DAY 96- Texas Rangers & Dr. Pepper...

It was my last day in Dallas and I was kind of dragging my feet.  It was while I was at breakfast that I talked with a guy visiting from California that I discovered that there was a Federal Reserve that printed paper money in Fort Worth but it was only open on weekdays; and today was Saturday. Darn!  That would’ve been fun to go to.  I guess I’ll have to try that when I’m in Washington DC.

So just minutes before the checkout time at the hotel, I was on my way to find Rudy’s in Arlington, TX which is about 40 minutes southwest of downtown Dallas.  Rudy’s is a Texas BBQ place that came highly recommended from several native Texans.  I pulled up to a place.  There were pickup trucks and trucks pulled up out front with Rudy’s BBQ logo on their sides.  It looked more like a gas station/ convenience store. I had been told to expect this but still I’m thinking this is a restaurant?  Another couple of pickups pulled into stalls next to me and started to walk right in.  Okay, here goes!

Photo from website- Texas BBQ place that looks like a gas station?

I went into a front area which looked like a basic convenience store on one side.  The other side had picnic tables covered with red and white checked table cloths.  I followed the group back to a long counter area in the back corner.  Above the counter was the menu.  I had been told to try their brisket and told that it was like dessert.  There was a choice of moist brisket or lean and then it went by the half-pound or pound.  I choose a half pound moist with a side of potato salad and a soda.

The potato salad was in a Styrofoam covered cup and the brisket was put on wax paper.  It was all then put on a black plastic square framed that looked like it was used to hold pop bottles at a factory.  In fact, there was a Dr. Pepper logo imprinted on it.  I carried the tray over filled up my soda at the fountain area and then proceeded to find utensils and what not.  I sat down at the table near a square wooden box that had salt, pepper, and two bottles of BBQ sauce.  One of the bottles said Rudy’s BBQ sauce; the other said Sissy sauce.  It was no surprise that the Sissy sauce was fuller of the two.

I put just a bit of the Rudy’s sauce on the brisket, cut into the brisket, and took my first bite.  OMG!  I have to agree that this brisket was dessert.  It was that good.  While I ate the place started to fill up and I could see why.  I was glad that I got there early for lunch.  And oh, by the way Rudy’s does ship around the country.

Next, I was back on the road heading south to Waco, TX.  I know the town in Texas that has a bad rep from a standoff between Federal agents and a religious compound.  But there’s more to Waco than that bad history.  But there were a couple of places that I was visiting there.

Photo- Roads? Texans don't need roads!

But on the way to Waco, I experienced some heavy traffic due to construction and learned how Texans deal with such instances.  Some of them take their trucks or other vehicles and drive down the side off the interstate to the next road and on they go.  I watched one guy in a four wheel pickup truck drive back and forth a couple of times between the frontage road and the interstate trying to get ahead.  I thought to myself why does he even bother with the road.  I’m surprised he isn’t whipping through someone’s field.

Photo- Sign outside Texas Ranger Museum.

Two and half hours later, I happily exited off the interstate in the town of Waco.  Just off of the interstate, I pulled into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum.  I thought I had to check this out when I saw it on-line earlier in the morning as I was checking the Dr. Pepper Museum address.  I pulled up to a series of long low stone and timber structures with a sign out front and several statues of cowboys with guns and horses.  I went in and paid the $7.  The gal said that the next film was at 3:30PM in about an hour.  I asked how long the film was and she said,” 45 minutes. We took all the commercials out.”  I asked her how late the Dr. Pepper Museum said open and she said that they admitted the last person at 4:15PM.  I told her I probably wouldn’t catch the film then.  She said that was alright there were plenty of other things to see.

Photo- Inside the Texas Ranger's Museum.

I walked into a large room where a figure on a horse with a sign that read Established in 1823.  Yes, the Texas Rangers have been operating a long time.  They first started out as protection for settlers in the Texas territory from Indian raids.  Some of them even worked a side line gig as surveyors in that time because they were able to protect themselves as well as survey the land.  In 1874, a Special Forces section of the Texas Rangers was formed to tame the lawlessness along the Mexican border. 

