He Came, He Sang, He Conquered

The headline pretty well sums up George Strait’s triumphant return to the concert stage in Las Vegas April 22 and 23. The King of Country Music ascended his throne at the center of the T-Mobile Arena and wowed two audiences of nearly 20,000 each. Even though it had been almost two years since his last public concert, he was in top form.

Opening both nights with, “Here For A Good Time,”  he performed 28 of his greatest hits, plus an encore of four Friday and five Saturday. That fifth number was a throaty rendition of Bob Wills’s, “Milk Cow Blues.” I thought Ethel, aka Annette, was going to melt into a puddle and I’d have to mop her up and wring her out into a bucket to get her back to the hotel. Of course, she was already pretty darn drippy from having touched his hand four times as he walked to the arena stage Friday. That was the night we had floor seats on the seventh row.

Ethel wasn’t the only woman melting. Women of all ages, wearing flip flops, tank tops, tee-shirts and fancy boots, screamed, “I love you, George,” and swooned over every note he sang and every gesture he made. By the time he ended each set with, “That Woman I Had Wrapped Around My Finger Just Came Unwound,” almost every woman there had done the same.

It wasn’t just the women who came unwound. Men were singing along with The King, too. Saturday we had cheaper seats in an upper tier. A man in front of me, probably in his mid-forties, turned to his date right after they sat down and mouthed, “I’m the Fireman,” pointing to his own chest. At the end of several songs he performed a ceremonial bow by standing, bending forward at the waist and waving his arms up and down. When George sang, “Check Yes or No,”  he and his girlfriend sang along while looking into each other’s eyes. I thought I was gonna barf.

The woman sitting to my left Saturday said her about-to-turn-20 daughter told her, “I don’t care how old he is, I’d marry him (George) in a minute.” That same night, I showed some 40-something women behind me a few photos I had taken Friday, and they nearly fainted over my “butt shots.” George has that effect on women of all ages.

The stage was square, with a microphone at each corner. Floor seats were angled in such a way that not everyone got to see him full in the face, even though he sang several songs at each mike. But he did turn aside often, and there really isn’t a bad view of The King, so that was okay with Lucy and Ethel.

A highlight both nights was George doing a three-song tribute to the late Merle Haggard, who died about two weeks before these concerts. While George sang, “Mama Tried,” “Fightin’ Side of Me” and “My Life’s Been Grand,” scenes from The Hag’s life flashed on the giant overhead screens. The audience went wild.

He didn’t do my favorite song, one that he wrote and recorded two versions of,  “I Can’t Go On Dying Like This.” But “Unwound” is another favorite, so I was a happy camper. Of course, he did “Cheyenne," “How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls,” “Blame It On Mexico,” “Blue Clear Sky,” “The Chair,” “Amarillo By Morning,” “All My Exes Live in Texas” and several others. When he performed “Troubadour,” scenes from one of his few music videos flashed on the screens. It was poignant to see him with his daughter, Jenifer, who died in a car wreck in1986 at 13. When he walked away after each performance, thousands of cell phones were waving in the air on flashlight mode, like candles flickering in the dark.

Some fans we met Sunday said they thought George was more relaxed Saturday night, suggesting he might have been a tad nervous Friday about getting back on stage. That’s hard to fathom, given his experience, but it might explain why I thought his voice had a higher timbre Friday than Saturday. I had attributed the difference to hearing him in person versus on a CD. Didn’t matter, though, because he sounded GREAT both nights, damn strait!

I guess I need to say something about the warm-up act, Kacey Musgraves. Wearing what came across as a majorette costume, she walked toward the stage each night leading a miniature horse. I had never heard of her, but a quick internet search after I got home revealed that she has two critically acclaimed CDs to her credit on the Mercury label, “Same Trailer, Different Park” and “Pageant Material.” She is a very talented singer and songwriter, but she did an hour show, and half that would have been plenty. George’s fans didn’t need warming up. We were already pretty hot just knowing The King was about to appear.

Saturday’s show would have been much more enjoyable if two women behind us had not screamed in our ears during the entire concert. They often drowned out George’s voice. One in particular almost blew the batteries out of Ethel’s hearing aids. I turned around and told her that if she didn’t confine her screaming to the applause times, I was going to break her legs. She grabbed my hand with her free one (the other held a plastic cup of beer that was as tipsy as she was), laughed and continued making Lucy, Ethel and the woman to my left cover our ears.

