Strange in Obits: Jack Mildren

I've mentioned before that I grew up as a military brat so it shouldn't come as a shock that, in addition to the places I have visited courtesy of my own military service, I got to attend a number of schools in several states courtesy of my Dad's military service. If you haven't experienced making new friends every few years, I think you are missing an opportunity. And I mean that.

Anyway, aside from new schools and new homes and new friends, I also learned to adopt new sports teams. The very first team of any sport that I have any real memory of liking was The Sooners of OU.

I know, I've probably violated several Texas laws by even posting this information from such a close proximity to Austin and admitting to having once been a Sooner fan, but please consider that I was in the second or third grade. And this is back when the TV only came in CBS, ABC, NBC or PBS.

The thing is, I have vivid memories of incredible athletes from that period in about 1970 or so. We were stationed at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City and I suppose rooting for the Sooners was what one did in Oklahoma City (perhaps Bob will confirm this for us - he is a freind who comments from time to time on the Blog, and now lives in Oklahoma City).

There were these incredible players on the team back then - The Selmon Brothers: Leroy, Lucius, Dewey and Octavio (not real sure about the last one), Tinkerbell Owens, Joe Wylie, Greg Pruitt and my hero, Jack Mildren.

Jack Mildren was an awesome quarterback and though I have no memory of the team's particular stats or record at the time, I just knew that he was the greatest quarterback to ever play football. There was a time that in between John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, if asked, I was sure that my hero was Jack Mildren.

Later, we moved to Ohio and Jack Mildren moved on to the NFL. Our loyalties moved with us and we became fans of the Ohio State Buckeyes, but I continued to follow Jack Mildren. I simply could not understand how such a great quarterback could be relegated to playing cornerback for a few years with a few different teams then tossed aside. Of course, I was in the third or fourth grade - not necessarily ready for the anchor desk on ESPN.

So today I was looking at the obituaries - something I do often for no explainable reason other than I like to read about people I don't know, and lo and behold, I see the name of 58 year old, former Sooner QB Jack Mildren. It turns out that Larry Jack Mildren went on to have a successful career as a banker, a broadcaster and was even the Lt. Governor of Oklahoma. Who knew?

I read Jack's Wikipedia page and I also learned something else about the man I had idolized for so many years; his real last name.

The strange thing is, as a kid, I thought his name was Jack Mildred and I guess, it just stuck. I think back now, to all the times that I met someone who was from Oklahoma or was a Sooner fan and asked them about Jack Mildred and can suddenly appreciate why they looked at me like I was a real dumbass.

Well rest in peace Gov. Mildren, best quarterback of my memories, and a hero to a little kid. Perhaps now, in your beloved memory, I'll try to figure out the name of that other Selmon brother.

*Photo

Medina Lake Report: A Visit to Thousand Trails Preserve

This afternoon, we made an unplanned trip over to Medina Lake to see some of my wife's family staying at the Thousand Trails Preserve near Pipe Creek. I haven't fully figured out the ins and outs of this operation, but the gist of it is, you pay a membership fee to belong to this nationwide resort organization which allows you access to their facilities. I'm thinking if you own an RV, this is the ticket, but since I don't own an RV, I don't know for sure. As guests, we paid $5.00 to go in and that was very reasonable considering the amenities.

First, you should know that one of the great joys of living in San Antonio is that, 15 minutes outside the city limits in any direction puts you out in the middle of the country. I should also mention that, in a few years, you'll have to drive a lot more than 15 minutes to be out in the country because they are building everywhere.

Our son attended Communications Arts High School which is located on the Taft Campus just outside of Loop 1604 on 471 (Culebra Road). Just a few years ago, there was nothing between Taft HS and Medina Lake and now, it is a freakin' neighborhood!

