Texas in the Rear-View Mirror

A short vacation, Mary and Dac, getting away. We spent a week sloshing through South Texas in the rain (unfamiliar to us Georgians). Time mostly spent in San Antonio but drifting through the landscape as well. Daughter Mary did most of the driving, Dad Dac watched the scenery – mesquite and huisache, cactus and Cenezo and calieche, the colors of the Brush Country. From San Marcos down to Corpus Christi and parts in between. San Marcos and its springs hold an endangered fish, the Fountain Darter, smallest darter in North America, that we admired. And good food, served over the river. 

Corpus Christi and my boyhood stomping grounds, lots of family history, seawall and a marvelous saltwater aquarium (It’s nice to visit an aquarium with someone like Mary, who knows all the fish personally). Lunch in Robstown at Joe Cotton’s Barbeque with Wes Prejean, my oldest friend. And on to Kingsville, a disappointing remnant of my childhood. 

(In Kingsville they wanted to know if they’d REALLY found a Bigfoot in Georgia?  And I asked them, “Did you notice that pig fly by, just now?”) 

In San Antonio, Poinciana and Esperanza in bloom. History and food and music – especially music. Not only the mariachis, either. We found a joyful 3-piece band down on the Riverwalk, “Small World.”  With Polly Harrison playing a 7-string guitar -- something new to us. Great old tunes, guitar and drums and vocals and sax (or piano).  "Body and Soul."  And in our honor, "Georgia On My Mind." We kept going back to hear more. They’re worth another trip to San Antonio. 

Which I intend to make. The band put me onto a mystery book store, “Remember the Alibi.” Owner Ray Hengst accepted some copies of Guns Across the Rio, my Western mystery. And, I’ll be going back there for a book signing on November 24^th. Wow! 

And now, inspired and recharged, it’s on with the sequel to Guns. Keep writing!

Thanks, Mary! 

Dac 

8/28/2008  (Birthday of Ida-May DeRyee Crossley, b. 1886).

 

 

Comments

[Wes]

If you don't call me old I will forget you being a little over weight.

[Lindsay]

Irene, You are probably referring to the Menger Hotel, Dac's favorite place to eat breakfast and my favorite place to eat Thanksgiving dinner with my Gramps. We don't stay there since we found a great little Marriott just off the Riverwalk. May be good that we don't if they are in the habit of loosing books.

[Irene Black]

When we were in San Antonio we missed 'Remember the Alibi.' Riverwalk was great, but the hotel (the oldest in San Antonio, can't remember the name) misplaced our books in their storeroom and we almost lost our first signing. One of those fast trips down and back to a meeting, which didn't leave time for seeing the country. One day we want to go back for fun.
Glad you had a good time and got some rest.