RR Starr Restaurant - Concan, Texas

I found another diamond in the rough. The RR Starr Restaurant in Concan, Texas. Click here to read my review.

TexasBob

"The Alamo" - Revisited

The first time I visited the Alamo was in January of 1969. I was attending the Mid Winter convention of the S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. with my parents. (That is another story for another Blog on another day.) Except for this small convention the city was pretty empty by today’s standards.

That morning I stood in front of the Alamo and took a picture with a Polaroid Land Camera. It was a clean shot, with nobody standing out front. I approached the front of the Alamo chapel and opened the door and went inside. The sign just inside said, “Gentlemen, Please remove your hats.” As the door slammed shut behind me it echoed off the chapel walls. This was quiet solemn place. There couldn’t have been more than 6 people inside including the staff.

I’ve visited the Alamo many times since that January day in 1969. Now when you visit the Alamo the crowds are large. The Alamo is the number one tourist attraction in Texas, followed closely by the number two tourist attraction, the San Antonio river walk.

I was at the Alamo a few days ago with family from Massachusetts. Of course they wanted the obligatory picture made standing in front of the Alamo. It was so crowded that when you have your picture made in front of the Alamo, it’s with about 150 of your tourist friends with you.

I did discover a trick that I want to share with you. If you want a good clean shot of the front of the Alamo All you have to do is get there at first light in the morning. About 7:00 am I walked to the Alamo to take this picture and all that was there was one security guard who knew how to stay out of the picture and another photographer. It's a great time to take a picture.

Texas Bob

Ouch! $3.00 a gallon

Having worked in the oil patch all my life, both in Texas and abroad, the high price of gasoline still takes me back a bit.

All of us, and you know who you are, who have work around the smell of crude very long have seen the good times and the bad, mostly the bad. Now times are good. Everybody who wants a job has a job, but when you're old enough to remember when gas was $.29.9 or less, 3 dollar gas is a bunch of money.

I remember when I was growing up in Odessa, the pivot point of the Permian basin, if you really wanted to see high gas prices you had to drive down to Crane or out to Kermit. Gas in those communities was an incredible $ 0.45 a gallon.

Here is the sad news, my half ton Siverado Pickup gets about the same miles per gallon as my Chevy Impala did in 1968.

TexasBob (on the road)