All in all, though, it was a great experience. It was the first time Lucy and Ethel had seen The King in concert. It won’t be the last. 

Long live the King!

On Our Last Leg

San Jacinto Monument

Everything that came after the George Strait Team Roping Classic seemed anticlimactic. But Lucy and Ethel still managed a few adventures on the return trip to Alabama.

We visited the San Jacinto Battleground and monument near Houston, where we learned a lot about Texas's fight for independence from Mexico. We barely made it across the Texas-Louisiana border before flooding forced the closing of I-10. Against our better judgment, we stopped for the night at a Motel 6 in Jennings, Louisiana.

There was an unusual development in this Motel 6 experience. The buildings had previously housed another motel chain, but when Motel 6 bought them out, they removed the existing hair dryers. “I asked that we keep them, because I had just bought new ones,” said the manager. “But they insisted that I remove them to be consistent with other motels in the chain.” He had kept them and stashed them away. He offered us one. “Do I leave it in the room tomorrow, or return it to you?” I asked.  “It’s complimentary,” he said. “Keep it.” (Note: I didn’t, because the cord was frayed.)

Lucy & Ethel show off their new
road trip tees.

We couldn’t find any place to eat in Jennings except for fast food, Mexican and a Waffle House. We settled on the Waffle House. It proved to be an interesting culinary experience. I found a salad on the menu that was supposed to have apples and walnuts on it. “We got any apples?” the tired-looking waitress called out to the cook. They did, but they were the dried kind, in a cellophane baggy with the nuts. Still, it wasn’t a bad choice. Annette and I almost doubled over in laughter when a waitress-in-training called out an order to the cook: “Plain omelet with egg,” she said. Is there any other way to make an omelet?

Moby almost got Lucy's arm!

The next day we stopped at one of the best tourist information centers we’ve ever encountered. It was in the Louisiana parish of West Baton Rouge, which bills itself as “the kite capital of Louisiana.” Tourism Center Manager Kayla Denova obligingly took our pictures with Moby, the largest alligator ever caught in the parish, shot on September 14, 2013. He was stuffed, of course. West Baton Rouge holds an annual kite festival, and has a kite-making station for children visiting the tourism center. “Can we take a kite kit home to our grandchildren?” we asked Denova. “Sure,” she replied cheerily, and put some kits together for us. Then she gave each of us a slightly larger kit for ourselves.

Tyler is proud of mini martinis.

Our next stop was Baton Rouge, where we had lunch with another National Federation of Press Women buddy, Marsha Shuler. A former NFPW president, Marsha was state government reporter for The Advocate newspaper for many years. She left that position in January to become policy manager for the commissioner of administration Jay Dardenee in the Division of Administration for the State of Louisiana. (Whew! What a title.) We lunched on pineapple-glazed shrimp with rice and steamed broccoli at the Capitol Grill. The joint features $2 lunch-sized martinis that are to die-for. I had the French Kiss: vodka and pineapple juice shaken and poured into a small martini glass, then topped with Chambord raspberry liqueur. The drink is layered, or you can stir it for a blended flavor. Dessert was bread pudding with orange sauce for me, carrot cake for Annette. “Our carrot cake is made in heaven and delivered here,” claimed our young waiter, Tyler. 

LSU's Tiger Stadium

After lunch, we spent an hour visiting the old state capitol, and were especially intrigued by its Huey P. Long exhibit. Then we stopped by LSU so Annette could add another football stadium to her photo collection. Tiger Stadium was our last major stop for this trip. By this time, we were eager to get home. 

Now, we’re packing for our next adventure, a trip to Las Vegas to see George Strait in concert. We have tickets for Friday and Saturday nights, April 22 and 23. Can you guess what my next blog will be about?

The nearly submerged building across the levee from
Tiger Stadium gives you an idea of the flooding there.

Let the Ropin' Begin!

Waiting in line.

Dozens of horse trailers lined the muddy shoulders of Boerne Stage Road near the San Antonio Rose Palace that foggy Friday morning. Dozens more occupied the grounds behind the fence. Most of those trailers contained living quarters, all belonging to the 583 teams registered for the 34th annual George Strait Team Roping Classic (GSTRC).

By the time Lucy and Ethel arrived at 6:40 a.m. on March 11, at least a dozen vehicles were already ahead of us. The gates open at 8 a.m., and there are no reserved seats, so folks line up early to get a good one.

