THE CAISSONS GO ROLLING ALONG



Mother Nature was kind enough to give us a break in the rain so we could enjoy the Veterans Day Parade.

Killeen Texas is home to Fort Hood. Fort Hood is the largest Army base in the Country, and Killeen is a great place have a Veterans Day Parade in the older downtown area.




The 1st Cavalry Division Band leads off the parade!

My son-in-law is 1st Cav.

There are several High Schools in the Killeen ISD, but Killeen HS was the first, and they are the ROOS....well, actually, they are the Kangaroos...but be careful what you say because their pride runs deep.

Every high school has ROTC program, and they are huge....and considered a valuable presence on campus......

....every single one of them


If I had known about this guy representing the Y....

...and this guy, who represents himself, JJ would have been marching too, and he will next year!


Veterans from every war were honored



Our debt to some is enormous

The First Cavalry, First Team covered wagon has a dog....



And they ride in the Rose Parade in Pasadena CA on New Years Day...
And last but not least....

Hot cowboys soldiers on horses!


Waving at Grandma J
I loved this small town Veterans Day Parade!!


* FYI, I stood on a corner, and the formation of some of the groups look a bit askew as they made the turn.

IF IT'S SUNDAY.....

......then this must be Saturday....part II, III and IV

It's been one of those days when you don't stop from sunrise 'til sunset.
Like floating down a lazy river in Texas. Because, if you remember, rivers are the infrastructure of choice when it comes to travel in Central Texas.

Here is where it begins and ends......


I have highlighted my travels this past Saturday for you on this River Map of Texas.
That's home there in Killeen, and after my early morning book signing trip, see Saturday, Part I, I headed to the City of Lampasas for my granddaughter's basketball tournament. The population of the town of Lampasas is about the same as one basketball team with four alternate players.


The family wouldn't miss a tournament for the world.

Neither would this guy...who doesn't have a horse in the tournament. He likes basketball, any basketball.....plain and simple.

We watched my granddaughter shout orders to her teammates on the court...

and from the side lines.

After traveling back home...I changed clothes and headed out to a birthday party for one of my neighbors in the Compound....Donna. Donna invited everyone to her daughter's home to celebrate. She is one of the Aqua Aerobics members, and more specifically, Donna is the one who said Theodore Kaczynski, the Una bomber, was her pen pal.

Donna gets two birthday cakes...one huge one to serve to the 85 guests, and one small one for the candles. It seems last year Donna blew so hard she ended up spitting all over the cake...and no one would eat it.

After Donna opened her gifts of cigars, booze and bath salts, I bid her farewell and best wishes....even though the sun was setting, my day wasn't done.

See here on the map? I headed north on the faux river known as the I35 corridor past the city of Waco to Bellmead Texas, which is really still Waco.

I arrived just in the nick of time to watch the first of two baseball games for my grandson.

This one, with the goofy smile!

And remember the basketball player?

She was there too....to talk on her cell phone cheer on her brother.

The last game was yet to be played, and it was after 9pm. Since it would be after 11 PM when the game would end, and the next game was early Sunday morning, the team parents decided to get hotel rooms so they could party make sure the boys got a good night's sleep.

I had other priorities.......

Making sure He didn't spend the night alone.