Some Background

Although Tina has not been to Texas, I have a little history here. When I was about to complete the 7th grade in Eureka, California, my family moved to Lubbock, Texas. I completed the 7th grade in Lubbock. The Lubbock Travelodge was the first hotel he bought.

What a culture shock. People talked differently. I had to take a month of Texas history and Spanish. A new item was present in nearly every classroom; a paddle hanging beside the door or on the teachers desk. The paddle was liberally applied to the behinds of the students for even the most minor of infractions. Most all of the time it was boys that got the paddle; however, remember one time a girl got a seat.

The giant just under the surface was segregation. Some of the things I remember aking my mother about were: what a colored water fountain was, why the street downtown had whites on one side and blacks on the other, the small cotton farm on the edge of town where people picked cotton by hand. Hispanics were another subculture. Three groups of people in very separate groups living  very separate lives. Although it seemed odd to a 13 year old, but in those days in Lubbock Texas it was just the way life was. We loved Salina, the housekeeper. It was a great job for her and she worked really well with mom. Mom ran the operation, dad was the visionary. We will see none of that on this trip.

When I entered the 10th grade I went to boarding school in New Mexico and a year later my family moved to Ohio. However, my connection with Texas did not end. Many of my friends at the New Mexico Military Institute were from Texas. The fellow we will be visiting in Dallas was a friend at NMMI. No paddles at NMMI, they had more rigorous ways to maintain order.