10-02 I'm On Vacation!

GIBBS FIELD (FORT STOCKTON/PECOS COUNTY AIRPORT) Fort Stockton, Texas On my way to pick up Highway 67 toward Star, I just had to stop and locate the airport at Fort Stockton I'd heard so much about. As it was just over Interstate 10 from the McDonald's I was going to obtain breakfast from, I figured it wouldn't be too much of a detour. It turned out to be much more fun and serendipitious than I had thought. According to the Handbook of Texas Online: "Gibbs Field, on U.S. Highway 285 a mile northwest of Fort Stockton in central Pecos County, was established by the Central Flying Training Command in the early 1940s for primary flight training and constructed by the Defense Plant Corporation, a federal agency, on 1,200 acres of land at a cost of $800,000. The airfield was named at dedication ceremonies on October 9, 1942, for Maj. David R. Gibbs, who was killed in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II. Until that time it had been called Miller Field for G. William Miller, partner and financial backer of the Pacific Air School, the government contractor responsible for pilot training at the airfield. Commanding officers at Gibbs Field were Maj. Tom J. Cunningham, Capt. Kenneth L. Shadell, and Maj. James Dieterich, Jr. Auxiliary fields were Win-Field and Dyche Field, named for H. L. Winfield and J. Harrison Dyche, both of Fort Stockton. Pilot training at the airfield was conducted in army PT-17 biplanes. Eighteen pilot classes graduated before training ceased in 1944, when Gibbs Field was taken over by the Defense Plant Corporation for storage and repair of government aircraft being prepared for sale. The following year the property was turned over to Pecos County for use as a county airport."

AIR TRACTOR AT-802A I'd recently heard about these single-engine fire tankers while talking with a helitac (helicopter attack) crewman at Casparis Airport last fire season. I'd never seen or heard of them before, so I was keen on finding one and getting a shot of it for my collection. Turned out there were about a half-dozen of these big brutes in this hangar, just waiting to be documented. It had to be done. This one's call sign would be "Tanker 409" or "Tanker Four-zero-niner" in radio lingo.

AIR TANKER AT-802A CLOSEUP Just a closer look at the huge engine and five-bladed propellor, as well as the retardant release nozzles underneath. I didn't have anything to show the scale of these aircraft, but they're pretty big -- the largest of their type.

AMERICAN BLIMP A-150 Another interesting and rare aircraft (or, lighter-than-air aircraft) is this American Blimp A-150. The pilot, I suppose, was out there pulling down on it and bouncing it off the ground, supposedly doing a preflight check. I really wish now that I'd gone ahead and crossed the runway and chatted with him, especially since the N-number is on the lower tail fin and impossible to make out.

JOE AND LYN'S HOUSE Star, Texas Distractions aside (except for an abortive attempt to locate the airport in Brady), I finally made it to my destination -- my sister and brother-in-law's house in the little town of Star. Joe's father had this house (a former Post Office) moved here when Joe was a kid and added on to it quite a bit, adding three bedrooms with extra-wide doors obtained from an old nursing home. Joe and Lyn have been spending every weekend for months moving all of Lyn's furniture from her previous lifetimes into it, making it a nice, cozy little nest. She's also been transplanting Mom's irises and such from our old house in Grand Prairie, some of which you can see in the foreground.

POLYPHEMUS MOTH The very first night, Lyn looked out the front window and saw this huge thing flying outside in the porchlight. At first she thought it was a bat, but upon closer examination, it turned out to be a polyphemus moth. None of us thought to put a ruler up next to it to measure it, but it had to have a good 5" wingspan. It seemed to be my trip for coming across huge flying things.

POLYPHEMUS MOTH - FULL WING DETAIL As the moth fluttered about the living room, it finally came to rest on the carpet with its wings fully extended, offering up its "eyes" for examination. The large false eyes are used as a target for birds that may try to eat it. If they bite at the "head" for an instant kill, all they get is a beak full of moth wings while the moth then flies on to safety (it hopes; that's the theory, anyway). This is a common occurrence in nature, especially in the insect world. The smaller eyes on the outer wings perform the same service when the moth's wings are retracted back.

POLYPHEMUS MOTH TO SCALE I was finally able to think clearly enough to get a shot with my index finger in it to show the scale of the moth. This guy's really big.

