Battleship Texas

Monday was a rainy day do we stayed in all day, well except for the one time Sarah badgered me into walking the park with her. I was able to get some things done on the computer that I had been wanting to try. Of course every time I do something like this it messes up the computer and then I have to call my help desk and most of the time they don’t answer my call. I think they screen the calls to see if it is me calling. As all of you probably know my help desk is our boys, Robert & Daniel, I really wish I had their brains, they must have gotten them from their mother.

Tuesday we met Becky’s husband Ken, such a good name, at the Battleship Texas memorial. We spent a little over two hours touring the ship, they don’t let you go everywhere on the ship but you get to see a lot of it. Volunteers, along with Texas park employees, are constantly giving tours and doing maintenance, this ship was built in 1914, here is a link to the site, http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/battleship_texas/hist.phtml. This ship had a lot of firsts,

“In 1916, TEXAS became the first U.S. battleship to mount antiaircraft guns and the first to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers, analog forerunners of today's computers. In 1919, TEXAS became the first U.S. battleship to launch an aircraft.”

“The TEXAS received the first commercial radar in the US Navy in 1939. New antiaircraft batteries, fire control and communication equipment allowed the ship to remain an aging but powerful unit in the US naval fleet. In 1940, Texas was designated flagship of US Atlantic Fleet. The First Marine Division was founded aboard the TEXAS early in 1941. April 21, 1948 the Texas was decommissioned.

The TEXAS holds the distinguished designation of a National Historic Landmark and a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark.” (Taken from the Battleship Texas website)

I really enjoyed the time we spent on the ship, I don’t believe I could have lived on that ship, the quarters were really tight, privacy didn’t exist on the ship. Here are some photos:

After touring the ship we went to the Monument Inn for lunch. It was very busy but after a wait of 10-15 minutes we were seated. Ken had a hamburger, very good he said, Sarah had a grilled fish sandwich, also good, and I had a oyster/shrimp Peaux Boy, very good. Bill, it doesn’t come close to Bubba’s Po Boy. After lunch Ken said his good byes and headed home, about an hour away, we really had a good time with him and appreciate him taking time from his day and spending it with us. He has a website, http://mach3photography.com/, he takes some good photos, mostly sports and airplanes.

I wanted to go to the San Jacinto monument and battleground so we drove over to it. The monument resembles the Washington monument in DC but I believe is bigger in diameter. You can ride elevators to the top and get a view of Houston and surrounding area but the lines were long and I was tired so we opted to come back another time.

We took the ferry back across water and headed home where we sat out and read the rest of the afternoon. Our neighbor Gene stopped by and chatted, all in all it was a great day.

Today is a Wal Mart run to get a few things and to fuel the truck for our trek to the Dallas area tomorrow. It will be a long day in the saddle as I am going to circumvent the Dallas area, I don’t relish the idea of driving through downtown Dallas with the camper. So we will take I 45 to Hwy 34, to Hwy 380 and into the campground.

So until next time remember Dreams Do Come True.