The Heart of Texas

On Friday the 13th of September, Steve and I arrived in Austin to see our daughter Shelby’s family. Guitars at the Austin Airport baggage claim promised a rousing welcome, which is just what the Eidson family extended to us. Shelby and Sean both work from home, so in the afternoon we relaxed in their newly remodeled living room. That evening we celebrated Sean’s birthday with a wonderful dinner at Dai Due, a restaurant that specializes in Texas-grown game and produce. Click here for sample menus. The next morning Shelby and I were up early to enjoy a spectacular sunrise from their balcony, as Sean and Steve took Stephen, 16, to play in a Junior PGA golf tournament at Brackenridge Golf Club in San Antonio. Thomas, 13, enjoyed a few more hours of sleep before going with Shelby and me to meet them in San Antonio.

The 85-mile drive from Austin to San Antonio on Interstate-35 took almost two hours.Concrete dominated the scenery. There were concrete factories in each town and scores of new concrete pillars along the way, ready for more highway interchanges with burgeoning towns like Kyle, San Marcos, and New Braunfels. By noon on the first day of the  tournament, Stephen had finished two under par.

After a delicious lunch, we all visited The Alamo. When I was in fifth grade, every boy I knew had a coonskin cap and we all sang this song:

“Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, Greenest state in the land of the free. Raised in the woods so he knew every tree, Kilt him a bar when he was only three. Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.”

Many new displays had been added since I had visited the Alamo in 1968, 1985 and 2003. We saw James Bowie’s knife, Davy Crockett’s cap, and artifacts recalling Bonham, Fannin, Travis and other Alamo heroes. Many Texas streets bear their names. Instead of taking pictures, I enjoyed observing how my grandsons reacted to this famous place, which many regard as the “Heart of Texas. Missing in any display was the book, Forget the Alamo, which Sean gave me for Christmas three years ago. Some attitudes have changed in the last seventy years! On the way home that afternoon, Shelby chose a more serene, pastoral route than the one we took that morning. I was reminded of trips through Texas in my earlier days.

 

On Sunday, Stephen returned to San Antonio with his father and grandfather for the conclusion of the tournament. Stephen finished with even par! Back home, Thomas showed me his new guitar before setting off to practice with his band for a couple of hours. I had lunch with Sharon Flynn Blythe, a Phillips friend of many years who now lives in Lake Travis. We reminisced about how lucky we were to grow up in such a unique town as Phillips. All our fathers worked for the Phillips Petroleum Company, that generously supported our school. Sunday evening we picked up my niece, Sarah Barker, who had just completed her first month at the University of Texas and enjoyed a Shelby-cooked dinner together.

From sunrise on the first morning to sunset on the last evening, it was a short visit, but crammed full of great food, interesting conversations, and heartfelt love. We felt so lucky to get to see the Eidson family in action and we look forward to a longer visit in Florida at Christmas.