Visiting the USS Texas was a multi-sensory event for a kid that grew up in The Woodlands.
First. Travel by refineries. WTF!? The smell. The sights. The fires!!! Where are all the pipes going??!? Rotten eggs in my nostrils! Shit is on fire!? Why do we need petroleum products?
Second. Fast food. DQ, to be specific. I don’t know where we stopped. I was probably busy playing with my red GameBoy pocket to know. But damn, we didn’t have DQ in The Woodlands.
Third. That cool ass monument with the star. Texas was born here? Odd choice.
Finally, the battleship. Badass. Majestic. Walking over the gantry to the deck and immediately putting yourself on one of the anti-aircraft guns. Nothing like it.
Going with my grandfather, who was a Korean War vet. Listening to his stories of circumnavigating the globe in his destroyer. Learn what ports he got his tattoos in and hear him talk shit about the officers as we walked through their quarters—seeing his quarter—I definitely needed to be an officer.
The anchor. Wow. I did not know chains could be that big. Learn how my grandfather hid from those POS officers in the anchor well while at sea. Probably dangerous and easily I don’t exist.
The engine room! Fantastic!!! How far down are we!? I think I’d rather be on the bridge.
And finally, the big guns and seeing the size of the shells. I do not want to be on the receiving end.
What a great boat.
This.
and pro tip. You can get a second passport while you wait for your primary passport to return with whatever visa you sent it in for. Although if you enter the same country with a different passport and it’s only been a month between visits it does raise some eyebrows. Easily explained though.
I’ve mailed my passport for visas from Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, and Pakistan with no issue.
Don’t get a parking ticket like me. I was only 4 minutes late. I went to the admin building to argue or negotiate and simply got to pay it there instead of online. Saved the processing fee though.