Road Trip - II

So I shot a minute worth of old Redland Drive In Theater facade. Coming back and looking at it I realize I should’ve continued shooting from a better, frontal angle and not feared or doubted the PT Cruiser that slowed down and a couple of guys stared at me.

Soon after, I saw the Trooper in my rear view mirror. I didn’t have anything to worry about. I wasn’t speeding. My registration was alright. Insurance Certificate, I didn’t have on me (remember, I had forgotten it at home where I was tying my shoe lace), but not long ago I had read someplace that the law enforcement community can now check online if you have the necessary, minimum insurance or not. So I was cool. I slowed down and let the trooper pass. But he came alongside, nodded (sort of smiled? I don’t know) and turned the lights on. In a fraction of a second I pulled over. Turns out I didn’t get my inspection done in time and the sticker gave away it was now two months past due. Damn. I got caught off guard. It was embarrassing because I am very particular about a few things. Car matters are one of those things. Even if I’ve put off something, I’m aware that I have. In this case it had just slipped my mind and I couldn’t believe it. Anyways, I signed off and moved on. If anything driving under the limit could’ve given him the reason. Or was it the occupants of the PT Cruiser? I don’t know. I’m not going to worry about it. Since then I have gotten the inspection done and sent in the report along with a $10.00 cashiers check. Remember the good old days when they accepted personal checks? Now there are online payment systems. The one I checked out would’ve charged me $5.95 had I used it. Imagine, almost six bucks for a ten dollar payment. The service may be of use to someone really, badly stuck and in a jam, not for me. Any ways…

So I’m passing through Nacogdoches and I see a truck stop that I recognize right away. I’m sure I wasn’t looking for it. A client owns it and had shown me the pictures. So I stopped. I didn’t expect the owner to be there. And I didn’t announce to the guy behind the counter who I was. Just chat, small talk you know. It’s not everyday that he saw somebody who spoke his language. Very courteous, this young man was. A little shy, but he agreed to go on tape. One of these days you’ll get to see it. At least on that particular day and those few minutes I hung around there most people I saw were Hispanic or Latinos. One of these days I’m going to learn the correct way of putting this without sounding foolish and /or offending people. In everyday talk you may say Mexicans but that doesn’t sound respectful and may not be correct. No one was willing to go on camera. I got coffee and moved on.

On the way I saw a sign for Old Stone Fort I wanted to follow. I don’t know why I didn’t. Back at home I looked up and found the following information. I don’t know if it’s legal but I suppose if I give the credit where it is due and am not benefiting monetarily it should be ok. So, those who didn’t know like I didn’t, learn why I saw so many, Spaniards, as Dr. McDonald describes them in the following article from www.texasescapes.com

The Old Stone Fort
by Archie P. McDonald, PhD

In the spring of 1779 a later-day Moses named Antonio Gil Y'Barbo led some displaced persons back to East Texas to found the community of Nacogdoches. They had formerly lived in western Louisiana and eastern Texas near Spanish missions, but a change in government policy had forced them to move to San Antonio in 1774.As soon as they arrived in San Antonio, these East Texas Spaniards petitioned for permission to return eastward. Their request granted, Y'Barbo led them to the banks of the Trinity River where they established the community of Bucareli. Four years of floods and trouble with the Comanche convinced them to move eastward, where they founded Nacogdoches.Soon after leading his wanderers to the valley of LaNana and Banita Bayous, Y'Barbo erected a Stone House on the northeast corner of town square. It was private property, but because of Y'Barbo's civil and militia authority the Stone House took on a public nature it never lost. There he conducted private and government business, so it became the civic center of the community.When Simon Herrera came to East Texas in 1806 to negotiate the Neutral Ground agreement with General James Wilkinson, he headquartered in Y'Barbo's Stone House. In 1813, the Army of the North led by Augustus Magee and Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara proclaimed Texas independent from Spain while occupying the house, and within its walls A. Mower set type for the Gaceta de Tejas, the first -- if short lived -- newspaper in Texas, before moving on to defeat in the southwest. James Long led Americans across the Sabine River in 1819 in violation of the Adams-Onis Treaty, and again used the Stone House as the venue to declare Texas independent, once more unsuccessfully. The story was repeated by Haden Edwards and the Fredonians in the 1820s, again unsuccessfully.


The Old Stone FortPostcard courtesy rootsweb.com/~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html

Y'Barbo's Stone House hosted meetings of the Nacogdoches Committee of Public Safety and the selection of representatives to the conventions and the Consultation during the Texas Revolution and it witnessed the Battle of Nacogdoches in 1832. There mustered soldiers for service in the Civil War. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Stone House, by now known as the Stone Fort though it never served as such, fell on bad times. By then it sheltered a saloon and was consider quite unsavory. Still it was a shock to the community when the Perkins brothers razed the old rock house and erected a modern business building.The Cum Concilio Club, a local women's group, salvaged the remains of the Stone House and stored them on Washington Square. Later some were used in a building on the public school campus. In 1936, a replica of the Old Stone Fort was located on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University, and visitors can drop by and get a good idea of what the first building in Nacogdoches looked like.

Biscuits and Gravy, Youtube, other miscellanea...

I am grateful and appreciate the times and people I have and am living in and around. Just last night while taking some pictures my wife asked me to really be serious and do something about the weight, specially the protruding belly. This morning I suggest we go to IHOP for breakfast and my daughter reminds me what mamma said last night and my son jokes a little. I found Bellamy Brothers and Pervez Mehdi and Reshma on Youtube. And while Ramta is relating his Africa travel travails, and his Amreekan Wohti, again courtesy Youtube, I'm called for breakfast - Biscuits and Gravy. Just like Billie and Maria made them at Texas Inn in Irving back when I lived and worked there in the early 80s. A woman born and raised in Karachi makes Biscuits and Gravy as authentic as a born Texan. Oh, may be I'm exaggerating. But really every time without fail it reminds me of Billie and Maria and Big Bill and John Golden and other folks that lived, worked or frequented the place.

And, because she loves me, she probably doesn't even realize this B&G breakfast will fill me way more than pancakes would've. B&G has the added calories of memories of good old days and love of a woman my kids call mamma.

Here's Sabiha, Santosh, Muneer Hussain, Reshma and Pervaiz Mehdi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1EQ89Yu4M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYeotm1Cngc

These are just two of the thousands of golden, everlasting songs from Pakistan - one from a movie, the other from a television program. I can go on and on about them but those who know, know and those who don't wouldn't relate. George Jones puts it best, "Who's gonna fill their shoes..."

And here, finally, is the Bellamy Bros' Old Hippie song along with the sequel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzdvQOXxRD4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NziqyNiNdI&feature=related

Although in the 60s I was not even in my teens, except for the
Vietnam part, seems I can relate to all of what these guys are talking about.

And for some reason I remembered the 40 Hour week by Alabama and found it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38b3RVg7Jpo

And tell you what, here, while I'm at it let me post this Ramta link also. Just take the trouble of copy pasting it in the browser and enjoy many Ramta stories. I want to say the sweetest language, Punjabi, but then I think of Sindhi and Urdu and Spanish and I don't want to judge. I think when they talk about fun and joy and love and such things, all languages are beautiful. But really Ramta is hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID0W6Ukh2IM