the death-bed confession of a man claiming to have been part of the 'hit squad'. As the protagonist attempts to find the plotter(s), he encounters numerous groups and persons that could have led or been part of the conspiracy. One person is Lola Camonte, a hostess, lobbyist and fixer. She recounts the story of President Kegan asking her about appointing a member of organized crime to the Court of St. James. The character "Joe Diamond" is the fictional representation of Jack Ruby. Condon's book describes the numerous intertwined threads of the conspiracy, from the Mafia, Cuba, even possible domestic police connections. Only in the final act, in which Nick meets with his vicious and perverse Joseph P. Kennedy-like 'father-figure', is the truth revealed with a twist ending.
Although the museum is extremely impressive the whole experience seems strangely under-stated, there is a small painted cross on the road outside, which indicates where the presidential car was hit, but it remains a normal road. As we left the museum the evening rush had started and the road was busy, it did not appeal to me but people want to get themselves photographed on that spot – it’s not the safest photo call possible!
We were now caught between getting something to eat and arriving early at the American Airlines Centre before the Dallas v Houston NBA game that Tenya was taking us to. There was no contest we got back in the car and headed for the game. We got into the arena and decided to eat game food – Julia and I had a huge tray of Nachos each, I went for chicken and she opted for beef, mine was smothered in melted cheese but Julia had hers relatively plain. We got settled in our seats and in due course enjoyed the game. It followed the same pattern as had the Bulls v Bucks game in that Houston came out of their blocks quicker than the Mavericks and while playing better team ball they established a lead. However the similarity continued as the Mavericks took over the second half and won comfortably making it the second home win we had witnessed in the NBA. WE seemed to get back home quickly and everyone turned in without delay.
The following day it was time to move on, we were going to Austin via Waco. In the morning we went out for breakfast at Chilies and after that we drove over to Tenya’s new house. The realtor had given her the lock-box combination so that she could show us round the inside of the house. Initially all went to plan Sheila, used the combination to get the key from the box and open the front door, as we entered the alarm went off and, we did not have that combination. As we looked around, Tenya phoned her realtor and she in turn had to phone the security company for the combination of the alarm. This accomplished we had a less stressed look round the house which is really nice – I hope by now Tenya is established in it.
We then picked up our hire car and set off towards Waco.