Chapter 8: Texas

Houston is the site of 'Mission Control' for the US Space program. It is possibly better known than Cape Canaveral. It is also relatively close to Galveston, where the battleship USS Texas is on display and forms part of a US Navy museum. The city was the first stopping point for Sid and Cassie in the State of Texas. As there were a few interesting places to visit in and around Houston, the couple were happy that their reputation had preceded them and a couple of short-term jobs were waiting for them. It meant that they didn't have to spend the first couple of days searching for employment.

Sid was beginning to think that things were going too well and that their luck was bound to run out in due course. It was going to, of course, but that was some way into the future and would be the result of a totally unexpected turn of events, which would have far reaching consequences. Sid had this niggling worry in the back of his mind. When he raised it with Cassie, she told him not to be such a 'worry guts' and to enjoy life while they had a following wind. Sid did grudgingly accept this and realised that he might be worrying over nothing. He decided that he would try to put pessimistic thoughts out of his mind and enjoy the present time. Cassie told him his motto should be 'Carpe Diem', which meant 'Sieze the day'.

Once their rotas for the next two months had been sorted, they could begin to plan their visits in Houston and Galveston. The Johnson Space Center was obviously their main target, and they planned to visit it twice. The Six Flags Astro World theme park had long since closed, so they were unable to ride any roller coasters on this visit. On their third week, they both had Wednesday and Thursday off, so they were able to go to Galveston and spend most of one of those days looking round the USS Texas museum, which, like the USS Alabama museum in Mobile, had quite a few military aircraft on display, including an SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. In the evening, they took in one of Galveston's 'Ghost' tours, it being reputed to be the most haunted city in the US. They returned to Houston late at night, so it was fortunate that both their Friday shifts began at midday.

The Johnson Space Center in Houston itself lived up to their expectations. On display was the almost obligatory Saturn V rocket. Cassie found the most interesting outdoor exhibit to be the modified Boeing 747 airliner with a space shuttle mounted on top of its fuselage. A thought occurred to Cassie while she was looking at the Saturn V.

"Wouldn't it be easier to use wings and jet engines to get a spaceship up to twelve miles and supersonic speeds," said Cassie, "Then only use rockets to get it into orbit. The shuttle was a brilliant idea for landing. Why couldn't they do the reverse. After all, all the huge fuel tank and the booster rockets do for the shuttle is lift it, and themselves to the edge of the atmosphere, then the shuttle itself takes over."

"You're a lot more than a really beautiful face." said Sid, "You've been thinking about this. I think Richard Branson is thinking along similar lines. He wants to send fare-paying tourists into space. It's early stages yet, but he's started a company called 'Virgin Galactic'. The man behind Tesla cars is also looking at more economic ways of achieving orbital flight."

In the course of their visit, they also visited the mission control room, from where NASA's space flights are directed. A video was shown of the first moon landing. They also had a brief talk about the rescue, for that's what it was, of Apollo 13.

The rest of their stay in Houston passed pleasantly. During their time there, they got to know the city quite well. At the end of the Winter, Sid and Cassie managed to hitch a ride with a trucker along the I-10 Interstate Highway to their next intended destination, The city of San Antonio. Like their previous drivers, he was interested in hearing about their travels, and about Cassie's new found interest in roller coasters. He also gave them ideas about what they might want to see on their way North to Yellowstone National Park. They arrived in San Antonio in mid-afternoon and planned to stay there for a month if they found suitable work. Fortunately, they happened on a hotel in the same chain as the one that employed them in Orlando, and were offered work with some, albeit basic, accommodation.

Since their main reason for visiting San Antonio was to spend at least one day at Six Flags Fiesta, that's where they went on their first coincident day off. At the time they went there, the large wood coaster, the Rattler, was still running. Its main feature was the drop through a tunnel, emerging at speed half way down a cliff. One of the coasters ran backwards for the whole of the ride. Cassie didn't appreciate this much, as she did like to see where she was going. At least the Boomerang did travel in a forward direction for half the ride. At the end of their day at the park, they felt that it would be worth a second visit. Only brief visits to some of San Antonio's other attractions were possible, as most of their other coincident free time consisted of half days. During the month, there was only one more whole day they could enjoy together. Naturally, they made the most of the times when they had a free afternoon and evening, as they could enjoy some of the city's 'night life'. By this time, the winter was drawing to a close, and it was time for Sid and Cassie to start heading North.

On their way, ultimately, to Yellowstone National Park, there was at least one more theme park to be visited. This was Six Flags over Texas at Arlington, which is about half way between Dallas and Fort Worth. When they gave the proprietor of the hotel notice that they were leaving, he asked them where they were going. When they said they were intending to spend several weeks in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, he gave them the address of a hotel there, and told them he was sorry to see them go.

