Texas Tidbits: Another Look at the Concho City of San Angelo

San Angelo

I posted this on August 11, 2010. It lead to the start of a great friendship with my good buddy, Bob Zeller. I think it's worth a second look.

If you read more than one post on this blog, then you know that I am a trees and water kind of guy, like in East Texas. For some unknown reason, however, the rugged beauty of the desert has a bit of a mysterious hold on me. I can't explain it, other than to say it's a sort of sagebrush voodoo or something. Segue to San Angelo. San Angelo is one of those places where it's not quite desert and  it's not in the Piney Woods or Big Thicket, I could live there and be happy. It doesn't exactly hurt my feelings that there is a state park and O C Fischer Lake lies within the park and snuggles up right next to the San Angelo city limits. The city got its humble beginnings when after the Civil War, Fort Concho was established as an outpost to protect the flood of settlers heading west to find their fortunes. At one time Fort Concho was home to the Black Cavalry, which the local Native Americans called the "Buffalo Soldiers", earning great respect from the white soldiers they served with and, of course, the Indians. In those days, San Angelo was a trading center for settlers in the area, but as sanangelo.org states "The discovery of oil and gas, the influx of light manufacturing, the initial development of a communications center, the establishment and growth of Angelo State University, and the growth of the medical community provided diversification to a growing community. Today, this city of 90,000 is the trade and services hub of a 13 county area, supported by agriculture, manufacturing, education, business and health services, military, tourism, and retirement." Geographically, San Angelo is almost the bull's eye on the dartboard that is Texas and it ain't far from being a bull's eye on the dart board of places to live.

Texas Tidbits: Hobos, Me and the Hobo Festival in San Angelo

Boxcar Willie?

I have for many years, had a fascination with hobos. Why? Well, it's certainly not the extravagant, stable lifestyle they lead. It's the sense of adventure and the desire to, as the Hobo Motto says, "do what you want to do." Freedom is what I call it, like riding a Harley. At this point in my life, I have neither the time nor desire to be a hobo. I am happy living out my life with my wife and young children.

Back in the 60's when I was a little boy, I remember hearing the song Mama Tried by Merle Haggard. The first line in the song has stuck with me and fueled my imagination for almost fifty years...

"The first thing I remember knowin'
Is a lonesome whistle blowin'
And a youngun's dream to ride,
On a freight train leavin' town not knowin' where it's bound,
No one could change my mind but Mama tried..."

That is pure poetic fuel for the active imagination belonging to a little boy whose dream to explore "parts unknown" was as strong in him as the need to eat and sleep. Just think about it, traveling, by fright train having no idea where each leg of your journey will lead you and what challenges await you when you get to the destination. Pure dee, old time, freedom dependent on your ability to think on your feet and sheer  determination and ability to adapt to the situations laid at your lap.

It just so happens that a Hobo Festival will be taking place on the 21st of May in San Angelo. Accord to the folks putting together the Hobo Festival, here are the details:

The Railway Museum of San Angelo, 703 S. Chadbourne
FMI: 325-656-2067
Join us for a flea market, food, live music, a hobo costume contest, and more.

There's the information that'll get you to the Hobo Festival, so make good use of that info and join several thousand other folks being a Hobo for a Day. I am loving this event!

"The first thing I remember knowin'
Is a lonesome whistle blowin'
And a youngun's dream to ride,
On a freight train leavin' town not knowin' where it's bound,
No one could change my mind but Mama tried..."

I couldn't have said it better myself. And that lonesome whistle is a siren song to me...


                            

Texas Tidbits; Welcome to Our New Home Town

As many of you have learned by now, Heather and I are moving to Texas soon. Oh, yeah...we're gonna take the kids with us, too. :) Anyway, the question I get from you the reader most often is, "Where are you moving to?" We considered many locations, but the one that kept coming back to us was San Angelo. It's a little "big" for my liking with 92,000 people and I am a small town kind of guy, but other outstanding qualities of the Concho City convinced us that is the place for us at this time. It has great schools (my little girls are 4 & 8), 25 City Parks, One badass State Park, two bigass lakes (the fish will fear me soon enough), great health care, warm and DRY weather which will be perfect for my arthritis and fibromyalgia and enough "big city" amenities, like What-A-Burger (!), H-E-B, Albertsons, Sam's Club, WalMart, etc. the most precious commodity that San Angelo has waiting for us is the friendship of the Funky Old Dude Bob Zeller and his wife of over 50 years, the lovely Ann. Bob and I have been blogging buddies for about a year and developed a very close friendship over that time, so it'll be a pleasure to hug Ann's neck. Oh! And shake Bob's hand. :) I could go on, but I thought instead, that I'd repost something I wrote a while back that has lots of good info on our new home-to-be.