Attention people from California, yes, this is the best deal going - you sell your crappy crack-house outside of LA for close to a million dollars, then buy a near-mansion on 10 acres here for $350K, buy a riding mower and live like Thurstan Howell the 3rd and Lovey, but please, quit telling your friends about it, or better yet, tell them about Austin and Fredericksburg. They need the growth, we don't.
Okay, aside from that unpleasantness, the ride is awesome and you can really appreciate why so many folks are purchasing motorcycles and taking rides along the gently winding and rolling hill country roads.
And now that God has stopped punishing us with the great floods of 2007, the weather is bright, sunny and wonderful again; keep in mind however, cars have air conditioning, motorcycles don't.
Pipe Creek and Medina Lake is about 30 to 40 minutes from our house depending on traffic, but it is a beautiful ride. Take a gander at these views of the short trip.
If you don't live here in San Antonio and think of the place as the Alamo, the River Walk and the AT&T Center where the Spurs play, go back and watch a movie like Lonesome Dove, and no kidding, this was where they rode horses. Before asphalt, of course.
You know how it gets confusing if you try to explain the relationship between various family members etc, anything beyond immediate family? Well, I'll skip it and just say that these folks are related on my wife's side. Joe and Bertha are the RV owners - and damn, if you wanna go camping, this is the way to do it. I have been in RV's before but had not seen the full benefit of what they call slide-outs. The increase to the living space inside is amazing. Take a look.
One of the nice things about this park is the huge population of people friendly deer. I know they can be pests to homeowners, but in the park, they seem to make everyone happy. Coincidently, Joe was serving up some awesome venison sausage with cheese and jalapeno. Man it was good, though I am confident there was no connection between the sausage I enjoyed and the many Bambi's I saw.
We didn't stay long enough to partake in any use of the lake, though I must tell you that watching the boats speed by, some with skiers in tow, and others just quietly making a leisurely trip around the lake looked like fun. I am told that just a while back during the big rains, the water was way up into the camping area and as I walked around stalking the deer pictured above, I could see the signs of the receding waterline deep into camper territory. But either way, the place is beautiful with lots of low hanging trees providing a shady canopy so you can enjoy the refreshing breeze off the lake. I was actually surprised at how comfortable it was outdoors though for at least a portion of the time, the ladies seemed to take advantage of the air conditioning in the RV.
After some awesome vittles and one or two beverages, it seemed as though this crowd was ready for a little dancing with the stars. Granted, aside from my claim as a published letter to the editor writer in a local HOA newspaper, there were no stars to be found, so people had to simply make due with spouses and such.
Before long, the assembled kids were ready to hit the pool and my wife and I were ready for the short ride back to San Antonio and the land of many HEB's.
The pool at this place was nicely done and I'm happy to report, the men's room was clean, and fully walled meaning that you don't have to engage in a conversation face to uh, well, anyway, with the guy taking a dump in the stall as you stand at the urinal. That's always the sign of a quality place.
Next to the pool was an historical residence used now as a haunted house and other events. It is the home of the Spettel Family.


So, it really didn't take us long to get back home but I did have to stop and take a picture of this awesome design for a liquor store.

We Texans are a proud bunch. JR's Liquor Store near Pipe Creek pretty much says it all.

Shopping Report: Sun Harvest

Please don't be offended by this, but if I were to stand outside of most health food stores trying to come up with a broad description of the people who shop there, in a single word, I'd have to choose weird.

Please don't misunderstand; I am all for healthy eating and in fact, over the last year or more have changed my own personal eating habits to include more healthful choices like fresh fruits, grains, less red meat and more fish. I actually do eat organic waffles containing flax, and even have a shaker of flaxseed that I sprinkle on top of fruit and yogurt. But for the most part, I have been able to make these personal changes, without changing the place I buy food, because I don't feel the need to arbitrarily pay double the price for things.

Okay, so if you aren't pissed off yet, I'll tell you why I went to Sun Harvest.

A friend at work let me try these Pita Chips that he says he got at Whole Foods or some place like that. These puppies seem to be deep fried in something, then covered with various seasonings. Healthy or not, they taste great! So, I told my wife we ought to go buy a bucket of them, sit in front of the TV and eat them.

All.

Once again, San Antonio experienced another Noah's Ark-worth of rain, and I decided that instead of driving all over town trying to find Whole Foods, I'd go to this Sun Harvest off IH-10 and Callaghan. If they sell healthy stuff, certainly they would have the healthy junk food, right?

There were lots of older folks shopping at Sun Harvest. I don't attribute shopping there to them trying to be healthy, I suspect that this store is simply a neighborhood grocery to them. Much like in some urban areas, people shop at 7-Eleven simply because they don't have a car, and it is the closest place to purchase a $4.75 gallon of milk and some rolling papers.

Moving away from the normal-seeming old people, now we have the generic weird people I described earlier. These are people who would give anything to live in Austin, and would fit in nicely, but circumstances have kept them here in San Antonio. These people most likely listen to NPR, drive a VW with a flower mounted in the dashboard, have a bumper sticker that says, "Impeach Bush" on their car, and have only dated other ugly people.

