0063 - A few days in Arkansas and Fort Worth

Very easy getting out of Houston, even though I was right down town – Probably because I was going against the traffic on a Monday morning.  Neale put me on the right road, and I just headed straight up Hwy 59 and then a few hours later found my friend Dan York’s place in Ashdown Arkansas, no problem.  (Big sign saying “York Pecans” – Not too difficult !!)

Dan and I worked as mud engineers together in Dubai in about 1977, and his plan was always to go back to Arkansas to farm pecans.  And he did it ! It was great to catch up with him and meet his boys Will and Starnes .  Once again there as quite a lot of talking as we caught up on the missing 40 years, and in the afternoon we then went fishing on the Red River, which forms the boundary between Arkansas and Texas.  The day had been hot, but by about 6 pm it was

cooling down and it was just a perfect temperature as we ran up the river at speed in the boat to check on the fish nets that Dan had put out a few days previously.   Four nets, and by the time we had them all there was a good number of small catfish in the boat. Back to the house where he iced them down to keep them until the morning when he would clean them.  By the time I had picked up my car from the office and had a shower, Dan had four enormous T Bone steaks on the bbq, and over a couple of beers and some red wine, we had a feast.

I then had the best night’s sleep I have had in a long time, and slept the whole way through till about 9.30 am, I am embarrassed to admit ! Needless to say, Dan and the boys were long gone and working, so I had a leisurely shower and cup of coffee, by which time the boys come back to pick me up, and we went into town to Dan’s office.   One of his staff gave me a tour of the plant while Dan did some work, and it as really interesting – The whole process from when the pecans arrive at the plant in the truck, to cleaning them, sizing them, cracking the shells off, colour sorting them, roasting (some) of them, and packing them for sale, both commercial and retail.  Dan kindly gave me a couple of bags of his pecans to take with me.  Then it was off to the Wooden Spoon restaurant for lunch.  They did a few chores on the way home, and then I spent the afternoon helping them to do some work on one of the tractors.  Dan grows pecans but he also grows other crops – At the moment primarily soy beans – So, as always on a farm, there is always work to be done to keep everything in good shape.

Anyway, a great couple of days catching up with a good friend who I haven’t seen in nearly 40 years.  So good to be able to do this, especially when you find out that you can comfortably carry on your friendship almost where you left off all that time ago.  Tomorrow I am off to Fort Worth, about three or four hours south west of here, to meet up with Chuck Thomas, who I went to Mud School with in 1974.  We have kept in touch over the years, but haven’t met up for almost 40 years as well, so I am looking forward to seeing him also.  Then there are some other long time friends down in that area I might have to catch up with too !!  Although I need to cut it short soon or I am never going to get to Mexico !!

Big excitement over night was the birth of our grand daughter Olivia Jane Hooper in Bangkok. Proud parent’s Benn and Sarah had tried to call me almost immediately after she arrived but I was having phone problems, so it was a couple of hours before I got the news.  She is, of course, absolutely gorgeous, and I look forward to meeting her before too long.

 

 

 

 

 

When I woke up early on Tuesday it was a beautiful cool and misty morning out over Dan’s fields. He had mentioned last night that he had one of those “hanging upside down” inversion machines that are supposed to be good for your back, and I had always wanted to try one for my sore back, so by 6.30 am we had our cup of coffee and were hanging around upside down for a while !!  Weird sensation – Everything that is normally the right way up is suddenly upside down, and it feels a bit like everything in your body is now in your face !  About 30 seconds at a time is quite enough initially, and after we had done it 2 – 3 times, I decided enough was enough.  Not sure if it did my back any good or not, but a day later, I am still feeling OK, so it obviously didn’t do me any harm, and I would certainly do it again.  Maybe I need to make a bar on Troopy’s roof so I can do it when I am on the road !

After that, I set off to Fort Worth.  Chuck had asked if I wanted to join him for lunch, so with it being 3 ½ hours away I had to get a wiggle on.  On the freeway the whole way, which wasn’t particularly exciting, and as always you see some atrocious driving.    The big excitement this time was a big truck whose rear tyre was starting to shed as he drove along in oblivion.  We eventually got his attention by hooting and waiving at him and he pulled over, but not before he had spread lumps of rubber all down the freeway !

Coming in towards Dallas you cross Lake Ray Hubbard on a long causeway, which is quite impressive, and then drive right past downtown Dallas on freeways that are like a spaghetti junction, criss- crossing the highway.  Tom Tom kept me safely on the right route !!  I then drove past Six Flags over Texas, a big theme park with enormous rides and roller coasters right beside the road.  There was a tall tower which has a kind of chair roundabout on it which rises up the tall central pole as it rotates, leaving the riders hanging out over space several hundred feet up in the air !!   I am happy to leave that to the younger generation !!

Then just before I got to Chuck’s house, I passed more triffids coming over the hill – I think they are trying to disguise themselves as water tanks, but they don’t fool me – I know they are aliens.

Almost as soon as I arrived, I went downtown with Chuck where we met up with some of his work colleagues and customers for lunch to celebrate Chuck’s recent retirement and a contract the company had just been awarded.  On the way home he drove me around both downtown as well as some of the more interesting suburbs – Fort Worth is a very interesting and pleasant town – As long as your air conditioning is working well !  Around 100 deg F during the summer, it gets quite oppressive.  At home I finally got to meet Chuck’s lovely wife Patti, who was now home, and after spending the afternoon getting my things organized, we all set off downtown to a Mexican restaurant in the evening, by which time the temperature had cooled a little and it was actually quite pleasant.  After some great margaritas (special ingredients a la Chuck and Patti !) and Mexican food, we wandered through the very pleasant downtown area and Sundance Square, where this particular evening they were showing a free movie so lots of families had brought their chairs and were enjoying the evening.  Then it was home and to bed. 

Thursday morning I was planning to head south west across Texas to Mexico, but overnight I had realised that my lap top computer had a major problem – 4 keys on the keyboard were no longer working !!  I needed to find a solution before I headed south – Get it repaired or replaced. Patti came up with the great idea of just buying a cheap and small wireless keyboard, so Chuck ran me down to Best Buy, which unfortunately didn’t open until 10 am, where I quickly found a good cheap keyboard. Trouble was I then saw a Samsung Galaxy tablet and it was such a good deal, I bought it.  I am torn between iPads / iPods / iPhones etc and the newer Android and Windows items – I like the iPhones etc but people are slowly showing me that the Samsung Galaxies are perhaps better.  So because this wifi enabled mini tablet was so cheap, I decided to buy it and play with it, and find out first hand which is better. Stay tuned for results ………..!!

By the time Chuck and I got home, it was almost lunch time, so he and Patti agreed to my suggestion that I stay here a second night and leave early on Friday.  This is also giving me the opportunity to get my blog up to date and do banking etc.   So tonight Patti is cooking, I have bought the wine, and we shall have the evening at Chez Thomas !  And early tomorrow I will set off across Texas !!

 

Other photos are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0065ArkansasFWorth?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCBu8X8rbPvTw#6039686110329325346