Four Wheelin'

We took the new four wheeler out to the land in Palestine today and wore the new off of it pretty quickly! It was fun, but I'd rather wait for some trails of some sort before doing much more riding, especially perched behind Rodney. I didn't mind going over logs and getting slapped in the face by limbs, but going down a steep slope was more than I could stand. We found the area where the lake will be, and it has some pretty serious dropoffs leading down to it. I had to whoa at that point.

'Tis the Season for Parties!

My staff Christmas party was great fun! The turnout wasn't as large as expected, with the cold weather and so many other things going on at the same time, but those who braved the cold and the long drive to Tyler had a really fun time! We had lots of good food, and the champagne punch warmed everyone up nicely. The hit of the party seemed to be the Wii--I didn't know some of those mild-mannered folks had such a competitive streak! I only took a few pictures--Rodney was the party photographer, but the cord to download photos from his camera is missing and I had to order a new one. So we'll have to wait on the official party photos.

National Historic Overlay Dedication

Yesterday, I attended a dedication for the first National Historic Overlay in the city of Tyler. It's a small 2-3 block section near the Charnwood, Brick Street, and Azalea Districts which includes our house and 14 other residences, the Presbyterian Church behind us, and the Fitzgerald House and the Woman's Building. Basically, it means that when our grandchildren come back to visit this area with their grandchildren, they can say, "It looked just like this when we were young." If you look at this news broadcast, I'm sitting listening to the mayor speak. It was followed by a reception in Don and Bonny Edmund's house. They are the nice folks who let Susan photograph in the lovely area behind their home.

An American Icon

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Rodney and I were fortunate today to meet one of the legends of the automotive industry. Wikipedia gave the following information about him and his impact on the industry.

"Carroll Shelby has had an impressive impact on automotive racing and design over the last 50 years. Starting out amateur, he soon became a driver for the Cad-Allard, Aston Martin, and Maserati teams during the 1950s. Driving for Donald Healey, in a streamlined and supercharged, specially-modified, Austin-Healey 100S, he set 16 US and international speed records. Teamed with Roy Salvadori, and driving for Aston Martin, he won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans. He drove in the Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race in a specially prepared Ferrari roadster, to a record run of 10:21.8 seconds on his way to victory in 1956. He was Sports Illustrated's driver of the year in 1956 and 1957. After retiring from driving in October 1959 for health reasons, he opened a high performance driving school and the Shelby-American company. In the shop he designed and built the famed "Cobra" cars, which were derived from an AC chassis and powered by Ford V-8 engines. Shelby went on to help design some of the most successful and beautiful cars of the era: the GT40, the Mustang-based Shelby GT350 and Shelby GT500, and of course the 427 Shelby Cobra. Parting with Ford, Shelby moved on to help develop performance cars with divisions of the two other Big 3 American companies, Dodge, and Oldsmobile. The most memorable of these cars was the Dodge Viper. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1992."

He signed the dashboard of both Rodney's Shelby Cobras and was gracious enough to pose with us for photos. Many thanks to him and to Mike Craig Ford for arranging this meeting!