LYN AND HER NEW BOOK The next day was April 4th (Easter), and with it came the celebration of both Lyn's birthday and mine. Her birthday was actually on the 2nd, which was when I was supposed to arrive, but a near calamity at home the day before delayed my arrival until the 3rd, so we decided to go ahead and celebrate them both on my birthday, on the 4th. This is a book I gave her about the early days of Lampasas County, where our ancestors came from and where Lyn was born. I'm sure it will be a welcome addition to the family history library. Our great-grandfather, Alfred 'Alf' Smith, is even mentioned in it.

LYN'S NEW MOVIES I also gave her a couple of DVDs for her birthday -- Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell (one of Lyn's all-time favorites) and a 4-pack of Katherine Hepburn movies with co-stars Spencer Tracey, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart. I've got to get one of those for myself!

JOE AND HIS PRESENTS FROM DOUG As Joe's birthday was back in March, and as I was unable at that time to send them to him, I brought them with me for him to open instead. In his right hand is his NPS Interagency Senior Pass (which gets him in free to any of the National Parks for the rest of his life), and in his left are two of his favorite movies -- Where The Red Fern Grows and The True Story of Jesse James.

DOUG READING ANTIQUE POSTCARD One of the things that Lyn gave me was an antique aviation sign she got at the Star Café, as well as a retro antique aviation postcard, which I'm looking at here. Both are awesome!

DOUG AND HIS NEW FLANNEL SHIRT Now that I see this shot, it looks a little silly, but the shirt is beautiful. Thanks, sis!

LYN HELPS DOUG WITH HIS NEW MOVIES Lyn also gave me some DVDs, and is explaining her choices. She admitted that some were duplicates of ones I already have, but I don't object to duplicates anymore. I think I sold a duplicate of The Great Waldo Pepper a while back (a movie I love!) and found out that used DVDs now cost at least $75. Can you believe that? Man, I wish I had that one back.

JOE TAKING A SHOT This is Joe taking a photo of Lyn opening her presents.

DOUG AND LYN A shot of the two birthday personages.

DOUG AND LYN AGAIN Hamming it up for the camera, as usual. Some people are just like that -- especially in this family.

DOUG AND LYN WITH CAKES Me with my home-baked Coke cake and Lyn with what's left of hers.

DOUG AND THE SAUCER GUN Lyn had made up an Easter basket each for Joe and me and it them was what turned out to be the high point in entertainment for this visit -- a cheap little Chinese-made flying saucer gun. You put the "saucer" (really more like a caged propellor) on the gun, wind it up about 14 or 15 clicks, then pull the trigger and whizzzzzz, off it goes. Fun enough on its own, but I put a planter bucket out in the yard and we all took target practice on it. The final score: Doug 8, Joe 4, and Lyn 2. Accuracy (or lack thereof) was certainly an issue with such a rig, and I'm sure the only reason I got so many is that I shot a lot more than anyone else.

SAUCER ON ITS WAY Here's an action shot of the game in progress. You can see the saucer (green or yellow; I can't tell which) just above the bucket. Actually, this will be a miss, as it's way too high.

LYN TAKES AIM And here's Lyn getting ready for her shot. This is the best picture of the gun, which I failed to document. That's not like me.

JOE AT THE STAR CAFE No trip to Star would be complete without a meal at the Star Cafe (a.k.a. The Star Mini-Mall). Great little place with great food.

JOE AND PETE PICKIN' One of the mainstays down here is jammin' on guitars, and here we see Joe and his cousin Pete picking away.

DOUG PICKIN' Or trying to, anyway. My fingers were attempting to heal from a weekend-long playing jag in an attempt to build up my callouses for this, but I got so into playing Shawn Mullins's Tannin' Bed Song, I actually did more damage than good. This time around, I played so long I actually got blisters on my fingertips, indicated by the expression on my face. That just plain hurts!

DOUG AT LOS AMIGOS Joe and Lyn had pointed out this little Mexican Food restaurant on one of our trips through town, so we decided to try it out. Pete had always told them that it was closed, so we decided to check for ourselves. Turns out they're not open all the time, but they're certainly not closed for business. These next photos, then, are for Pete.

JOE AND LYN - FOR PETE Look, Pete! The door's actually open.

WE'RE IN, PETE! And here's the interior of the place, nice and quaint. It sure looks like they're open, doesn't it?