An early sighting of The King.

Inside, a sea of middle-aged and older women was sprinkled with some younger ones, their male companions and a few children. The women kept their eyes peeled on the glass-fronted announcer’s booth, hoping for

a sighting of The King of Country Music. When he stepped out onto the balcony, it was difficult to say which was loudest: the clicking of telephoto lenses or the swooning of the women behind them.

Joyce Morris of Georgia is a FB friend of Annette
and a long-time GS fan.

                       

Elaine & Annette

       There was great camaraderie among those women. Many had “known” each other for months or years via various George Strait fan pages on Facebook, so when they met each other, it was like running into old friends. With Strait’s music playing in the background, they compared digital photos, swapped email addresses with the few who didn’t bring cameras, and talked about their love for George. The old-timers, i.e., those who had attended the event before, tipped off the newbies as to when The King would be making his rounds via horseback and where to stand at the rail to touch his hand. It’s a wonder Facebook access wasn’t jammed, with all the postings going on. Ethel, a.k.a. Annette, posted a few shots for a Facebook buddy in Germany, who hopes to attend the roping next year. 

Once the calves started bolting out of the chutes, the guys watched the roping while the gals continued watching George and his family in the announcer’s booth. I did find one woman actually filling in her day sheet with scores, but she was the exception. With so many husbands accompanying their wives, I wondered how they felt about their spouses’ obsession with George. So I asked one or two.

"I don't care," said Clarence Cranford of Pontotoc, MS. His wife, Norma, chimed in, "He says I have more pictures on my phone and Facebook of George than I do of him."

Bill Arlitt first said his wife's life-size George Strait cutout in their Poteet, TX, kitchen does not bother him. Then he admitted, "I do get tired of it sometimes."

The first day’s roping went on until after midnight, with the teams who garnered a score on their first round qualifying for a second go at another calf. Lucy and Ethel left about 4:50 p.m. and went next door for a meal at the Scenic Loop Cafe. Each of us selected a “mini meal” so we’d have room for dessert and the Cafe’s famous Snake Bite Margarita. The latter consists of Jose Cuervo Silver, Grand Gala, lime juice and “snake venom,” (prickly pear juice). We shared a serving of Banana Enchiladas for dessert. They reminded me of a cannoli: chocolate-flavored “tortillas” wrapped around a cream-cheese filling, topped with slices of banana and drizzled with chocolate syrup. For someone who wasn’t very hungry, I ate well.

I must admit to my irreverence during the opening ceremonies Saturday morning. I wanted to get a shot of George without his hat. He took it off for the prayer and the singing of the national anthem, so instead of bowing my head like a good Southern Baptist, I trained my eyes on him. I wasn’t alone, though, because once again, the sound of clicking camera shutters was almost deafening. 

By the time he rode around the arena high-fiving everyone, many of us had been standing at the rail for an hour. Most folks wanted to touch his hand. Honestly, all I wanted was a photo of him touching Annette’s hand. What I got for my effort was her hand in the foreground and a blurry George Strait in the background.

Dustin Egusquiza (left) and Kyle Lawrence
made up the winning team.

Second-day rounds went much faster than the first, because only the top 50 teams qualified. By 2 p.m., it was all over but the shouting. The winners were Dustin Egusquiza of Florida and Kyle Lawrence of Andalusia Alabama, on a three-head average time of 13.99 seconds. Each received  $115,500, plus a 2016 Chevy Silverado dually truck and a trailer. The latter were painted up one side and down the other with George Strait photos and logos. George personally congratulated the winners and presented the awards, autographed the dash of each truck, and posed for photos with the team. For many present that weekend, that alone was prize enough.

The last three days of our Texas Road Trip was anti-climactic. But I’ll tell you a little about it next week. That’s assuming I have time to write while packing for Las Vegas, where Lucy & Ethel are going to see The King in concert — twice. Don’t expect me to write much about that adventure. Remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

BACK ROADS TO BOERNE

The rainy weather leaving Lampasas, Texas, may have slowed down Lucy & Ethel’s car speed, but it didn’t dampen our shopping spirits. We were eager to get to Boerne and the George Strait Team Roping Classic, but we couldn’t resist distributing a few more greenbacks along the Texas back roads.

