On 11-13-08, ROY WITT said to TIM RICHARDSON:



MG>> Maybe not, but we'd be bored to death. :)


RW>> Not any more than you are in San Diego.


TR> There is far more to do in San Diego than there is in Texas in the
TR> way of entertainment and pass-time.


RW>LOL! Hardly.


Really? How many golf courses are there in Texas? (I mean courses that aren't
built by Lee Travino!)


How many Sea Worlds? Disney lands? Italian resturants in `Little Italy's'?


TR> I got in and out of Texas a lot when I was trucking. Houston,
TR> Dallas-Fort Worth, etc etc.


RW>I've yet to thoroughly explore those places, but have not found the ones I
RW>have visited to be what you claim them to be, or not to be. Compare for
RW>instance, the size of the race track in Fontana vs that of the one in Fort
RW>Worth. FW is twice as large and has more than it's share of activities you
RW>won't find at Fontana.


Fontana is hardly representative of `activities in Southern California'. (By
the way.......there is (or was) a large swith and marshalling yard in Fontana,
as well as an engine turn-table for turning large railroad engines around in
Fontana. I worked in that yard when I worked on the railroad.)

And anyway....I don't do the race track bit; in Texas `or' California.


I bet a daily double one time in my entire life...3 and 3. The only horse race
bet I had ever made. Both horses won and the double paid 27 dollars for a two
dollar bet. I collected my 27 dollar win, and haven't bet on a horse race
since! That was back in 1964 or `65.


RW>You can compare here:


RW>Fontana: http://tinyurl.com/6eazjg


RW>Texas: http://tinyurl.com/5r6p2z


TR> Texans are real nice people. I had done my own tire work for many
TR> years and thought I knew just about all the moves to make a tire
TR> repair as easy as possible till I watched a Texan doing one in a 76
TR> stop near Houston, once.


RW>By hand?


Yes. I can dismount a semi-truck or bus tire in about 3 to 5 minutes, break
the tire down by hand without a machine (I use a mattox to break the bead),
repair the tire, re-assemble it, air it up, and replace it on the axle by
hand. been doing it for years.


I've gotten a bit lazy over the years, and have my own 150 PSI air compressor,
and 3\4 inch impact gun, with high-impact lug sockets.


My present employer is amazed when I take one of the tires off the bus, break
it down and repair it, air it up and remount it in about half an hour to forty
five minutes. And without a tire cage. Of course, we don't have the bus that
had snap rings anymore, so its a lot quicker. And with the new tubeless tire
technology I sometimes don't even have to dismount the tire. Just air it up,
pull the nail or screw or whatever did the puncture out, mark the spot, use my
puncture rasp on it, glue up a plug, lace it in, and thats it! The tire didn't
even come off the wheel.


TR> Watching him I realized I'd been doing a few things the hard way all
TR> that time.


RW>:o)


Some of those Texans are real clever. You can learn a lot from watching one
work on a vehicle.


TR> Texas is, in my book, one of those states that manages to keep all
TR> their total assholes away from spots where the traveling public are
TR> likely to have to deal with them. If there  are any assholes in
TR> Texas.......I never ran into one. All the Texans I ever dealt with
TR> were real decent people. Even their cops.


RW>Texans are naturally friendly people. It took me a while to get used to
RW>the idea, after living for so long among a lot of rude California
RW>assholes. I like CA's, but I like Texans more.


Back when I was on my way to Vietnam I still had about two weeks left on my
leave, and I was driving out here to the San Diego area where my mother and
stepfather lived to spend some time with them. I pulled into a parking lot of
a gas station in Texas about 2AM one morning, crawled in the back seat and
went to sleep.


The next morning about 5:30 or so I woke up when a large farm truck pulled up
along side of me and I saw I had stopped in the parking lot of a small country
cafe with the gas station as part of it.


So I pulled on my shoes, grabbed my cap (I was in uniform at the time per
military regulations), and went inside for some coffee.


A middle-aged woman was behind the counter serving, and had a cup of coffee in
front of a stool almost before I could sit down (how she knew I was going to
sit down on that particular stool, I don't know). She moved up and down the
counter serving coffee and turning in breakfast orders while I started in on
the coffee.


Finally, she came down and started pouring my cup full again and just said
"you like some breakfast?" I said `yes maam'...figuring she'd
bring me a menu
to look at. No such thing. She just said `Alright.....jus' wait a bit'.


Several minutes later she was setting down a plate full of eggs, bacon strips,
country fried potatoes, and toast in front of me, and I had no sooner gotten
some pepper and ketchup on the potatoes, she was setting down a plate full of
hot cakes along side of my food plate, and a pitcher of hot syrup!


I ate and she never let my coffee cup be empty longer than a minute or so
before she was there with the pot filling it again.


And while I was eating...she came by and dropped two more hotcakes on the
plate, and a couple more strips of bacon, and some extra potatoes. I ate it
all, as much out of respect for her generosity as my early morning hunger.


When I went to pay I asked her to give me my ticket, she said `oh...it got
paid already. Those fellas over at the front booth paid yours when they
got ready to leave and payed their own. They jus' went ahead and paid yours at
the same time. You're fine'


I almost never remember that, without feeling a bit humbled by their
delightful kindness, and respect for a U.S. serviceman during war time.


From that moment, I have always had a great respect and strong liking for
Texas.......and Texans.








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*Durango b301 #PE*