Marking Time #33 - Camp Howze

If you drive from Texas to Oklahoma and back as much as we do, you will quickly notice that near the border, on the Texas side, are signs indicating a that there is a World War II monument in the area.   Which begs the question, "What part of World Wart II happened in North Texas?"  A little exploration led to this Historical Marker:

The marker reads:

     "In operation from 1942 to 1946, Camp Howze served as an infantry training facility during World War II. It was named for General Robert Lee Howze (1864-1926), a native Texan whose distinguished career in the United States Army began with his graduation from West Point and included service in France, Puerto Rico, Germany, a South Dakota Indian War and the Philippine Insurrection, 1899-1902. 
     Clifford McMahon of the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce first contacted Federal authorities with the idea of establishing a military installation here. Attracted by the community's active endorsement of the plan, the government activated Camp Howze on August 17, 1942, under the command of Colonel John P. Wheeler. In addition to infantry training, the base was also the site of a German prisoner of war camp and an air support command base, now part of the Gainesville Municipal Airport. Services provided for the soldiers included camp exchanges, libraries, chapels, theaters, service clubs and a base newspaper, the "Camp Howze Howitzer." 
     The economic and social impact of Camp Howze on Gainesville was significant and was instrumental in the town's rapid growth and development. (1982)"

So apparently in the 1940's, near Gainesville, TX,  the Army operated a Training Base/POW Camp.  But if you go to the location today all you see is an empty field behind an historical marker.  That's because the Army had always intended it to be a temporary facility.  The buildings were not made to last and after the war they were torn down.  Some concrete foundations can still be seen if anyone wants to look for them.

In a letter to his sweetheart (which can be read along with tons of other old letters on this great site), PVT. Prune R. Brooks mentioned the shoddiness of the buildings, helping to explain even more why there's nothing left of them today.

He writes:

"11/28/44 

Dearest Donna,

Well honey here I am down in Camp Houze Texas and what a hell of a camp. The buildings are so old and so about to fall down. But the south is very beautiful and the girls are pretty as the devil. I stopped off in Fort Worth Sunday and went roller skating and met a few very nice girls and had lots of fun.

This will be a very short letter till the next. I haven't much time. Honey I want you to write often and please send your picture. I send you mine for Xmas. I will close for now and will compose soon again 

Love,
Verne"

But if you are in the mood to stop during your drive along I-35 to snap some pics of something historic, you can hit the Texas Travel Information Center in Gainesville (and take a much needed restroom break) to see the other historic World War II monument.

Look behind the great big Texas photo op and you'll find the 103rd Infantry Division Monument.  Sculpted by artist Edd Hayes and titled "A Call to Duty," the monument pays homage to the 103rd who trained, in part, at Camp Howze.

It's amazing what you can learn along the roadside.

Dallas-Opoly is Kind of Lame

At some point, on a birthday or at Christmas, you have probably received a themed version of Monopoly from a well intentioned relative.  Regardless of your varied interests, there is most likely a version of the popular board game meant to stuff your stocking.  To further our speculation, you probably opened it once, maybe even played it, and then put it on the shelf reserved for things you never touch.

All that preamble is to bring up the topic of "Dallas-opoly," which I found at Walmart recently.  Admittedly, expectations were high.  Perhaps too high to live up to.  Upon cracking open the box here is a professionally photographed marketing picture representing what I found:

The upside includes that all properties have been renamed as Dallas locations (with the exception of the Mesquite Rodeo which is included for some reason).  For example, the famed locations of "Boardwalk" & "Park Place" are now Reunion Tower and Fair Park.  Here's a look at some of the deeds:

Great shout-outs to locations in the city but other than the names, that's about it.  No location pictures, or specific information is added to the game and they all seem to be arbitrarily assigned to groups.  Additionally, the traditional "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards are replaced with "Contingency" and "Big Fun" cards.  Many of them aren't Dallas-specific but here's a sample that are:

My final complaint, and biggest disappointment, is the game pieces.  The totally generic tokens include a hand (maybe for Big Tex's hand?), a star (Lone Star, ok I get it but c'mon), a heart, a cowboy boot and a cowboy hat.  Sure, some of these can be related to Dallas but you can't tell me that most of these don't show up in Houston-opoly or even Sante Fe-opoly. 

There are surely better choices that specifically relate to Dallas and even though no one asked me I decided to make suggestions:

Making the pieces Reunion Tower, the Woofus, the Dallas Zoo Giraffe, the Pegasus, the Chapel of Thanksgiving and Big Tex would have gone a long way towards saving this game.  I can only hope that the makers of "Dallas Scrabble" and "Dallas Candyland" are taking note of this.

Hulk Sighting in Dallas

Recently the Dallas Observer finally became readable when it turned into the Daily Bugle to promote the Dallas dates of the Marvel Experience Tour.  The mock paper mainly contained thinly veiled ads promoting ticket sales but they did manage to slip in a news story about the Hulk wandering around Parkland Hospital:

Big Tex Choice Awards 2014

This year the State Fair of Texas celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Big Tex Choice Awards by doing the best thing possible: letting the public attend.  And in a moment of questionable judgement, the even let us in!  After the judging took place all of the attendees got to sample all of the finalists.  So let's break it down:

"Is All This Really Supposed to go Together?" Category

 

Deep Fried Breakfast for Dinner - I've always wondered why more food vendors at the Fair haven't taken advantage of the elements that make up the most important meal of the day.  Sure you can find Deep Fried Biscuits & Gravy but other than that the pickins' are slim.  But this year someone finally figured out that eggs, bacon, cheese, ham and everything else that tastes great at breakfast would taste even better wrapped up and deep fried.  This one works any time of day.