Following Highway 281, our first stop that Thursday (March 10) was The Pottery Ranch in Marble Falls (www.potteryranch281.com), where Annette bought a small metal bluebonnet and had it shipped home. Continuing to Johnson City, we picked up 290 toward Fredericksburg. We had spent considerable time and money there last year, so we figured we’d just drive straight through. But we went at it from a different direction this trip, so saw some things we missed in 2015.

A model Sunday House

We stopped at a Sunday House model home, where a sign proclaimed that you could have this “historical handcrafted” home built on your own site. The original Sunday Houses were built by early settlers who lived on remote farms and ranches and needed a place to stay when they came to town for Saturday marketing and Sunday church. Some originals are open for occasional tours and others serve as bed-and-breakfasts. I’m guessing that the new versions are being marketed toward the tiny homes movement. (For more info go to http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/cfs01.)

Our next stop was the Messina Hof Winery in Fredericksburg (messinahof.com), where I did a wine tasting. I bought their Paulo Texas limited-edition red blend, their Papa Paulo Port, and a box of dark chocolate truffles infused with port and molded into the shape of a tiny cluster of grapes. Note to self and other wine aficionados: Don’t buy wine and chocolates until the end of your road trip. The wine and port barely survived, and the chocolates melted into unrecognizable blobs.

A few blocks down the road we stopped at Wildseed Farms (www.wildseedfarms.com), a garden center that specializes in bluebonnets.  It’s the largest working wildflower farm in the nation, and includes walking trails through the production fields and gardens, a nursery, Biergarten, wine tasting and gift shop. We ate a light lunch, then wandered through the indoor shop, buying bluebonnet seeds and some small garden trinkets. It was still raining, so we couldn’t really peruse the trails or get good photos.

We took Highway 16 from Fredericksburg to Kerrville, arriving mid-afternoon. I was in the mood for a pastry, so we popped into the Hippie Chicks Bakery off Main Street. After our snack, we visited Creations, a quilt shop Annette had discovered via the internet (creations-online.com). She bought four quilt patterns and wads of fabric, while I purchased gray socks with horses on them and a book called “Texas Curiosities,” by John Kelso, updated and revised by Sharry Buckner. It features quirky characters, roadside oddities and other off-beat stuff. I read a few paragraphs in the shop and found Kelso, a longtime humor columnist for the Austin American-Statesman, to be a witty writer. I think it would be fun to do an Alabama version.

Creations has been owned by sisters Kathy Thompson and Julie Milam for 38 years. In addition to their shop, they have a building next door called The Main House, where they hold classes and three-day quilting retreats. It has an upstairs lodging area with 24 beds in six bedrooms, nine full baths, plus the downstairs sewing studio.

It will look even better framed and hanging on my wall.

My greatest find of the trip was at the River’s Edge Art Gallery (www.riversedgegallery.net) in Kerrville. Annette had purchased a colorful print of two longhorns in a field of bluebonnets at the Wildseed Farm. Imagine my delight upon discovering several originals by the same artist, Katherine McElwaine, who painted the original of Annette’s print. I bought an unframed one, and inquired about commissioning a larger piece to go over my fireplace. I’m waiting until I’ve recuperated from travel expenses before proceeding.

While in Kerrville I looked up a fellow member of the National Federation of Press Women. Bonnie Arnold, a staff writer for the Hill Country Community Journal, took a few minutes between assignments to meet us for a Coke and conversation. After Bonnie left, Annette and I had dinner at the H-E-B, a San Antonio-based grocery store chain with locations throughout Texas. Then we headed to Boerne via I-10 East and checked into our hotel.

Annette likes the GSTRC grand prize.

My next installment of Texas Road Trip 2016 will be a yippie-ki-yay from the George Strait Team Roping Classic in Boerne. Lucy and Ethel had too many adventures, big and small, to put this trip into one or two blogs. Meanwhile, here’s a little photo tease for you Strait fans.

Cowtown In Our Rear-View Mirror

Horseback riding on the old Chisholm Trail was supposed to be a highlight of the Texas Road Trip 2016, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Even when it wasn’t raining, the ground was too soggy for safety, so the Fort Worth Stockyards didn’t get the horses out.

Annette and I left Fort Worth and resumed our road trip Wednesday, March 9. We headed for Boerne and the George Strait Team Roping Classic, ready for the back roads. Surprised at the speed limit of 70- and 75-mph on some of those two-lane roads, we were content to keep the speedometer a little under par.

