Monday, October 29, 2012

A Moving Target


I'm back!
 Tom and I headed north on Thursday to a family event; a milestone birthday for one of my brother in laws. The drive between Houston and Ft Worth is a fairly easy trip of 378 miles (235 Km), though long. There are a couple of choices of ways to go, and we alternate from time to time, to alleviate the boredom.. This time, we headed straight up I-45 toward Dallas. Ft. Worth and Dallas are only 30 miles apart....forming a huge metropolitan area that is now called the Metro-Plex.
                                  Not far out of Houston, to the north, lies the town of Huntsville, Texas

Drivers almost have a wreck when all of a sudden ,nearing Huntsville, this enormous  *statue of Sam Houston appears. Standing 67 ft tall (20.42 meters) on a 10 ft base (3.05 meters)..He certainly gets your attention!

Rolling down the highway at speeds of 75 mph...and no place to pull over, it's rather frustrating to folks who want to take a photograph (me included). Some folks have pulled over on the side of the road, causing accidents. Actually, there is a way to get to the statue, but you must exit a mile or so before the statue even appears!

Sam Houston  (1793-1863) was a Texas hero. He led the attack on Santa Anna and the Mexican army, at San Jacinto, in retaliation for the battle of the Alamo. He became the President of the Republic of Texas (before it became a state). He  was also Governor of Texas once it acquired statehood, and a U.S. Senator.
Sam Houston is buried in Huntsville.

Come back tomorrow and I will introduce you to Ft. Worth...where the west begins...
* artist of the Sam Houston sculpture is David Adickes.
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11 comments:

  1. Never knew Houston was named after a person. You can't miss him when driving by, 20.42 meters is huge!

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    1. Indeed he is. You know what they say about TEXAS!

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  2. And how did you get this one Janey, I have a mental image of you hanging out of the car window haha!

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    1. Did you actually see me Gracie? That is exactly what I did!

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  3. i've made that drive a couple of times. long, indeed.

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  4. Hello Janey:
    Well, one learns something new every day as we had no idea that Houston was named after a man. The statue certainly is eye-catching, Sam would surely have been proud!!

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  5. The first time I saw this statue it scared me. The road appears as if it is going to go right through the statue until it curves before you get to it. Then I could not stop laughing because until you get right up beside it, it looks as if he is about to step right out into the road. It is HUGE beyond your imagination!

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  6. Looks like some directional signs are in order to avoid some of the confusion. Can't blame anyone for trying to get a photo of that magnificient statue.

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