Photo- Photos, guns, and saddles on display in the Texas Ranger Museum.

As Texas, got more and more civilized and became a state the duties of the Texas Rangers changed some more.  They were dealing with a variety of situations such as civil unrest, labor strikes, Ku Klux Klan activity, political corruption, Bootlegging and Gambling, and other situations due to the Oil Boom.  It was interesting learning about the history of the famous Texas Rangers.  There were a lot of glass cases with guns; as to be expected.  There was also a great deal of prominent figures in the Texas Rangers that were pictured and had some of their items on display. 

A whole area talked about the history of the Texas Rangers in fighting crime.  A posse of Rangers took down the famous duo of Bonnie and Clyde. Another room was dedicated to Texas Rangers on the Silver Screen.  There were posters with Tommy Lee Jones and Chuck Norris among the gamut.  In the Hall of Fame room there were photos that looked like current photos of Texas Rangers and they were divided up into different companies A through to F.   It was interesting learning about Texas Rangers.

Because of the construction in the area I ended up going back on the interstate taking the next exit to the north and then getting back on the interstate going south; all so I can cross the interstate.  It was construction at its best.  I managed to find the Dr. Pepper Museum and parked in the parking lot across the street.

Photo- An old soda fountain bar at the Dr. Pepper Museum.

I was rather pumped to visit this museum because I’ve always been a fan of Dr. Pepper.  I paid the entrance fee and walked into a room that looked like an old soda fountain store.  Dr. Pepper started out from a drug store in Waco, TX and created by a pharmacist Charles Alderton.  He created the formula with 23 flavors that became known as Dr. Pepper.  In 1885 the formula was patented.  It took off from there.  Most of the first floor had some of the history and bottling equipment that was used in the early manufacturing of Dr. Pepper.  There were videos about the bottling and now canning of Dr. Pepper soda that you could watch which was interesting.

Photo- Commercials playing on the second floor.  Fun watching these!

The second floor of the museum I thought was the most interesting.  It contained most of the advertising memorabilia of Dr. Pepper.  In fact, there was a TV area where you could watch and listen to older commercials.  It was divided up into generations.  The earlier commercials were on the radio and they showed pictures of advertisements on the screen while the radio commercials played.  Later on, there were actual TV commercials.  It was fun watching the older and some of the more current commercials.

Photo- The 3rd floor dedicated to W.W. "Foots" Clement known as Mr. Dr. Pepper.

The third floor of the museum was dedicated to Woodrow Wilson “Foots” Clement who made Dr. Pepper the international brand that it is today.  He started as a route salesman for Dr. Pepper and rose through the ranks to President, CEO, and Chairman.  Next, I took the elevator down to the first floor and went in the gift shop.  There was an older southern couple debating about buying some of the Dr. Pepper syrup while I browsed through the shop.  They were still debating as I bought a couple of postcards and a bumper sticker.

Next, it was the drive on to Austin where it was construction and traffic and traffic and more traffic.  Is this construction season for Texas?  I was really starting to wonder.  I found my hotel just off of the interstate and decided no more driving for the day.  I had dinner in the hotel bar and watched Notre Dame win.

DAY 94, 95- Thanksgiving, JFK, & a Birthday…

Day 94- A Day off and Thanksgiving… 
I knew that I would have some of these days where because of the Holidays I would be forced to have “days off” and I will admit that I might have needed a bit of a day off.  That in part was the reason I was pushing to get to Dallas.  I found a great rate over the Holidays here and at that rate I could afford to take a day off and not feel pressured to make the most out of my day.  Sometimes, I push myself more because I want to get the most for my money while I’m traveling.  I basically hung out in the hotel room during Thanksgiving after running down for the continental breakfast.  I did find a Walgreens nearby that was open and grabbed some junk food.  It was junk food and movie day.  I also did manage to start a watercolor but it still needs some work.

