Goin Down South......... — Steve Chivers Photography

Well dear reader, I ended the last blog, “A Week with Mary” as we left Queen Mary 2 and boarded a Cunard shuttle bound for Newark Airport in New Jersey.

I guess we could have taken a taxi but Cunard had done a wonderful job so far so we closed our eyes, paid the money (USD 120) and sat back and relaxed as we were duly delivered to Newark Airport, Terminal A with our usual 8 hours to spare, just in case we missed the flight. As I reminded Mrs. C the early bird always catches the first worm!

Now US domestic airports are a bit like catching a bus so we were expecting no frills and Newark Airport ensured that we were not disappointed. Going through security was a breeze until we were invited to check in our fire arms! Hmmmm, I did have some lip moisturiser which was the nearest thing I had to an offensive weapon other than my camera gear.

Once security saw my beautiful Leica Type 246 and associated lenses I almost caused the presence of a SWAT Team. Everything had to come out of my back-pack and be inspected. It would have been far easier to check in an assault rifle.

As I went through the body scanner all seemed fine until security cried out “halt, do not move, take off the bandana”! This I where I realised that the UK and USA are nations separated by a common language. I was not wearing a “bandana” but in fact a blue and white “neckerchief” around my neck, which by the way, I was wearing in rather a jaunty fashion (its called style). Given that our security guard was carrying a sidearm and was glaring at me in a rather alarming fashion, his rather contradictory instruction gave me cause for thought. Should I (a) freeze as instructed or, (b) should I move and remove my neckerchief (aka Bandana). I decided to risk it and remove my lethal neckerchief. Fortunately the situation de-escalated back to DEFCON 5 and I was allowed to pass through security. It makes you think though doesn’t it.

Once in the terminal I needed something to calm my nerves. Clearly a Snickers bar was the order of the day. Then to my horror they wanted USD 5 for a single Snickers Bar and that was before tax! Those that know me well will testify that I am not mean-spirited in the wallet department. However, USD 5 before tax was above and beyond all things reasonable. Shaken but not stirred I settled for a USD 7 (before tax) cup of coffee! I soon realised that Newark airport had been designed to take as much cash off you as possible in the shortest space of time.

As I supped the most expensive coffee known to man I checked my phone to see where my luggage was currently located. To my surprise the Apple Tag lodged in the luggage showed it somewhere over the US mainland en-route to Houston! We then saw that United Airlines had changed our flight to go from Terminal C. So there was an earlier flight with room for luggage but United did not think to ask us if we would like to join our luggage on the earlier flight. We had also passed through security and now found ourselves in the wrong terminal! That week of carefree relaxation aboard QM2 already seemed like a million years ago.

Eventually we managed to find a shuttle and were dispatched to Terminal C where we boarded our flight to George Bush Airport in Houston Texas.

The flight was actually quite comfortable and as we left arrivals and went in to baggage reclaim Rachel and Jon were waiting for us with beaming smiles.

After much hugging Rachel lept in to action like a coiled spring. Within 5 minutes she had organised the United Airline ground staff, located said luggage and we were en-route to Chez Ward.

The next morning we were all up early to be treated with Rachel’s analogue scheduling system:

Now, the creative juices were in full flow and I was already busy with the Type 246 shooting imagery for this blog, when I should have been watching the toast that was under the grill.

It was only when flames were spotted that Kate lept to the rescue, said flames were doused and calm was restored. At this point the technology defeats me but my blog would have been playing “Burning Down the House” by Talking Heads.

I then said to Mrs. C that it wasn’t my fault (mistake one) and that I didn’t mind carcinogenic toast (mistake two). It then became a little difficult to capture any further imagery with manual focus lenses with Mrs. C’s foot on my neck! I was already on a roll……

Panic Over and fresh toast being inserted in to the grill and not where Mrs. c said it should be inserted!

A welcome from the “Ward Watchdog” at the top of the stairs.

After a rather delicious coffee and un-carcenogenic toast, we headed straight out for our first adventure, a visit to “Mission Control”, The Space Centre Houston.

On the move with the Type 246 set to range focusing.

Even the storage tanks looked like flying saucers.

