Tag: texas

The dividends of freely offered friendliness

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.”
—William Arthur Ward (1921-1994) American motivational writer.

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We met Bobbi Jo at a restaurant across the street from our Appleton, Wisconsin hotel. Her smile was exactly the kind of welcoming presence one needs a thousand miles from home. Exhausted after a long day enjoying an airshow … and swatting ginormous mosquitoes rivaling those found in East Texas.

The official name of the world-famous airshow and aviation gathering we were attending is EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. But just say “Oshkosh” around anyone who knows their aileron from an altimeter, and they’ll tell you exactly where we were.

Wittman Regional Airport, 30 miles from Appleton, is the home of Oshkosh. The world’s largest aviation extravaganza features daily aerobatic performances, historic warbirds, and aircraft exhibits attracting around 700,000 visitors. All in one week in July when this quiet Midwestern airfield becomes the busiest airport in the world with more than 10,000 planes flying in creating some 16,000 aircraft operations.

And, when every hotel room, spare bedroom, and makeshift space for miles around is booked years in advance.

I loved airshows long before I logged my first hour as a pilot. In fact, the ink was still wet on my new license 40-plus years ago when I flew a Cessna 172 from Mount Pleasant, in the northeast corner of Texas, down to Harlingen at the southernmost tip of the state for the Commemorative Air Force airshow—one of the largest regional aviation events in the South.

To most pilots, major airshows represent a small slice of heaven on earth. And as a once regular Oshkosh attendee absent now for a decade, my yearning gets strong about this time every year.

But I digress anytime you get me to talking about airplanes.

It’s memories of people like Bobbi Jo that prompted this missive. Years spent working trade shows from New York City to Los Angeles, and San Francisco to Orlando meeting countless friendly people everywhere. Memories that keep me smiling, reminding that even in a society ill with divisiveness and hate, friendly still begets friendliness when we remember to share it.

Like the day Bobbi Jo greeted me and my Oshkosh trade show colleague and friend, Jim Altom. “Hi guys, how are we doing today?” her voice rang out loudly in the busy restaurant. “Can I start ya off with some cheese curds?”

“Yes,” I responded. “And we’re great. How ‘bout you?”

“Blessed to be here, don’tcha know,” she returned warmly. “How about something to drink while ya look over the menu?”

“Sweet tea please,” I replied. “Same,” Jim echoed.

She paused, looking at us with a knowing smile. “You two are from Texas, aren’t ya?”

“I guess it’s the accent,” I laughed. “Or was it the sweet tea?”

“Well, that too,” she said. “But honestly, it’s because you’re so polite. People from Texas are always polite, and politeness cures whatever ails ya. Right?”

Then she added, “Texas is quite a haul! What brings ya up to Wisconsin? Let me guess—the airshow.”

We both nodded.

“So, what part of Texas do you guys call home?”

“Originally from Northeast Texas but spent most of my life in Center, small town near the Louisiana border,” I said.

“North Texas, over toward Dallas,” Jim added with a nod.

“Texas is just huge,” she remarked with emphasis.

“It is,” Jim agreed, leaning into his natural sense of humor. “Did you know that back in the covered wagon days, if a baby was born in Texarkana while a family was crossing the state line, by the time they reached El Paso, that baby would be in the third grade?”

Bobbi Jo laughed loudly at the old Texas tale. “You guys are definitely Texans. Always polite and always bragging about your home state.”

For me, politeness and humor have always functioned as a universal language. Everywhere I’ve been, here and abroad, I’ve found that freely offered friendliness is most often repaid with dividends.

The 73rd edition of Oshkosh is just around the corner, and a return trip just isn’t in the cards this year. One more time I will miss the greatest aviation celebration on earth, the best cheese anywhere, and mosquitoes that are jokingly (kind of) called the state bird.

And I’ll miss that Midwestern hospitality like Bobbi Jo freely shared. Matching that of any Texan, and guaranteed to cure “whatever ails ya.”

—Leon Aldridge

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Leon Aldridge is a veteran editor, publisher, and communications professional, currently enjoying semi-retirement while awaiting his next challenge. His columns appear in: The Center Light and Champion, The Mount Pleasant Tribune, the Rosenberg Fort Bend Herald, the Taylor Press, the Alpine Avalanche, the Fort Stockton Pioneer, the Elgin Courier, The Monitor in Naples, and Motor Sports Magazine. © Leon Aldridge and A Story Worth Telling 2026. Feel free to use excerpts with full and clear credit given to Leon Aldridge and ‘A Story Worth Telling.’

A return for the championship round …

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t… pays it.
— Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born physicist, considered one of the most influential scientists.