But I mean all this in a good way.

As my wife and I strolled through the aisles looking for the Fried Pita Chips Slathered in Herbs I so desperately wanted, I saw one gentleman who was fully decked out in safari clothing. Is that standard issue for a trip to the grocery store on a rainy day, or do you suppose he was simply purchasing a box of frozen Tofurky for his big expedition to The Shoppes at La Canterra?

Another handsome lady was prepared for shopping duty in her Hemp jeans and tie-dyed t-shirt as though at any moment, she expected to meet Peter, Paul and Mary at the check-out line.

Perhaps I'm too harsh, but I make no illusions about why I was there. I was looking for junk food and it just happened to be at a healthy food store I was looking for it in. The interesting thing was, not only did they sport two full aisles of junk-food, but by simply applying the label "Organic" or "Healthy" to a product, people felt free to dig in.

They had set-up an end cap with a two plates of cookies, and not one person (myself included) walked by without trying a few samples. That's fine, but why didn't these people jump on a treadmill and walk for a few minutes after eating? I'll tell you why - because they don't really care about their health, they just like the idea of appearing to care about their health, the environment, and this good feeling gives them an excuse to wear goofy clothing styles.

In the end, I did not find the chips I was looking for so it was pretty much a bust, but my wife did purchase a pound of walnuts and she found them a lot cheaper than what we could get from HEB.

* Please don't be offended; I'm just poking fun - and why not? There really was a goofy guy in a safari outfit.

Shopping Report: HEB Super Mercado

The other day I was coming from downtown SA via Culebra. I may have mentioned it before but I sometimes take this route even though it is slightly longer, because I enjoy the scene as I go from downtown, through the West Side, and somehow transition into where I live all on the same street.

Yes, I'm easily entertained.

My wife called me and suggested that I pick up a bottle of coffee creamer on the way home. We use HEB's Half & Half at a rate of almost a bottle and a half a week, but then again, between me and a cup or two from my wife, we drink about three pots of coffee a day.

Anywho, I often pass this HEB Super Mercado on Culebra and, I think Bandera, and decided to stop in for a look see.

The first thing that makes this HEB different is the fact that there is what appears to be a huge circus tent covering the entire front driveway of the store. Under this tent you can find raspa vendors, vending machines and picnic tables, and as I suspected, the inviting smell of spilled beer and stale urine.

But aside from that festive atmosphere, I liked the idea that this seemed to be a community HEB with friendly people doing their shopping and banking and such.

I only needed to pick up a few items, so my stop was short, but I did find one lady completely obsessed with the Spurs Memorabilia rack. Enough to block people in both directions of the main thoroughfare until I calmly and courteously pulled rank on her and asked her to kindly step aside. She was happy to scoot over but once I left was soon back in the way of others. Nice.

For too many reasons that make sense, I did not bother to take a picture of what I am about to describe, though with proper lighting and a permit, I could have made a full length motion picture; A nice lady of perhaps 35 or 40 in standard mu moo wear, was in line unloading her cart. You already know where I'm going and I shouldn't say more, but as my wife says, once I start writing, I can't seem to shut-up.

Full-on chi-chi action, and it was not a site for the timid.

You have to look. You know you do because it is an oddity. Yes, probably seen at 100 topless beaches Europe or Austin as we speak, but in an HEB, we as common citizens are not prepared for the spectacle of some lady letting her full left boob and a good pound or two of the right, simply hanging loose for public inspection like it was a side of beef hung out for display complete with USDA markings, or in this case, a poorly done neighborhood tattoo, clearly from Junior High or perhaps the All Lady's Prison.

I mean no ill-will toward this lady or her body modifications; but please, a little decorum in the HEB for God's sake.

Anyway, a clean place on the inside, nice and fragrant on the outside; I'd go there again if I needed a raspa.

Speaking of crappy neighbors...

You can skip reading this Austin guy's trashing of San Antonio, and just know that he didn't have much of a positive first impression visiting our fair city. In fairness, he is apparently new to Texas, so we should give him a little slack... or enough rope to hang himself.

What I enjoyed were the comments he got as a responses to the "piece".