Annette photographs "blue bonnets."

We took the interstate a short distance to Benbrook, then Texas 337 down to Granbury. We almost missed The Cowboy Marketplace there, which led to a false encounter with blue bonnets. Annette quickly spotted a beautiful blanket of the Texas state flower, and we both got out to shoot photos. After picking a sample or two, we headed next door to the Marketplace. I was disappointed at not finding any cowboys for sale, but consoled myself with a set of western-themed stoneware and matching flatware. 

A Granbury building reminded me of rocky-road fudge.

When we got back in the car, the light dawned for Annette. “Those aren’t blue bonnets,” she exclaimed, as she examined the samples we had picked. “They’re grape hyacinths. I should have listened to that little bell that was going off in my head when I first spotted that field of blue.” 

We laughed hysterically, then headed toward downtown Granbury to see its courthouse, per the advice of the Marketplace’s owner. This quaint little town, named after a Confederate general, has many interesting historic buildings that house shops and restaurants. One in particular was faced with stones in various shades of chocolate. It made me hungry.

We picked up Highway 144 and headed south from Granbury, which took us to Highway 67. That took us to 220, which led to Hico. A shop owner in Forth Worth had told us to stop there for pie. I prefer cakes and cookies, but the Koffee Kup is known far and wide for its pies, so we made it a point to find it. Once inside, we saw a sign hanging over the pie counter proclaiming, “Pie fixes everything.” Chocolate, wine and a George Strait CD would be my fix for everything, but that wouldn’t sell any pies, now would it?  

The family-style restaurant boasts 15 flavors of pie, when strawberries are in season. I tried the Black Forest, consisting of two layers of rich chocolate filling, with whipped topping, pecans, shaved chocolate and cherries. When I mentioned to the waitress that more than two cherry halves would have been nice, she brought me a dozen more. Annette had the Coconut Meringue, and the topping was as tall as the pie. You know you’re in a small town when the waitress tells you, “M’am, we don’t take cards, only cash and checks. If you don’t have either one, you can mail us a check.” 

Yummy pie!

Exiting the building, we noticed a Victorian-style house on the corner across the street called the Wiseman House of Chocolates. Had I not been full of pie, I would have ducked in for a nip. We missed the “ghost signs,” those faded remainders of WPA-era advertisements painted on the sides of old buildings. We passed up the Billy the Kid Museum, too. Our informative waitress said Billy the Kid was killed in Hico, according to local legend, but added that several towns claim the same.

Drive right up and buy a bottle in Hamilton.

Highway 281 took us from Hico to Hamilton, where we encountered a drive-through liquor store. We took pictures, then drove through and made a purchase, purely for research reasons, of course. We continued on 281 through a hiccup in the road called Evant, and made it to Lampasas after dark. 

The pickings for motels there were slim. Our first encounter was a sketchy-looking place that had seen better days. The rate was good — $75 per night — but we wanted to inspect a room. The desk clerk was about to accommodate us when Annette asked, “Do you have hair dryers?” It was an inquiry based upon our experience with a Motel 6 last year. Turns out this place didn’t have any, either, so we said never mind and went up the road to the Inn at Lampasas. Even at $90 per night, with the newer rooms and breakfast included, it was a much better deal. And yes, it had hairdryers.

Next week, if not sooner, I’ll continue this travelogue as we meander through Marble Falls, Johnson City, Fredericksburg and Kerrville, and finally arrive in Boerne.

Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?

Texas welcomes Ethel (Annette) & Lucy (Elaine)

Other than my leading Annette into the men's restroom at the Mississippi Welcome Center, the first day of our 2016 Texas Road Trip was uneventful. Both of us find interstates boring, but we wanted to get to Fort Worth as soon as possible. So we took I-20, stopping in Longview, TX, for the first night. Monday, we took I-30 through Dallas because Annette wanted to take some photos of the Big D skyline.

We arrived in Cowtown via I-820, checked into our hotel early, then hitched a ride in the shuttle to the Stockyards Historical District. After lunch, we did the official Stockyards Tour, then lined up with other tourists along Exchange Avenue to watch the 4 p.m. cattle drive. Twice daily cowboys who work for the stockyards (what a job!) push The Herd, as the resident longhorns are called, down the main drag a few short blocks. We felt like we had stepped back into the frontier days when cowboys drove thousands of cattle into Cowtown to be shipped to the meat-packing plants.

