The Texas Appreciation Thread (Houston, San Antonio: how much, homes, living in)

[WillysB]

A little over a hundred years ago my grandmother, along with her husband, a brother and a few kids, loaded a wagon and moved from near Palestine Tx to near Rising Star Tx. They picked cotton, they were tenant farmers. A couple more kids later they loaded that wagon and headed down to east central Texas, near Mexia and did some more farming. One more kid, my mother, was born there.

Couple of years before WWII mom joined her older brothers and sisters in San Antone where she met my dad, a soldier at Fort Sam then. He was from central Texas, about an hour north of Austin. He says when he was a kid he used to ride the trains coming through there. When he and my mom met he was riding a Harley. The rest is history.

After WWII we left the country for a few years returning to Fort Worth where dad retired. We then moved to Abilene where I went to public schools. Abilene High School was a bit of history in itself, winning district and state championships in football, as well as other sports and academics. A ol gal once told me she had seen cattle drives coming through there, from Buffalo Gap down through Fort Phantom Hill, now a lake, and on to market.

For a few years ('60, '61, '62), dad and a couple of his buddies would take their sons to the New Years Cotton Bowl games. I recall seeing a couple of guys on the roller coaster, back seat, when the car going over the peak the guys stretched out their arms above their heads with their hands in a fist, index and little fingers pointing upwards - Hook 'Em Horns. Curious I thought. I had no clue, but never forgot.

After college I lived in Houston for a bit of a lifetime, watching it grow from a sleepy burg to bustling metropolis. Houston is steeped in Texas history, more so than anywhere else I've lived in Texas, excepting San Antonio. It was between Houston and San Antone that so many gave their lives for their new country.

Later moved to Dallas for another ten years for a completely different Texas experience. Since then I've moved to central Texas, not far from those train tracks my dad used to ride. I spent a year in Seattle and while I never missed living in Texas for an instant - I knew, down inside, that the place I was living was nowhere. Sorry, Seattle. But Texas was inside me, the fiber of my being.

Texas, for me, is a spiritual place. From the Alamo, to Buffalo Bayou, to Fort Phantom Hill to the train tracks. And all those things listed by case44. And to that list, I'd add Mesquite trees.

[Houston3]

It's to hard for me to explain. I was born here in a small town in North Texas , moved to Houston when I was ten. I tried to move a couple of times but just couldn't stay away...

[autotech4dallas]

Woot Woot! Our thread is growing with Texas love, senoritacharlene!

[DFWFORUMSDOTORG]

Originally Posted by senoritacharlene

Welcome to the thread dfwforumsdotorg!

Thank you Senorita!

[senoritacharlene]

Welcome WillysB and Houston3 - great to have your inputs on the thread. WillysB - what a lovely story! And Houston3, Im not suprised you cant stay away! Anyway, any random mentionings of your favourite Texan things are welcome!

[autotech4dallas]

For me, as I am driving down U.S. Highway 75 southbound and I cross the Texas/Oklahoma border, it puts a smile to my face every single time. I see the "Welcome to Texas. Drive Friendly-The Texas Way" sign and then I see the Texas Travel Info Center to the right. It gets so surreal also when I'm still on highway 75 southbound en route to Dallas and I enter Collin County, as well as Plano city limits, and I see nothing but businesses, restaurants, etc, and my God, I just love it! I am just visualizing this in my mind as I am typing it. I will go hot in 2010 and make my move to Dallas, TX baby, whoooooooo!

[WillysB]

Heh... I can relate to that travelin down to Texas, ATD. Here's a couple of photos from our return to Texas, by way of NYC, after living in Lisbon for a few years. It was 1954 and I was in the first grade and as we approached the Texas border all we could talk about was getting home. This is just across the border at/near Texarkana.

My sisters and me


Me, I just had to stand up there


And yes, that's a Willys, the car we had while overseas.

[autotech4dallas]

Originally Posted by WillysB

Heh... I can relate to that travelin down to Texas, ATD. Here's a couple of photos from our return to Texas, by way of NYC, after living in Lisbon for a few years. It was 1954 and I was in the first grade and as we approached the Texas border all we could talk about was getting home. This is just across the border at/near Texarkana.

My sisters and me


Me, I just had to stand up there


And yes, that's a Willys, the car we had while overseas.

Man, that is just too cool.

[Canine*Castle]

WillysB,

That is just so sweet.

[autotech4dallas]

Can we give this man some sort of Texas Appreciation Award?