The benefit of our week across the Atlantic on QM2, other than the fine food and rather excellent Martinis, was that we arrived as fresh as a daisy and with zero jet lag.

Before arriving at the Space Centre Rachel advised that we would check out a local souvenir store that would provide all the usual NASA souvenirs but at a fraction of the cost. We eventually arrived at Amy’s Souvenir store. We were warmly welcomed by Amy herself and sure enough we left with armfuls of souvenirs at very friendly prices. We then took the 10 minute drive to Houston Space Centre itself.

First glimpse that we were getting close.

Now let me tell you, this place is not just for kids but has been specifically designed for big kids liked Jon and me. This is all “Boys Own” stuff and from the minute we entered I knew we were going to have a great day.

Our first objective of the day was to get up close and personal with a space shuttle, which was sitting on top of an actual Boeing 747.

Note the angry sky in the distance - This was hurricane season.

Houston we have a problem……Where is the cup-holder?

We then wandered around a mock-up of Skylab and a history of space exploration and I managed to grab the following imagery.

Even in space, when you have to go…… you have to go!

Yours truly would definitely need to lose some weight to fit in there.

What we didn’t realise was that in addition to the visitor centre, Space Centre Houston is still a fully functional federal facility. We were taken to the actual “Mission Control” from which the first moon landings were directed. It really was tremendous and took me back to those black and white BBC TV programmes where Michael Burke would present and analyse the various Apollo missions. They even recreated the whole landing and then we were allowed to capture a few images.

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.

Great capture of our dear friends and hosts Rachel & Johnathon.

Unfortunately the Apollo Saturn V exhibit was not open but this gives you an idea of its size.

Artemis - Man is going back to the moon.

What a day! you could spend a whole week at Space Centre Houston and it is something not to be missed.

On our return Rachel wanted to introduce us to some local cuisine and we stopped off at “Crazy Alan’s Swamp Shack”.

The food was great cajun seafood. All manner of shrimp, crawfish, catfish and of course alligator. Our waiter said that if we wanted gator that they had a small one in the tank which could be easily dispatched and served with French fries and a cajun sauce! We decided to allow the Gator a stay of execution and went with blackened swamp shrimp pittas….delicious!

Day two involved me not burning down the house and we visited the Glenwood Cemetery. This cemetery is located in the centre of Houston and provides both a fantastic view of the downtown Houston skyline as well as the history of the great and the good of Houston in a beautiful, tranquil setting. Everywhere I looked was a photo opportunity.

I loved the Juxtaposition of someone buried within something that is living.

My personal favourite from our Glenwood visit.

As we headed down to breakfast on day three Rachel’s analogue schedule puzzled me. How could a petrol station be a destination? However, as we pulled off the interstate in to Buc-ee’s all became clear.

Like everything else in Texas Buc -ee’s is larger than life. Built around Buc-ee the beaver (yes I have heard all the beaver jokes both clean and near the knuckle), they allegedly have the longest car wash in the world, almost 300 petrol pumps at each station and a store containing all the things that I didn’t know I wanted, all at very attractive prices.

Add meat, more meat and then extra meat, mix in some chilli, drown in gravy and serve in a bread roll.

For all Chivers family members, can you guess where we bought this years Christmas presents? :-)

After our pit-stop at Buc-ee’s we headed on to Brenham, Texas to Jon’a all time favourite ice cream maker.

Blue Bell have been making ice cream for over 100 years. This is a home grown Texas company who only started exporting outside of Texas in the 1980’s. Whilst they no longer do formal factory tours there is an observation deck from where you can see the entire operation.

Moreover, they have an old-school ice cream parlour which serves all its flavours at USD 1 per scoop and by scoop I mean a Texas Scoop, so huge. There was a constant stream of locals visiting with their families and everybody seemed to be in their individual happy places.

Blue Bell manufacturing facility, Brenham, Texas.

I loved this image from its advertising campaign from the 1970’s.

This image is from another of their advertising campaigns and reflects the company’s roots within the local community.

What a great day! We had experienced the Beaver and got sugared-out in Brenham. We were now en-route to Frericksburg, Texas for yet more adventures. Look out for my next blog, “The Devils Backbone”.

See Y’all.