DAY 95- JFK AND a Birthday…

It was my birthday and also the largest shopping day of the year.  I wasn’t going to any malls so I figured I would be safe going to the 6^th Floor Museum in Dallas.  The 6^th Floor Museum is in the Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy as his car turned the corner and went by the grassy knoll.  It’s the same floor as they found the gun.  I drove downtown and found a parking lot space for the cheap price of $5 for the whole day.  Then I walked to the 6^th Floor Museum to discover that there was a line out the door and around the corner.  The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for this museum.  They were expecting about 2000 people to go through the museum that day.  Go figure that's the day that I decided to go too.  I got in line and it was moving slowly.  I was told it was about an hour and 15 minute wait from where I was at.  Okay, I didn’t have much else planned and really wanted to see this.

Photo- Book Depository building in background and an "X" marking
on the street where the first shot was fired at JFK.

I finally got to purchase my ticket from a black woman that was calling everyone Sugar.  “How are you today Sugar?”  “Well, thank you Sugar!”  There were two guys from New York in front of me in the line and I asked them if that was a southern thing to call everyone “Sugar”.  They laughed, but the line wasn’t over yet.  There was a line for the audio that they handed just before you went in the elevator and waiting for people to come down the elevator.  There was a limit as to how many were allowed on the 6^th floor because of the fire codes.  No photography was allowed except for the 7^th floor which you could visit.  There’s art and etc. up there I was told.

Up in the elevator I went and arrived among a gaggle of people with audio tour devices on their heads.  Things were moving slow.  I inputted the first number and looked at the photos as they talked about it.  There were excerpts from newscasters and quotes from people used in the recordings.  The museum first went over Kennedy’s family life and then his campaign.  Then they covered the things that were going on while he was first in office.  It was all the background of what built up to the time when he got assassinated in Dallas.  They had televisions with newscasters and video from the time. 

Just before we got to the famous window corner area they did the shots and showed time lapsed photos of the assignation.  Then, they had boxes on display in a windowed off area where Lee Harvey Oswald had been with the gun.  You could look out of the windows next to it and the most of the way down on to the grassy knoll area.  It was all very fascinating. 

Next, it went into the story of what happened and showed video of the aftermath.  Walter Cronkite talked about how he had to announce on the news about Kennedy’s death.  They showed the video of Oswald being shot.  They went on to explain the process of the investigation and why some still believe to this day that Oswald was not the actual man that pulled the trigger.  At the end of the 6^th floor you are given the opportunity to make comments about the museum or your memories of Kennedy’s death.  Kennedy died before I was born but I did write a short comment about my experience and thanked them for the museum.  It was a powerfully moving experience.

Photos- Large photo of John F Kennedy and upclose this large photo
is a series of smaller photo images of him...

I walked up the stairs to the 7^th floor where there were two cool large photos of John F Kennedy and Jackie.  The photos were made up from a series of smaller photos of John F Kennedy.  It was pretty cool but unfortunately my camera wasn’t working right at the time and I couldn’t get photos of them.  I also tried to take some photos from the same window as Oswald shot from but a story up.  I had to figure that the trees below have grown taller since the 1960’s.

 Down the elevator I went and the exit goes through the gift shop, of course.  I’ve discovered that this is common with most museums to have the exit through the gift shop.  I purchased a couple of postcards and asked directions for the Dallas Holocaust Museum which was nearby.  In fact, it was almost right across the street.  I went across the street and around the corner and there I was at the Dallas Holocaust Museum.

I went in and paid the entrance fee and got an audio tour devise.  A gal explained how to use the audio tour and then I was off on a self-guided tour through the Holocaust Museum.  The first picture is one of Albert Einstein and says his quote about the world being too dangerous to live in—not because of the evil men do but because of those that stand by and let them do it.  This was rather the theme of this museum.

 It then started off with an over view of the time period from late 1930’s to the mid 1940’s.  There was an area where there were cement columns to represent how many Jews died during each year.  The tallest cement pillar was 1944.  The next tallest year was about 1/3 shorter and that was 1943.

Photo- Photos from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising inside the Dallas Holocaust Museum.

Then the museum focused on three different events that occurred on the same day during WW2.  The first event was when three men armed with one gun and a hanging lamp stopped a train bound for a death camp.  They saved about 200 lives that day.  They risked their lives for others.  The second event was when the Jews in Warsaw’s Ghetto had HAD enough and rose up in revolt against their oppressors fighting asserting their human dignity with every ounce of their being up to death.  