Dinner Report: Steak 'n Shake, and a few others

Sunday morning after breakfast with my daughter, we made the trip back to San Antonio from Wichita Falls. I had planned all along to take IH-35 back to SA so we could see how the traffic flows now that a lot of the construction has been completed. Let me just say that traffic wise, the trip up 281 was a lot more efficient and far more visually stimulating.

We hit a lot of rain on and off, especially leading into Ft Worth. It did not surprise me one bit to learn of the devastating flooding up in Gainesville. Aside the from the weather, we got to enjoy quite a bit of bumper to bumper assholishness which proved both entertaining and frustrating, depending upon where I was in relation to the perpetrators. Call me immature, but I enjoy seeing a good case of road-rage between two other drivers when I can observe from a safe distance. It’s a little different when I’m the guy stuck behind an old man in a hat, driving 2 miles under the speed limit and refusing to get the hell out of the passing only lane. But don’t get me started.

We made three stops worth reporting on the way back, in West, Waco and Austin. We first learned about the Czech Stop in West, probably 10 or more years ago on a trip to north Georgia. Our kids were, well about 10 years younger, and we left SA extremely early in the AM. By the time we hit West, I was ready for some coffee and the kids were ready for some vittles. We had never experienced Kolaches before, and raved about them the entire way to Georgia.

Anyway, south bound on IH-35 we had just passed some rain and construction and when we saw the sign for West, I tapped a few clicks into the Garmin and got directions to the front door of Czech Stop. You can smell the fresh baked goods in the parking lot, if you can find a place to park. Even in the afternoon, the place is still crowded with travelers all having the same idea.

We didn’t even eat any of the $16.00 worth of heaven that we bought, still full from IHOP, but I can assure you that lunch for the next three days was pretty good!

Not a lot further down the road, we decided that we needed to make a quick stop into the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco. We’ve seen it and I’m sure it would make a good refresher tour, but my wife just wanted to slip into the gift shop to purchase a few shirts and a shot glass. The gal behind the counter was trying to be friendly, but she was an idiot. Something about a pen that my wife wanted to buy but preferring to let my wife use it to sign the credit card receipt, but not putting the pen in our bag when we were done. It got resolved and we moved on.

If you haven’t ever visited the DP Museum, don’t think that it is a waste of time just because you don’t drink Dr. Pepper. They have on display a really rich history of items about, well, DP but also about the people who made it. I wouldn’t make a trip to Waco just to see it, but if you are going up to join in the Branch Davidians, you wouldn’t be wasting your time by stopping by.

Have you noticed how crowded and crappy Austin is? Actually, now that they seem to have a handle on the road construction, we only had to come to a complete stop once. And the drive from south of Austin to San Antonio is a breeze.

We are huge fans of Steak n’ Shake so I knew from the word Go that we would be doing lunch/dinner there. I can’t wait for SA to get a Steak n’ Shake so we can have yet another place to make ourselves even more obese.

At any rate, my wife and I both ordered the steakburger and fries and a tea. Other than the lady didn’t give us any napkins or forks or anything, it wasn’t a big deal. The burgers are so good and the texture of the bread is so fresh and yummy. Geeze I’m hungry.

Anyway, on our way out, we ordered up some shakes to go. I paid at the counter and was waiting for the order when another customer came up and asked to speak to the Chef. The manager corrected him by suggesting that perhaps he’d like to speak to the “grillman”. Very nice.

So the guy at the grill looks up and I could tell that he was sort of nervous, perhaps a customer was not happy with a booger on his bun or some other minor infraction. Instead, the man told the “grillman” that he had driven all the way from Houston just to eat at Steak n’ Shake, and that his burger made the trip worth it. He then handed the guy a tip of at least several dollars.

You should have seen the look on the young Grillman’s face. He was happy about the tip but easily more pleased that someone took the time to pay him a compliment. And that’s the kind of thing that makes everybody happy to be at a restaurant. Good food and happy customers.

I would have stood up and reported that we were from San Antonio, but it seemed a bit done by then. Regardless, we hit 1604 just in time to see cars backing up in both directions for some big concert out at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. We were pretty pleased to be home and our dogs were pretty happy to see us.

*PETA: Of course we had someone take care of the dogs while we were gone.

Our Trip to Wichita Falls and Back...

My wife and I had a great trip up 281 to Wichita Falls and back down IH-35 via Ft Worth, Waco and Austin back to San Antonio this weekend.

I'll tell you about it as soon as I can.

How was your recent trip around this great state of ours? Got any pictures or stories to share?