I had made it to the Dallas ‘burb of Garland the evening before. I could’ve pressed my luck and made Austin late in the evening, but this was meant to be a vacation before Lee would be putting me to work right away.
Dallas wasn’t very far from Austin so I took my time getting ready and headed for the infamous Book Depository. Not too hard to find neither. They’ve built up whole museum dedicated to Kennedy, his presidency, Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination. Don’t recall any details elaborating on Jack Ruby or the inept Dallas police department. I was there in early 1994 so the sores of Oliver Stone’s movie in 1991 were still pretty fresh then. If you’re curious (or morbid), you should see the Sixth Floor exhibit in downtown Dallas. One major thing you can’t see in the Zapruder film is the street the motorcade took curves and goes downhill. The grassy knoll theory is pretty weak if you see how close to the street it is. As the years go by, Kennedy’s death becomes as trivial as McKinley’s or Garfield’s so that’s all I’m going to say any further about it. I want to keep this site apolitical.
You must admit that it is funny in a dark way for the city of Dallas to dedicate so much to a president the majority of its residents hated (and still do).
As a going away prank, there was a guy at my last job who was obsessed with the assassination, so I called DG’s 800 number. He wasn’t available and I got his boss (also my former) to leave a message from Colonel X. At least he got to enjoy the prank.
It was smooth sailing to Austin from then on via I-35. The weather was overcast with drizzling rain but it was over 50 F on February 3 and I could wear a light jacket! The earth would have to be 25 million kilometers closer to the sun for that day to ever happen in the Midwest. I also knew I was officially in Texas when I used a rest stop on the way down. It was practically outdoors due the lack of full-sized walls, lighting and climate control.
When I arrived in Austin, I had overshot the exit for University Towers so I had to drive around the UT campus. Then found the dorm that would be my future employer for the next two years, reported to the front desk only to discover Lee would be in class for the next several hours. I think I made the best of it meeting the staff, soaking up the environment and moved the rental car to the parking garage.
Lee arrived with Eiko, who I had only known from letters, calls and photos. They helped me get settled into the room I was assigned, took me to the mall for some quick threads for work (had to start the next day) and a welcome steak dinner at Dan McCluskey’s on Sixth Street. I always remember that our waiter disappeared, foreshadowing how rotten service was in Austin during the Ninties.
I went to bed excited about how things were going to change for the better. It took at least a year for any traction to happen in that department but no matter how tumultuous life became in Austin, it was always better than shivering and being bored out of my skull in Central Illinois. I have little regret about rolling the dice on this place.