Then the third event in sharp contrast was a conference by British and American diplomats in a plush Bermuda hotel that was meant to stonewall and placate protesters about the Jews in Germany.  This conference hid their inaction and deflected questions about what they were doing about these poor people’s plight.  This was a show that inaction can do more harm than help.

Photo- You could place a candle or rock in memory of someone that died in the Holocaust.

Next I went into a room where you were invited to take a rock or a candle to place on a large memorial tablet surrouneded by short stone like pillars.  It was very quiet and people were whispering prayers.  The next room was a theater area where they were showing a series of parts of interviews from holocaust survivors.  Some of these I found very powerfully moving; one especially had my heart in my throat when the victim told of how he would eat each day with his dad in one of the camps.  The dad would not eat and wait for his son to finish eating.  Then, he would ask his son if he was still hungry.  The son would tell his dad no because he knew that his dad would give his whole meal to his son.  But the son knew that his dad also needed the food too.  The son said he argued with his day like this for everyday that they were in the camp and he said it was very hard because they (both him and his dad) were very hungry because the Germans didn’t give them enough.  I had to leave shortly after that because I just couldn’t handle it emotionally.

Photo- The JFK Memorial in downtown Dallas.

After exiting the Holocaust Museum, I walked over a couple of blocks to the John F Kennedy Memorial.  It was this strange boxy semi-enclosed area.  The plaque gave the description that it was to symbolize and open coffin like area only with an opening to a life that could never be contained in a box because it affected so many other lives.  Okay.

Photo- This is the place to "cowboy up" in Dallas. 
It has everything a cowboy or girl could ever need.

Next, I walked around the Dallas downtown area.  I went by restaurants, shops, bars, and look at Christmas lights.  The Christmas lights were very fun in downtown Dallas.  I ended up going into a couple of the shops.  One in particular, I found rather interesting was Wild Bill’s Western Store where you could purchase any cowboy or cowgirl gear that you needed from custom leather boots to custom hats; they had you covered.  I grabbed a beer and a steak in one of the restaurants in the area that didn’t run you an arm and a leg.  I enjoyed my steak and beer while watching two different football games simultaneously.  Now this is the life and a wonderful way to end a birthday!

Photo- Christmas Lights in downtown Dallas.

 

DAY 93- Abilene to Dallas, TX…

I woke up to a HUGE loud bang against metal at 5AM in my hotel room in Abilene.  A cowboy had dropped his heavy overnight bag into his huge diesel pickup truck that was parked right out front of my room.  BANG!  5AM in the morning and I already felt like I had a heart attack!  A few minutes later the whole room was vibrating when he started up his truck.  Shortly after that I heard more cowboy boots thudding around and more loud pickup trucks starting up.  These cowboys liked to start their days early around these parts.  I looked out the window and the 75% of the parking lot that had been pickup trucks last night were gone. 

I decided to start a pot of coffee and get ready for the day too.  I got on-line and figured out what there was to do in Abilene before I started my drive to Dallas where I would spend the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I found out a few possibilities and headed up front for breakfast and a bit of assistance for directions. 

Photo- Frontier Texas a FUN place to visit and learn about Texas Hertiage.

Off I went towards historic downtown Abilene; I stopped southeast of it and went into Frontier Texas!  It’s a western heritage center that focuses on the frontier time period of Texas history.  It’s done with a new level of technology.  I went in paid the $8 entrance fee and wasn’t sure what to expect.  I was handed a map of the museum and before I knew it this southern Texas older gentleman was taking the map out of my hands and very nicely explaining what the museum was and how it worked.  He seemed impressed that I was all the way from Salt Lake City and wanted to ensure that I had a good time visiting Frontier Texas.  He was very sweet.

Photo- Inside the Frontier Texas an example of a covered wagon.