(EMI Score: 8 out of 10)

Twisted Texas Tacos - This one may be an overreach since it seems like the makers were afraid they would leave something out.  Deep fried beef brisket is the star of the show but is joined by all the Texas food favorites they could stuff into a tortilla.  Coleslaw, Mexican cheese and sweet pepper corn try to fight each other for the eater's attention but the best addition to the party is the crispy fried okra.  It made me wish I had a big bowl of it on the side.  My unsolicited opinion would be to not fry the brisket, slap some BBQ sauce on top and call it a day.

(EMI Score: 4 out of 10)

State Fair Brew/Funnel Cake Ale - Remember last year at the Fair when you wished your funnel cake tasked more like beer and your beer tasted more like funnel cake?  Probably not but it seems like Funnel Cake Ale NEEDED to happen anyway.  I would say that the brewers showed a little too much restraint since the flavor is more of a sweetened ale than a remembrance of the deep fried dessert.  If you get one, go all the way and get the "powdered sugar on the rim" option.  Then go get a funnel cake.

(EMI Score: 6 out of 10)

Ball Category

Fried Gulf Shrimp Boil - This is one confounds me.  It's a perfectly fried ball of food and yet for some reason it definitely reminds me of a bowl of gumbo.  It's a popular entry this year but, much like every shrimp dish ever, I wish there was more shrimp in it.  It's worth a slot on your snack roster and definitely wins the prize for best dipping sauce (remoulade).

(EMI Score: 7 out of 10)

Fried Sriracha Balls - I never went all in with the recent sriracha craze but it does make sporadic appearances on my plate.  But for the full-on sriracha fanboy, this one is a must.  However, not surprisingly, if you don't like sriracha, you won't like this.  The perfectly textured bites contain chicken, corn, green chilies and tomatoes which all take a back seat to the sriracha spice.

(EMI Score: 6 out of 10)

Chicken Fried Loaded Baked Potatoes - Footballs are also balls so football-ish shaped food can go in the Ball Category...so there.  Reminiscent of a pierogi, this entry falls victim to a misleading name.  The inside of mine contained some cheese and a small amount of bacon but I wouldn't describe them as "Loaded."  Don't get me wrong, a plate of these would be perfect comfort food on a rainy day but you gotta take things up a notch at the State Fair.

(EMI Score: 5 out of 10)

Dessert Category

Fried Sweet Texas - This one seems to be flying under the radar, maybe because it just makes too much sense.  Imagine a perfect melding of your favorite Texas treats: pecan pie, peach cobbler and buttermilk pie that is deep fried and paired perfectly with vanilla Blue Bell ice cream.  This one is a great match for the Fair.

(EMI Score: 9 out of 10)

Deep Fried Texas Bluebonnet - Calm down, no actual bluebonnets were harm in the making this dish.       This is a clever combination of blueberries, a muffin stuffed with cream cheese, white chocolate and whipped cream.  My only issue is with the blueberry glaze that had a bit of an odd after taste.  Interesting creation, though.

(EMI Score: 7 out of 10)

These are all worth a try individually but if you want to do the State Fair right, you know what you need to do:

It may have been one of the best lunches of my life and I totally recommend it.  And if anyone is questioning the scoring method, the only thing I've given a 10 out of 10 to is Fletcher's Corn Dogs.  So take that as you will.

So here's how the awards break down:

Best Tasting

Big Tex: Fired Gulf Shrimp Boil

EMI: Deep Fried Breakfast For Dinner

Most Creative

Big Tex: Funnel Cake Ale

EMI: Deep Fried Texas Bluebonnet

See you at the Fair!

Studios at Las Colinas

Devin takes a look around the movie props and memorabilia that used to be on display at the Studios in Las Colinas.

See Saw

Not too long ago our travels led us to Leander, TX which was one of the filming locations for the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, considered to be one of the most influential films in the genre.

The grisly "warning" scene at the beginning of the film was shot at Leander's Bagdad Cemetery.

The cemetery is also used in another scene at the beginning of the film.  The scene doesn't show too many recognizable landmarks but you can see a tombstone marked "Pickle" in the film which is still there.

If that doesn't satisfy your inner Leatherface, you can always head up to the Fort Worth Stockyards.  The World Famous Tattoo Ranch has what they claim is the "Original Saw" from the movie on display:

You can also check out the live snakes that hang out there:

On Location #40 - TNT's Dallas Episodes 16-18

Episode #1 - - Episode #2 - - Episodes 3 & 4 - - Episodes 5 & 6  - - Episode #7 - - Episode 8 & 9 - - Episodes 10 & 11 - - Episodes 12-14 - - Episode #15

 Well we've clearly fallen behind on this so we'll try to burn through a few more episodes to catch up.  Luckily these featured a lot of interiors and Southfork shots so there's not a lot for us to track down.  Let's start near downtown Dallas:

Rebecca's new apartment is in one of the newest buildings in the city, Museum Tower:

The new building caused a controversy with its neighbor, the Nasher Sculpture Center.  As the reflection (at certain parts of the day) was described as a "Death Ray" by visiting art lovers.

The next episode featured a return location to Adair's Saloon in Depp Ellum:

John Ross and the family detective meet there to discuss various Ewing schemes and shenanigans.  You may also remember it as the post-oil strike celebration location in the first episode.

Sadly the next episode features the death of an icon.  The storyline had J.R.'s murder taking place in a hotel in Mexico:

But the famous and historic Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards played the part of the Hotel Colon:

Dallas the show and Dallas the city will never be the same without the villainous J.R. Ewing and the legendary Larry Hagman.