After their last night in San Antonio, they managed to blag a ride to Dallas. On the way there, their driver, to make conversation, asked them what brought them to the USA. Cassie recounted the story of her escaping the trauma of witnessing the sudden death of her best friend, and how Sid had crossed the Atlantic Ocean to look for her. Sid told of his desperate search all over Manhattan for the girl he loved, and how he found her working in a diner. They told him about their adventures so far and what they hoped to do and see during the rest of their odyssey across the States. They mentioned Yellowstone National Park with its geysers and the Grand Canyon. He suggested that if they found time, they would find the Grand Teton Park and Bryce Canyon interesting from a geological point of view. In conclusion, he suggested that if they got to California, they should visit Yosemite National Park and see the big trees there. Some of them, he said, were thirty feet across at the base and nearly three hundred feet high. They were already impressive trees at the time of Christ. Sid bought him lunch at a truck stop en route, and they arrived in Dallas in the very late afternoon.

The establishment mentioned by the proprietor of the previous hotel wasn't hard to find. They found that they were expected and, after a couple of very brief interviews they were taken on. They were luckier with their days off in Dallas, as they had four coincident days off in their first four weeks. Two of these were consecutive. The proprietor of this hotel felt that as they were a couple, they had been given a hard deal in San Antonio. They decided that the two single days would be spent visiting Six Flags over Texas, and the pair of days would be used to have a look at Fort Worth, the other large city in this part of Texas. Sid mentioned that Dallas was the setting for a long-running drama series on American television, which was in competition with another series which was set in Denver Colorado.

"Will we be going to Denver?" asked Cassie.

"Yes," said Sid, "We should pass through it on the way to Yellowstone. Both Dallas and Dynasty concerned the lives, loves and rivalries of rich tycoons in the oil industry."

They started work, and planned their programme of sightseeing in Dallas. Of course, this would have to include the location of the most recent presidential assassination, that of John F Kennedy in 1963. They were pleasantly surprised to find that Dallas was reasonably supplied with public transport, including a free streetcar around the central area. Their hotel was near Downtown Dallas, so they didn't have to travel very far to see the many central Dallas attractions.

Six Flags over Texas was 20 miles away in Arlington, so they had to use the train to get to that city. When they got there, they were disappointed to find that the principal roller coaster, the Texas Giant was no longer operating and that a new steel coaster was being built to replace it. However, they did manage to ride most of the other eleven operating rides on their first day. Their second day was used re-riding some of their preferred rides from the first day, and trying the ones they had not ridden. When they were queueing for 'Superman, The Ride' Sid commented that this coaster was like a longer version of the Nemesis ride at Alton Towers back in England, which his dad had taken him to when he was just big enough to ride it.

They also managed to spend their two consecutive days off in Fort Worth, spending a night in a cheap hotel there, as it was 27 miles away. They found, much to their liking that Fort Worth issued a day ticket, which allowed travel with no further cost, on all buses and local trains in the Fort Worth area. They saw as much as they could of the city in their two days there and, since they were staying overnight, they were able to enjoy a pleasant dinner in a local diner.

In their second month in Dallas they were able to spend some whole days in that City, taking full advantage of the free streetcar, as well as revisiting Fort Worth on their second pair of free days. Among the Fort Worth attractions that they visited this time, were the botanic gardens as the weather was getting warmer.

One evening before they had thought about departing for the road back North, Sid was studying his compact atlas of the USA.

"What are you looking at?" asked Cassie.

"I guess I'm planning our next move." said Sid, "There doesn't seem to be a direct route from here to Denver using interstate highways. In any case, I think it's too far to go in one stage."

"So you're looking to see where we could make overnight stops on the way there." said Cassie, "I suppose the other thing we've got to decide is whether to use Greyhound buses or try to hitch a ride."

"That does come into it." said Sid, "If we use the interstates, we've got two options. Either we go West into New Mexico before going North, or we head North towards Oklahoma City. Once we're beyond Denver, the route to Yellowstone is nearly all on ordinary highways, whether or not you've seen 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'."

"What's that got to do with anything?" asked Cassie, wondering what Sid was talking about.

'In the North-East of Wyoming," said Sid, "there's an old basalt stack. It used to be the core of a volcano. It's called 'The Devil's Tower'. It featured strongly in that film."

"And I suppose you'd like to see it?" queried Cassie.

"I would, if it's not too much of a diversion." said Sid.

"I think we should make that decision once we've left Denver." said Cassie, "It also depends whether we find paid work in the Mile-high-city."

Now that Spring was well under way, they felt it was time to move on. Their route Northwards was to take them to their next work stop, Denver, Colorado. They decided that,since their finances were fairly healthy, to use the buses for at least part of the trip, which they anticipated would take three days. They would therefore have to pay for two-or-three nights overnight accommodation.

Their luck was still holding. On the way to the Greyhound bus station, they stopped for a coffee, as Cassie said she could do with one. In the coffee shop, they were engaged in conversation by a trucker, who after hearing the story of their adventures so far, agreed to take them part of the way, as he was headed North from Dallas. He was waiting for his trailer to be loaded before he could depart. Their route was thus decided. He was headed for Kansas City that day, but he would go a little out of his way to drop them off at a town called Salina on the I-70 interstate between Kansas City and Denver.