I had to wait for a few minutes for the next starting time.  Frontier Texas has a series of holographic spirit guides that take you through the history.  It was an amazing experience where these 6 historical figures took you through the history by telling you about parts of it.  In the first room, a hologram of Buck Taylor briefly introduced the spirit guides that you would be meeting as you went along.  In the second room, Buck Taylor’s hologram gave you a general overview of the Texas history; the big picture as it was called.  Then, I went down a hall where I went on to meet another spirit guide a Native American Indian that talked about the history of his people and what the land was like before all the settlers came. 

Photo- A community tooth brush!!??!  Ewwwwww!!

There were items to read and interactive things that you could along the way too.  I walked through a tepee and then met another two of the spirit guides.  These two were kind of having an interactive conversation with each other and it was very informative.  Next, I turned a corner and met a Captain Marcy.  There was a series of buttons in front of him that you could press to get answers to questions.

Down another hallway you got to meet another spirit guide who was a cowboy that moved cattle on a trail.  Though, there weren’t any real trails at that time.  He talked about the dangerous life on the trail.    Then, across the room on the other side you met another spirit guide who was a former slave that had been freed in hopes of locating his family that had been taken by Indians during a raid.  He ended up finding them and ended up going into the business of delivering supplies to pioneers. 

Then, I waited for a few minutes to get into the theater area where a presentation takes place.  It’s an amazing presentation where you sit on chairs that could be spinned in 360 degrees.  The theater show goes on all around you and it’s a wonderful presentation about the frontier Texas life.  After the theater show there was one more spirit guide that you met that I found interesting in that the woman who had managed to escape from Indian capture seemed to go through quite a few husbands on the frontier. Her first husband had been killed in the Indian raid.  She remarried and the next one went to check on the horses in the barn and didn’t come back.  She remarried again a military man this time that ended up being killed in action with Indians.  Then, I was at the end of Frontier Texas and was deposited in the gift shop area.  It was very worth the $8 entry fee.

Photo- The outside of the Grace Museum which is a restored hotel.

Next, I drove further into historic downtown of Abilene and located the Grace Museum.  I parked the car and walked in.  I paid the $8 entrance fee and was admitted to the Art Museum.  There are three floors of art.  On the first floor there was a featured exhibit called Wild Things.  There were two different artists displayed in this exhibit; one was Billy Hassell who painted colorful oil paintings with wildlife represented in them and the other artist was David Everett who had some amazing three dimensional wooden carved and colorfully painted sculptures.  On the second floor of the art museum there was a Texas Impressionism Exhibit titled Branding with Brushstroke and color, 1885 to 1936.  It featured several local impressionistic artists that had been in the area when Texas was just coming into being made a state.  The third floor featured a black and white photography exhibit by David H. Gibson called Quiet Beauty.  It was a wonderful art museum to visit and quite high quality for such a smaller town area.

Photo- The inside of Cypress Street Cafe in Historic Downtown of Abilene, TX.

I walked next door to have lunch at the Cypress Street Station Café.   It was a wonderful older building that had been remodeled to be a restaurant and featured a white tin punched ceiling.  I had the special of the day which had a beef quesadilla, chicken chimi, and a fresh salad with fresh sweet salsa vinaigrette.  It was a wonderful meal.  After lunch, I walked through a Texas gift shop down the street where it had anything and everything that was Texas.  It was fun going through but I just window shopped my way through it.

It was time to start heading towards Dallas.  It was basically a straight drive east on I-20.  It was a fairly heavy traffic day on the interstate and I think it was due to everyone heading somewhere for Thanksgiving which was the next day.  I set my cruise control for a bit below the speed limit and just went through with the flow.

Construction was a nightmare when I got into Dallas.  The exit that I should have taken was under construction and when I got off the interstate to try to back track the streets were curving every which way that I ended up getting totally lost.  I was lost about an hour and a half amid the Dallas Wednesday night rush hour traffic with construction.  I will say that it was really rather frustrating.  I also discovered that it was similar to driving in Salt Lake City in that if you put your blinker on they wouldn’t let you over.  I started driving like I did in Salt Lake City and just started to head over as a space appeared.  It all kind of reminded me of when the SLC was preparing for the Olympics and we had the Toboggan run going on with I-15.  I finally did manage to find the hotel and I opted to stay in the hotel for dinner.  I had enough of Dallas driving for the day.