Ladies and gentlemen...I present to you:

The Concho City

San Angelo

If you read more than one post on this blog, then you know that I am a trees and water kind of guy, like in East Texas. For some unknown reason, however, the rugged beauty of the desert has a bit of a mysterious hold on me. I can't explain it, other than to say it's a sort of sagebrush voodoo or something. Segue to San Angelo. San Angelo is one of those places where it's not quite desert and  it's not in the Piney Woods or Big Thicket, I could live there and be happy. It doesn't exactly hurt my feelings that there is a state park and O C Fischer Lake lies within the park and snuggles up right next to the San Angelo city limits. The city got its humble beginnings when after the Civil War, Fort Concho was established as an outpost to protect the flood of settlers heading west to find their fortunes. At one time Fort Concho was home to the Black Cavalry, which the local Native Americans called the "Buffalo Soldiers", earning great respect from the white soldiers they served with and, of course, the Indians. In those days, San Angelo was a trading center for settlers in the area, but as sanangelo.org states "The discovery of oil and gas, the influx of light manufacturing, the initial development of a communications center, the establishment and growth of Angelo State University, and the growth of the medical community provided diversification to a growing community. Today, this city of 90,000 is the trade and services hub of a 13 county area, supported by agriculture, manufacturing, education, business and health services, military, tourism, and retirement." Geographically, San Angelo is almost the bull's eye on the dartboard that is Texas and it ain't far from being a bull's eye on the dart board of places to live.

Texas Tidbits: October in Texas, Cooler Weather, Cool Events

With only a couple of days left in September, I thought it might be a good time to check out what's happening in the Lone Star State in October. The biggie, of course, is the State Fair of Texas at the Fair Grounds in Dallas, where Big Tex will greet more than three million visitors from around the world. About three weeks ago I did a write up about some of the fried foods featured at this year's fair, including fried beer! The State Fair runs through October 24.
Here's a list of a few more shindigs happening around Texas in October:

• The 32nd Annual Festa Italiana takes place in Houston October 15-17, paisan.
• In Fredericksburg the 30th Oktoberfest is slated for October 1-3.
• My blog buddy, Bob Zeller at Texas Tweeties will be a busy man over the next few weeks as the approaching winter up north will usher millions of birds into Texas, making it one of the best bird watching opportunities in the world. Bob is a Wiz with his camera, so scoot by his place to get the latest on which of our fine feathered friends are migrating into the San Angelo area. 
• Here in New England we are hitting the peek of our fall foliage viewing, but in Texas they are getting warmed (cooled down?) up for it, and there's no better place in the state to see the transition from summer to fall than Lost Maples State Natural Area.

Any or all of those events would be worth the drive to take part in, so make your plans early. Make a long weekend of it by going to the State Fair in Dallas, then down I-45 tom Houston for the Festa Italiana, then head west to the Hill Country for Oktoberfest and fall scenery viewing at Lost Maples and finally meet up with Bob in San Angelo for some birding at one of that area's lakes or the state park in San Angelo. Now that sounds like a plan.

Texas Tidbits : The Concho City

San Angelo

If you read more than one post on this blog, then you know that I am a trees and water kind of guy, like in East Texas. For some unknown reason, however, the rugged beauty of the desert has a bit of a mysterious hold on me. I can't explain it, other than to say it's a sort of sagebrush voodoo or something. Segue to San Angelo. San Angelo is one of those places where it's not quite desert and  it's not in the Piney Woods or Big Thicket, I could live there and be happy. It doesn't exactly hurt my feelings that there is a state park and O C Fischer Lake lies within the park and snuggles up right next to the San Angelo city limits. The city got its humble beginnings when after the Civil War, Fort Concho was established as an outpost to protect the flood of settlers heading west to find their fortunes. At one time Fort Concho was home to the Black Cavalry, which the local Native Americans called the "Buffalo Soldiers", earning great respect from the white soldiers they served with and, of course, the Indians. In those days, San Angelo was a trading center for settlers in the area, but as sanangelo.org states "The discovery of oil and gas, the influx of light manufacturing, the initial development of a communications center, the establishment and growth of Angelo State University, and the growth of the medical community provided diversification to a growing community. Today, this city of 90,000 is the trade and services hub of a 13 county area, supported by agriculture, manufacturing, education, business and health services, military, tourism, and retirement." Geographically, San Angelo is almost the bull's eye on the dartboard that is Texas and it ain't far from being a bull's eye on the dart board of places to live.