Another Wyman!

[butchlambert]

I vividly recall during my tenure as a student at Texas Tech, the day another person in class asked me where I was from. When I told him Benjamin he sort of scoffed and said, “yeah, I go through there sometime and if I blink I’ll miss it.”
Over the years I’ve often revisited that conversation and chuckle when now it seems so many people would like to live in a town this small out here in the Big Empty where coyotes, bobcats and wild hogs own the town after the curtain of darkness falls.
Recently I sent my drone up for a test run just at sunset and was inspired to grab a shot as evening sunlight kissed the western horizon. The expansive view brought back memories of old photographs I have seen of Benjamin in the early 20th century with mesquite trees and open rangeland between buildings. The majestic old courthouse, demolished in 1935, stood like a monolith among the sparse buildings scattered about.
Looking down at the pickup and trailer crossing the intersection revived memories of the day some 40 years ago when I was running low on fuel while flying a 1946 Aeronca Champ and landed in town, taxied up to the brick gas station at the intersection and “filled er up” with fuel. As I taxied back onto the highway to take off, I thought, “only in Benjamin…”
This town and the surrounding landscape has been instrumental in shaping my life and for that I will always be thankful.
Incidentally, the only other plane to land and taxi to the exact spot where I refueled so long ago was during WWII when a P-38 Lightning experienced engine trouble and taxied into Benjamin for the night. I’m sort of proud to be in such company!!
Wishing all a great week!

 

[ebb]

Dad said he learned to fly on the GI bill in an Aeronca Chief. He soloed and one of the maneuver's he was required to perform was to dive at the large brick smokestack on the campus at Mountain Home veterans home in Johnson City Tenn. When he met the instructor after wards, he told him that he did not think he would continue flight training. His reply was OK maybe that's for the best if that's what you think.

 

[K22]

I spent some brief time in the late 70's in Bay City, Texas performing technical audits at the South Texas Nuclear project. If anyone ever saw the movie the "Last Picture Show", they can appreciate a small Texas town. One traffic light, limited service, and great "down to earth" people.

I can remember drinking Lone Star beer and eating burritos at the local 7 Eleven. But what really got my attention was at one, and think it was the only one, bar in town. It had a sign on the entry door, "Do not Enter with Your Gun." The fact that they had to post such a sign said to me that these were my kind of folks.

However, I was not bold enough to tell any Texans that I was from Pittsburgh seeing how the Steelers beat the Cowboys in two Super Bowls at that point in time. I concluded discretion is the better part of valor especially with that sign posted on the outside of the bar!

 

[PaGreg]

Goodness gracious Butch. Now I’m gonna have to watch “The Last Picture Show” again.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Goodness gracious Butch. Now I’m gonna have to watch “The Last Picture Show” again.

What I remember about that show was the tart jumping in the pool not caring that she was going to ruin the watch that her boyfriend had worked hard to pay for.
It’s funny what things stick with you.

 

[JPB3]

From my late teens into my 40's I rode with a group of old cowboys.. We worked cows on many of the ranches in Ft. Bend county and a few in the surrounding counties. Many of those places are difficult to find now as the encroachment of development has taken the grass lands and river bottoms. Like Wyman, and everyone else, I have memories. Many of gathering cows on old ranches that have been sold by non caring heirs.. Eating lunch under a live oak in a set of pens long since gone. But they used to stand right over there, remember?
A thousand memories of hunting this small piece of Texas. As we ride and look at cows and fences I'll tell Vicki, that's where I shot that big buck. He was coming up that draw over there. See the wood ducks in the slough?
A life time!

 

[Kracken McGraw]

From my late teens into my 40's I rode with a group of old cowboys.. We worked cows on many of the ranches in Ft. Bend county and a few in the surrounding counties. Many of those places are difficult to find now as the encroachment of development has taken the grass lands and river bottoms. Like Wyman, and everyone else, I have memories. Many of gathering cows on old ranches that have been sold by non caring heirs.. Eating lunch under a live oak in a set of pens long since gone. But they used to stand right over there, remember?
A thousand memories of hunting this small piece of Texas. As we ride and look at cows and fences I'll tell Vicki, that's where I shot that big buck. He was coming up that draw over there. See the wood ducks in the slough?
A life time!

I can hear the cows a bawling and the bulls a fighting right there in your words as you gather them.

 

[butchlambert]

From my late teens into my 40's I rode with a group of old cowboys.. We worked cows on many of the ranches in Ft. Bend county and a few in the surrounding counties. Many of those places are difficult to find now as the encroachment of development has taken the grass lands and river bottoms. Like Wyman, and everyone else, I have memories. Many of gathering cows on old ranches that have been sold by non caring heirs.. Eating lunch under a live oak in a set of pens long since gone. But they used to stand right over there, remember?
A thousand memories of hunting this small piece of Texas. As we ride and look at cows and fences I'll tell Vicki, that's where I shot that big buck. He was coming up that draw over there. See the wood ducks in the slough?
A life time!

I love it Pat!