In one final symbolic act, I cast my white sailor’s bracelet - which had now become a dirty gray - into the ocean. It had been two years ago that Christi and I each purchased the same bracelet while in Myrtle Beach. While she had long before gotten rid of hers, I wore it continuously for two years up until this trip. While here, I bought a brand new bright white one.  

This was my second trip to the Windy Shores (week 31) condo that my Grandma and Grandpa Murphy had purchased in the mid-eighties. With me were my Mom and Denise and also crammed into the two-bedroom condo were Bev and Ed and their kids Susan, Chris, and Karen.

 With my new KISS shirt on the balcony of Windy Shores

 Bev and Grandma cookin’ in the kitchen

 Chris, Denise, and Karen down on the beach

 Chris and Denise passing the old velcro ball

Denise as seen from our balcony

We did much of the typical Myrtle Beach fare during the week: miniature golf, cooking tacos, going over to the Links, swimming in the little pool and big ocean, and going to the Pavillion. I can’t recall any other specifics - but do remember that I bartered with the ol’ rock t-shirt ship to get a KISS Destroyer and a tan tye-dye Smiths t-shirt.

I really enjoyed hanging out with Chris on this trip. Five years my junior, at just fourteen he was already developing the off-the-wall sense of humor that I loved so much. Even though he was disappointing by missing soccer conditioning (and thus later not making the team) he still managed to belt out some memorable witty dialogue.

 Tennis with Chris at the Links. Ah, those were the days when I was taller than Chris and almost as skinny

 Grandpa and Grandma Murphy hang out at the Links

 Denise catches some rays

 Bev and Susan

 Denise prepares for a spashdown

At the Links. Christi always loved this photo because of the postcard picture-perfect upper half (lush greenery, beaming smile, and tan physique) and all of the garbage seen in the lower half (along with my pack of Marlboro Mediums)

To wit: while walking with him down the beach, we came upon a group of kids playing football who asked us if we would like to join them. We said no thanks. Later on in the week, we returned to the same area on a walk and Chris said that if we see the kids, we should say “okay, we’ll play football.” That line of dialogue lives on to this day. Then when arriving back to our condo late for supper, he said we should explain our absense in just one word: aliens.

Chris and I also walked to a nearby joint that had a pool table and I was able to beat him at a game when the rule was that I had to bank every shot. I think this humiliation inspired him to continue practicing until he became a worthy opponent that often defeats me.

Finally - I remember that every night as we sat out on our balcony a Jamaican local would come by on his trike and serenade us with “I Wanna Sex You Up” which sounded like “I Wanna Sessju Up.”

Overall, a nice final trip that acted as a diversion between the break-up of Christi and me and the oncoming second year of college…which would get increasingly strange when an old friend re-surfaces with a bizarre job offer.

1991 will continue…

No photographs of this cat are known to exist, but Dad did capture some shots of this little furrball on Super 8 film and a few selelct screen grabs are shared here. It is entirely possibly that Tiny, my tenth and most recent cat to join me in life’s journey, is the reincarnation of this my first.

Return to 1973… (under construction)

Fredericksburg was a neat looking town to start with. It was the kind of town you would expect to see in Texas, with a small main street much like Crawford, although this has more of a western feel - like you might walk right into a saloon. Instead we headed for the former Nimitz Hotel - which was originally purchased in 1855 by Charles Nimitz the father of WW2 hero Admiral Chester Nimitz. It had been restored on the outside to appear to be a historic hotel, while the inside was a shrine to Admiral Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet during World War 2. He signed for the United States when Japan surrendered onboard the Missouri in 1945.

I had no idea of what to expect here. The tribute to Nimitz inside the hotel was interesting but nothing major. Little did I realize that the museum actually encompassed the entire block and was actually a grand-scale museum dedicated to World War 2, specifically the war in the Pacific. There was a huge Memorial Wall and Veterans Walk of Honor, a Plaza of the Presidents who served in the war, a Japanese Garden of Peace, and a gigantic building which housed the 20,000 square feet of the National Museum of the Pacific War.

 Outside the Nimitz Hotel area of the Pacific War Museum

 The Plaza of the Presidents

Next to my buddy

This doesn’t look like a good idea

The exhibits were top-notch, complete with animatronic battle scenes, relics and artifacts, and enough photos, information, and tales from the war that it would be easy to spend an entire day there. They even had a midget Japanese submarine on display which was captured off the coast of Pearl Harbor. As we left, one of the workers told us that plans for the museum were to expand it three times its current size.