HI, PETE! Okay, I guess we've busted ol' Pete's chops enough on this one. Let's eat!

JOE, LYN, AND DOUG AT LOS AMIGOS Scarfing down a basket of tortillas prior to our meal.

LOS AMIGOS MENU COVER Okay, we just had to take a photo of the menu cover so Pete would have all the times down. He may just have caught them between times.

HONEY LYN This is Lyn's cute little beagle, Honey Lyn, who has turned out to be a fine little rabbit chaser. She's a smart little thing, and has to have that orange training collar on whenever she's outside to keep her from exercising her intelligence too much and getting herself in trouble.

JOE AND HIS NEW PELLET RIFLE Lyn loves to have a number of bird feeders around, but unfortunately they attract unwanted visitors, too -- namely the Collared Eurasian Dove, an invasive non-native species that is a true pest. The State has declared an open season on them in perpetuity, so Joe bought this pellet rifle for the cause. The trigger is quite hard, which causes the rifle to pull, so for now the birds are safe. As soon as he's got it figured out, that's it.

DOUG TAKES A SHOT Here I am trying my hand at it, with much the same results. This may take some time, but that's okay.

SIGHTING IN THE SCOPE The rifle came with a scope, so Joe put it on in hopes of increasing accuracy. I drew a target on a box and that's what Pete and I are doing, taking sightings on it. Later, we would stand by it and draw circles around the new holes, as it just got to confusing with so many.

JOE READS UP ON A CADILLAC One of the little forays we took around the area was to take in the Goldthwaite Museum. Right as you walk in the door you see this 1909 Cadillac, a real beauty.

DOUG AND JOE WITH THE GUIDE This lady, whose name I've forgotten, was the perfect guide for this museum, as she was born in the area and could go on and on about everything in the place.

1909 CADILLAC Is this a beautiful machine or what?

CADILLAC COCKPIT Just check out that full instrument panel. Not even so much as a speedometer. There is one gauge there, though, but I don't know what it's for.

1909 CADILLAC - DIFFERENT ANGLE And here we see the Cadillac without the rope going across it. Before 1922, the new-fangled automobiles came in either right-hand or left-hand drive, depending on the owner's preference. The very first automobiles followed the custom of wagon and buggy drivers and had the driver's seat on the right-hand side, where they could keep the wheels out of the ditch alongside the road when passing. Later, as freight wagons became larger, the driver's seat was moved to the left side so the drivers could watch and make sure their wheels didn't get tangled up in each other's, and just left the ditchside wheels to look out for themselves. Now how many of you already knew that?

CADILLAC KEROSENE TANK The headlight you see in the lower right runs off of kerosene, which is stored in this tank on the driver's side. It runs much the same as a Coleman lantern in that you have to pump it up to keep the fuel going to the burner, which I assume is run off of vapor, as I don't see a wick anywhere.

BUFFALO HEAD Funny, but even though buffalo used to roam freely in this area, this local guy had to go to Alaska to bag this one.

1925 PERMANENT WAVE MACHINE Looking like a medieval torture device, this jellyfish-looking apparatus was all the rage back in 1925 for perming those tight, little waves in ladies' hair. (Notice the lady praying in the photo behind it.)

COUSINS? I believe I overheard that the lady and Joe were cousins after all, but I might be mistaken on that. She certainly knew a lot of our kinfolk.

DOUG COPYING PHOTOS One of the things Lyn and I did while we were here was to take photos of some of the antique photos here for her Ancestry genealogy site. This is me taking one of the "Wounded In Action" certificate they gave out to wounded soldiers in WWI (or, rather, the Great War, as they called it then) that our grandfather had on his bedroom wall. I wonder whatever happened to that?

WWI WOUNDED IN ACTION CERTIFICATE And here's what the finished product looks like, for better or for worse. I'd love to get a scan of Grandpa's original certificate, or at least a better photo of it. This one didn't turn out all that great, but it'll do for now.

WELCOME TO STAR I'm going to include a few of the antique photos of Star, too, just to give you a feel for the place as it was way back when. This is the sign at the entrance to town, as you may have already surmised.

STAR TEX I though this was an old Texaco station, as indicated sign and the gas pump, and it might have been before. The "Star Tex" sign you see was actually added onto the photograph, I believe. Check out the next shot.

MOBILGAS STATION Okay, now this has to be the very same building as the last shot. Hmm.