That nostalgic feeling returned Tuesday when we got a private tour of two rooms at the Stockyards Hotel. Since 1907 it has welcomed cowboys and cattle barons, kings and queens of country music, even Bonnie & Clyde. The rooms are decorated in a variety of period styles that provide turn-of-the century flavor. With its red leather sofa in the lobby and chair cushions upholstered in western-themed fabrics, it has a lot of cowboy ambiance. We half expected a cattle baron to stroll through the lobby, tip his hat, and say, “Howdy, m’am.” We’re contemplating spending a night or two there next year.

We had lunch at the H3 Ranch, a restaurant named after the Hunter Brothers Ranch. It's famous for its live hickory-wood grill, where your food is cooked before your eyes. For the life of me I cannot recall what I ate. I was too focused on the mounted buffalo and steer heads, the whole mounted wild boar and the antler chandeliers.

I remember the wine, probably because I felt so decadent drinking wine in the middle of the day. Our waitress tried to convince me that the H3 house Cab was better than the cheaper Salmon Creek, so I asked for samples. I liked the cheaper stuff best. It had more body.

Booger Red's Saloon is next door to the H3 in an adjoining room. A mounted buffalo butt protrudes from the wall above the saloon’s bar, as if the poor creature had tried to run right through it and got stuck. The butt is there because the saloon serves Buffalo Butt Beer. Some of the bar stools are saddles, so I had to mount one for a photo opt. Considering the difficulty I had  dismounting before drinking any wine, I cannot imagine how a drunken cattleman or cowboy would get off of one.

Tuesday night we came back to the Stockyards to have dinner at Billy Bob’s. The chicken-fried steak was okay, but people don’t go there for the food. It’s the live country music, large dance floor and mechanical bull that draw folks in. A handful of women were line dancing, but we just watched. Handprints of famous musicians who have played there are preserved in plaster casts mounted along the walls. Particularly interesting to us were Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis and his cousin, Mickey Gilley, Ringo Starr, Patty Loveless and the late Johnny Paycheck, Conway Twitty and Ray Price.

Of course, we had to get our photos made on the mechanical bull. I took more than 500 photos on this trip, but this is my favorite. 

In a few days, I’ll post the next installment of my Texas Travelogue, which takes place on the backroads  through several quaint little towns and shopping sprees. It lead us into Boerne for the George Strait Team Roping Classic. Again, stay tuned, please.

On The Road Again

Ethel & Lucy (aka Annette & Elaine)
on their 2015 Texas Road Trip

Friday, March 4, should have been a sad day for me, because it marked the 20th anniversary of the death of my husband. I can't believe it has been that long. But I'm not going to write another tear-jerker. I'm in good spirits, because I'm packing for a journey. I do love to travel.

My friend Annette is here from Chicago, and we're about to embark on our second annual Texas Road Trip. We have tickets to the George Strait Team Roping Classic, but while that’s our main focus, getting there and back will produce at least half the fun. This year, we're headed first to Fort Worth, where we'll tour the Stockyards, visit Billy Bob's and take a horseback ride on the old Chisholm Trail…if we don’t get rained out. Then we'll head south to Boerne, near San Antonio, where the GSTRC is held.

We'll probably go back to Gruene Hall, a rustic beer hall where Strait sang when he first started in the country music business. So did many other country artists, for that matter. It’s in New Braunfels. We may take in some of the sights around Fredericksburg that we missed last year, maybe visit the wildlife at Lady Bird Johnson Park, or hike to the summit at the Enchanted Rock State Park. I do hope the Blue Bonnets are in bloom.

Lord knows what back roads we’ll take going home, but we'll have an adventure, a la Thelma and Louise but without Brad Pitt, being chased by the law or the tragic ending. Or maybe we’re more like Lucy and Ethel. 

Annette and I always have a good time together, regardless of what we do. We talk each other's heads off and laugh so much our jaw muscles get sore. 

During this trip, we'll also be planning what to see on our Las Vegas adventure next month. We'll be flying instead of driving for that one, so our sight-seeing will be from tour buses. We have seventh-row tickets to see George Strait in concert at the T-Mobile Arena. Do you see a pattern here?

So, I'm keeping this post brief because I have a lot more to do. There’s a reunion today (Saturday the 5th) of the youth who attended Ninth Avenue Baptist Church in the 1960s. Stay tuned over the next few weeks for some road stories.