With the captured Japanese midget submarine

I picked a brochure on the way out that asked for interviews with WW2 vets and took it home to give to my Grandpa. I also purchased a paperweight with a small piece of the U.S.S. Missouri displayed inside. It was a great surprise and a place well worth visiting. I would recommend that anyone come to this little town off the beaten path.

We spent a little over an hour in Fredericksburg before heading about 45 minutes east toward Stonewall, site of the LBJ Unit of the Lyndon B. Johnson Historical Park. Upon exiting the car to pose with the sign immediately below, I was greeted with my first Texas snake.

 After the snake scare

Official NPS sign, just down the road from LBJ’s birth home and grave

Here we saw a film of LBJ giving a tour of his birth house and then boarded a bus which took us to said house, his final resting place, and a tour of his entire ranch including the exterior of the home in which he and Lady Bird resided until their respective death. Following this tour, we moved on a few miles down the road to Johnson City, site of Johnson’s boyhood home. These and all related LBJ sites can be seen here.

Entering Johnson City

We had spent about three and a half hours at all of the Johnson sites and then headed south back to San Antonio. It took about an hour to get there and we arrived at our final major destination of the day around 3:30pm. This was the irreverent and largely famous site of the Alamo.

With typical midwestern naivity, I assumed that the Alamo would be out in the middle of the desert. How surprised I was to find it smack dab in the middle of a thriving downtown city district!. We started out with a verbal lecture on the events of the Alamo followed by a video presentation which was actually shown inside one of the remaining fort walls. I had never quite understood the layout of the Alamo, but the building (which was the Alamo) that you so often see is actually just a church which was located in the right rear of the fort. Most of the walls of the fort are now long gone but one major stretch of it still remains.

 Bob and me with the Six Flags of Texas outside the Alamo

 Typical Alamo cannon shenanigans

Yes, I’ll remember it…

Speaking of remains, I had hoped to see the burial site of the remains of Davy Crockett and the heroes of the Alamo. These were located in the San Fernando Cathedral. In truth it is unlikely that these were actually Crockett’s remains, but they were human remains that were found to have been cremated inside the church. But still, this represented the best marker for Crockett’s resting place, so I convinced Bob to walk the seven or eight blocks to the church.

Unfortunately, although we were assured that they would be open (and signs outside the church indicated so), all of the doors were locked. So I settled with a photo of me flipping off the lying, cheating sign. But in actuality, this worked out fine as it gave me an opprotunity to talk a walk around the Riverwalk area of San Antonio and even stop at the Hard Rock Cafe for a much-needed beer. Bob had a milkshake.

Sign on the outside of the San Fernando Cathedral. Unfortunately, we could not get in…

 …and I was eager to show my disdain

 A rare smile and proof that I visited the River Walk

 Overlooking the River Walk

 Hey! There’s me on the bridge

At the San Antonio Hard Rock

A toast, to our trip thus far - about half way done at this point

After returning to the Alamo to pose for photos (and trying to find a numbskull who could successfully snap it without any others in the background of our photo), we left San Antonio about 6:30pm. About an hour later, en route to Uvalde (finally!) we stopped at Hermann Sons Steakhouse in Hondo, Texas. There I enjoyed a lovely pecan-crusted chicken breast.

For a small, unknown town (which was both as far west and south as we got in Texas), Uvalde was exceptionally crowded. We ended up staying in the cheap but acceptable Amber Sky Motel. There would be more adventures the next day.

Greetings from the Alamo. Note the sign looming over the right side for the Crockett Hotel. I’m sure he would have approved.

To be continued in the Texas Capitol…

If it had not been for our dire, losing position in the Vietnam war, LBJ would most certainly have been remembered as one of our great Presidents. While touring Texas with my friend Bob, we had the opportunity to visit all of the prominent historical locations from Johnson’s life.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - Lyndon Johnson Birthplace - The Lyndon Johnson Historic Park in Stonewall, Texas includes the entire LBJ ranch and some of the surrounding area. Johnson had actually extended his land so that it would include both the house where he was born. A short film that we saw in the visitors center of the park showed LBJ giving a tour of his birth home, where he exhibited some of his flair for stretching the truth saying that it contained the actual bed on which he was born. The house was later completely reconstructed when it became unsafe, so what we saw was an exact replica in the original location.

