13 Nov 08 20:24, TIM RICHARDSON wrote to ROY WITT:

 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.

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

Talk about being bored to death. Who in the hell wants to chase a ball
all over the place? I know of two in the immediate area of this city,
which is the size of Escondido. There may be more that I haven't found
yet, but who's looking for Golf Courses?

 TR> How many Sea Worlds?

One, just like San Diego.

 TR> Disney lands?

None, just like San Diego.

 TR> Italian resturants in `Little Italy's'?

Yuk! Who wants to eat a plate full of tomato sauce?

However, I've found 3 Italian Pizza houses here that rival anything I've
ever eaten in San Diego. Real pizza in SD went out when Ciro's retired on
El Cajon Blvd, c1997...one such place that didn't get my approval makes
pizza without tomato sauce, it was bad, real bad.

How many authentic German restaurants are there in San Diego? San Antonio
is full of them, believe it or not. In fact there's a German community
that you'd think shouldn't be in a Spanish setting.

How often can you 'tube' down the San Diego River?
The Guadalupe River runs by my house and I can jump in and tube anytime of
day, all day long. Not to mention the fishing is great too.

How many Tex-Mex restaurants are there in San Diego?
None.

How many Alamo's are there in San Diego?
None.

How many Water Parks are there in San Diego? San Diego, not San Ysidro.
None.

How many Drag Strips are there in San Diego?
None. Carlsbad is gone, although the Indians have one on the reservation,
you can't go there unless they open up the road.

How many Basketball teams are there in San Diego?
I know, you have baseball (boring).

How many NFL Football teams in California? The same here.

How many River Walks does San Diego have 'downtown' ?

How many deer in the back country of San Diego?
We have deer so plentiful, they come into town because they're tame.

And yes, I can play in the mountains in the morning and play on the beach
in the afternoon, just like I used to do in California. And, unlike the
reservoirs in California, I can sail, water craft, power boat and SWIM
in the man-made lake, just up the road.

Geeezzzzz, I could go on forever.

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


 TR> Fontana is hardly representative of `activities in Southern
 TR> California'.

OTH, DFW race track is.

 TR> (By the way.......there is (or was) a large swith and marshalling
 TR> yard in Fontana, as well as an engine turn-table for turning large
 TR> railroad engines around in Fontana. I worked in that yard when I
 TR> worked on the railroad.)

I think there's on of those in South San Antonio. Trains are always coming
and going thru town here and mostly loaded with concrete makings.

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

I do and did.

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

I put $2 on a nag and never bet again. I lost the $2...

 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?


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

I had an uncle who was killed doing that. It was in the day of the split
ring wheel and while inflating the tire, the ring flew off and hit him in
the head. I used to watch my dad do those with a drive-on hoist on top of
the wheel to keep the ring in place.

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

I do tire changes almost daily around here. I'm mobile and so I'm subject
to call, even on the freeway. I use a 12v impact to make things go faster.

 TR> My present employer is amazed when I take one of the tires off the
 TR> bus, break it down and repair it, air it up and remount it in about
 TR> half an hour to forty five minutes. And without a tire cage. Of
 TR> course, we don't have the bus that had snap rings anymore, so its a
 TR> lot quicker.

And safer.

 TR>  And with the new tubeless tire technology I sometimes
 TR> don't even have to dismount the tire. Just air it up, pull the nail
 TR> or screw or whatever did the puncture out, mark the spot, use my
 TR> puncture rasp on it, glue up a plug, lace it in, and thats it! The
 TR> tire didn't even come off the wheel.

I'm not allowed to do that. Liability.

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

 RW>> :o)

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

I do that a lot.

 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
 RW>> to the idea, after living for so long among a lot of rude California
 RW>> assholes. I like CA's, but I like Texans more.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

I've done that myself, pay for a soldier's meal, I mean. If I could, I'd
unlock there cars for free too, but the company insists that I charge
them.

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

I had to drive about 15 miles up to Canyon Lake Dam one day, to unlock a
Army Major's pickup. He was stationed in Louisiana, but came to San
Antonio to get in some hiking and stream trout fishing. We had a long
conversation about his two tours in Iraq and the wounds he received in
Afghanistan, his last tour. While he was at BAMCEE (Army medical hospital
for veterens) in San Antonio he told me of some grusome wounds and how the
boys are coping with it all. He told me that not one of them wouldn't do
it over again, even knowing the consequences before hand. I was nearly in
tears when he finished. But I was very proud of him and those guys in the
recovery unit.

                R\%/itt



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