Waco Wrocks!

Left here Thurs. about 3pm and rolled into Gloria's yard about 9pm. She's JR's friend whom he met when he worked at the North Waco KOA a few years ago. She actually lives in Gholson, a town of about 650 east of Waco about 10 miles. She is two years older than I am, widowed with three grown sons, breeds paint horses and sells the foals, breeds chihuahuas, has an English bulldog to stud. A real Texas good ol' girl.

Friday we puttered around Waco, doing errands and such. That evening, it was off to a nearby American Legion Hall for a country dance. Linoleum dance floor, two-piece band who didn't play near enough "real" country songs. Lots of the TASA (Texas Assn. Single Adults) make the rounds of dances every week. Turnout here was not too good. The bar was in a separate room and had a bar so high that when you sat in a bar chair, the bartop was at shoulder level -- it was like being in a courtroom looking up at the judge, er, bartender.

Saturday we went to some thrift stores and a flea market. Many Hispanic vendors at the flea market with some amazingly gaudy stuff, like lime green lizard boots with toes so long that they turned up, like elf shoes. That night, off to Geneva Hall in Elm Mott TX. Twice as big as the Am.Legion, wooden dance floor, real band that played good stuff. Big crowd. Fun.

One of the standard things is a "chair dance." A chair is placed at each end of the floor, women line up there, a man comes along and seizes the next in line, dances her to the other end, releases her and grabs the waiting one. I did that once, and danced with JR a couple of times and with a few others whom Gloria knew (she's a TASA). Knees held up okay though they did feel a little warm and aspirin was on the menu for later.

Sunday I got a tour of Waco: Baylor University, Old Toll Bridge across the Brazos River, Texas Ranger Museum, etc etc. I'll do a separate post of just pictures. That evening we were off to the VFW in Hewitt TX. Not too big, concrete floor, lots of people, cold inside and 40mph wind outside, good band but they kept playing stuff that was too fast or too slow or not country.

About an hour in, I hit my "people/noise/sensory" overload and went and sat in the car, enjoying the solitude and quiet. I did go back in once to retry but it was no good, I couldn't stand it. I tried to explain to Miss May, doyenne of TASA, but she wanted to know what happened to make me so sour on people and so unhappy. No, I said, I like people, really! And I'm a pretty happy person. I just get overwhelmed and need to be alone.

JR and I left about 9am this morning and rolled back in here about 3:30. There had been some heavy rain from Waco to Austin, but none of it got here. We didn't talk much on the way. I had a good time and enjoyed myself. Gloria was great in her own inimitable way, and she and JR make a nice couple. Now I have to recuperate from all those people.