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It’s your shining moment on the big television game show. The emcee declares loudly, “For today’s jackpot and a chance to come back next week for the grand prize championship round … what is the Eighth Wonder of the World?”

While there appears to be no single official list of “wonders of the world” found among internet intelligence, real or artificial, several unofficial lists claim legitimacy. Included are Natural Wonders of the World, Ancient Wonders of the World, and the New Seven Wonders of the World. The latter still leaves one wondering what the Eighth Wonder of the World might be.

But if, like me, a card-carrying Texan old enough to remember when a dollar’s worth of gas would get you to school and back all week, then you don’t have to be an Einstein to know the correct answer. The architectural masterpiece dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World in Houston was part of our youth.

All of this came to mind recently after passing the world’s first domed sports stadium for the first time in many years. I was lost in Houston, a common occurrence when I visit there, but I knew where I was when I saw the Astrodome.

Originally named “The Houston Domed Stadium,” the name was reportedly changed in 1965 when the new expansion team, the Astros, opened the stadium with a 2-1 exhibition victory against the New York Yankees. It was the age of space exploration, and Houston had just landed the NASA Space Center. Local businessman R.E. “Bob” Smith teamed with former Houston Mayor and Harris County Judge Roy Hofheinz to develop what would become known as the Astrodome.

“The Eighth Wonder of the World is looking a little forlorn,” I thought when I saw it recently. Less glamorous than when it was a frequent destination for me in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Astros Baseball games. Oilers football games. Motorcycle races. The Fat Stock Show and Rodeo.

My relationship started with sports. Sitting high in the only domed stadium in the world. Taking it all in with Mount Pleasant friend, Randy Brogoitti. The baseball was great, but the after-game concerts by country music stars of the day were icing on the cake.

Into the ’70s, my focus shifted to championship motorcycle racing. Anticipation for the January trek from Mount Pleasant to Houston for Camel Pro Series racing began building the day after Christmas. The Mount Pleasant crowd making the trip differed yearly, but Oscar Elliott and I were always there. My archive of thousands of Kodachrome slides includes trackside shots of 70s standouts like Yamaha rider Kenny Roberts. Waiting to be viewed one more time. Along with press and trackside credentials for many of the events.

Fat Stock Show and Rodeo entertainment hosted in the ‘Dome included names like Alabama to Alan Jackson, Bob Dylan to Chicago, Conway Twitty to Dolly Parton, and more. Record attendance concerts over the years included Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, and George Strait, who set the venue record at 80,266 at the last show in the Astrodome in 2002. Strait’s “One Last Time” performance closed the Rodeo and said goodbye to the Dome.

Even Evel Knievel staged one of his historic motorcycle jumps, successfully clearing 13 cars there two nights in a row.

But for all its records, glory, and history, time caught up with the Eighth Wonder of the World in 2008 when the Houston Fire Department declared it non-compliant with fire codes. The seating was removed, and parts of it demolished, rendering it closed.

In 2014, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In a 2023 competition by the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), a University of Houston architecture team spent the summer studying the building. A plan was proposed to transform the iconic structure into an indoor public street with a botanical garden, retail space, hotel rooms, and a massive museum dedicated to the Dome’s history.

The concept was awarded first place. However, according to information available, county leaders have yet to respond. Still, local architects are hopeful the plan will save the historic architecture.

Seeing the famous stadium recently renewed old memories. Restoration will take lots of money at simple or compound interest rates. But maybe she will get a chance to return for the championship round soon.

“Yes, Alex, I’ll take $1,000 for Eighth Wonder of the World in Texas.”

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Update: This piece was penned last Monday and appeared in print publications around midweek. Thursday, an article posted in the Texas Flyover, an excellent online news source with all Texas news content, announced the unveiling of a $1 billion redevelopment plan by the Houston Astrodome Conservancy. The plan seeks to turn the empty Eighth Wonder of the World into a multipurpose space with four modern buildings, a retail village, and a central boulevard inspired by New York’s High Line.

It also stated that The Conservancy hopes to raise up to $750 million from private sources.

So, it appears that the historic structure will get to return for the grand prize championship round after all.

—Leon Aldridge

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(Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons – Reliant Astrodome)

Aldridge columns are featured in these publications: The Mount Pleasant Tribune, the Rosenberg Fort Bend Herald, the Taylor Press, the Alpine Avalanche,  the Fort Stockton Pioneer, the Elgin Courier, The Monitor in Naples, and Motor Sports Magazine.

© Leon Aldridge and A Story Worth Telling 2024. Excerpts and links may be used, provided full and clear credit is given to Leon Aldridge and ‘A Story Worth Telling’ with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.