 Bob and I had to illegally cross ‘behind the bus’ to get this shot with the birthplace sign, but Presidential locations are not always for the squeamish

The reconstructed birthhouse

 Me and our park ranger tour guide in front of the birthplace

 The room where LBJ was born, closed for renovation

The well that LBJ was shown pumping when he toured this house with a reporter while President

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - LBJ Boyhood Home - Just east of Stonewall is Johnson City, a town actually named after Johnson’s ancestors. Located here is Johnson’s boyhood home whic was built in 1901. The Johnson family moved here when Lyndon was about five years old and he lived here for nearly ten years. Johnson returned to this home and launched his first campaign for Congress from the porch of this house.

The LBJ Boyhood home in Stonewall

 The boy meets the boyhood home

LBJ’s old room

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - LBJ Ranch - This ranch was owned and occupied by Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson during his presidency and was known as the Texas White House. He continued to live here after he left office until his death in 1973. Lady Bird continued to occupy the home until her death in July 2007.

Although the house will not be opened to the public until the celebration of Johnson’s 100th birthday in August 2008, our bus stopped in front of the house so that we could get pictures of the home - something that was not permitted while Lady Bird was still alive. Our tour also took us throughout the entire functioning ranch.

 Outside the LBJ ranch

 The Texas White House, not yet open to the public

With the hulking LBJ statue on the LBJ Ranch property

In addition to the birth house being added to the property, Johnson also purchased his former childhood schoolhouse, which was located just a stone’s throw from the house. Johnson had actually returned to the school house in 1965 to sign an education which allocated 1.5 billion dollars in federal funds to America’s schools.

In front of the schoolhouse and Centennial Celebration sign

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum - The LBJ Library was dedicated in 1971 at the University of Texas at Austin and is the only Presidential Library that does not charge admission. This was a great museum filled with artifacts and displays on Johnson’s career and Presidency. Among the highlights were the bible used and clothing worn by LBJ and Lady Bird when he was sworn in as President following the Kennedy assassination, recorded diary entries from Lady Bird, the Presidential limousine, a display of gifts from heads of state, and a talking animatronic of LBJ.

One current attraction is a Johnson look-a-like who has stepped into Johnson’s shoes at the time that he was Senate Majority Leader during the 1950’s. This actor named Michael Stuart can answer any question pertaining to that time period employing the look, voice, and feel of the Johnson of that era.

 With a lot of construction going on in the area, it was hard to get a good shot (without an orange pylon) outside the LBJ Library

 The LBJ Library or bust!

 With the Bible on which LBJ was sworn into office in Dallas on Air Force One, November 22, 1963

 In the LBJ Oval Office reproduction

The 1968 “Stretch” Lincoln used to transport President Johnson in Washington

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 - Lyndon Johnson gravesite - LBJ and JFK are the only late Presidents with Libraries who are not buried at them. Instead Johnson is buried on his ranch within a very short walking distance of his birthhome. I was concerned that I would not be able to get a good picture with the grave, knowing that it was located within a small private family cemetery that was surrounded by a small wall and could only be visited as part of the guided tour. In other words, much as I wanted to, I could not jump the fence.

However, I was able to have a relatively nice and clear photo taken of me with the grave. Lady Bird Johnson was now buried next to her husband, but unfortunately her headstone had not yet been erected.

 The flowers mark the site of Lady Bird, buried next to her husband

Me and LBJ

Continue to the next President…

Return to Tuesday in Texas…

Return to Wednesday in Texas… (under construction)

Because of his Hitchcock association, Mr. Cronyn was a very desirable autograph for me to obtain back in 1988 when I was in the Hitchcock autograph thrust. Unfortunately when I wrote to him on July 29 of that year, it took nearly five months to even get a response on December 10 telling me that neither he nor his wife Jessica Tandy (of Driving Miss Daisy fame) were signing autgraphs any longer.

After Ms. Tandy’s passing in 1994, Mr. Cronyn must have come out of autograph retirement. On August 9, 1997, I attempted to send him the exact same photo from Lifeboat that I had once sent in 1988; this time he signed it. He also signed a notecard and sent along a postcard-sized photo of he and Jessica as seen at the top of the posting. He personalized and signed this postcard in the margin with what was apparently a Crayola marker. One wipe of the signature would cause it to disappear, so I immediately placed it in a plastic sleeve. I guess beggers can’t be choosers.

In order to one-up the crummy signature and still have Cronyn on a photo with his wife, I purchased a nice color shot of them together from Cocoon and sent it off in August of 1998 a year later, and he inscribed this one with a nice solid signature.

Autographs of 1997 will continue…