1969~ Summer 1969 Killeen, Texas

A new adventure for the family was a trip to Killeen, Texas. 

A total of 13 people are traveling in a pickup truck with a camper shell mounted on the truck bed.

These included the mother, father, their eight children, two grandchildren, and a son-in-law. 

The family was taking their daughter and granddaughter to be with her husband, who was stationed at Fort Hood in the Army.

The truck was full of everything the family needed for the trip: food & clothing.

The daughter had brought several boxes with her.

A full-size mattress was placed on the truck's bed. The father and son-in-law took turns driving, stopping only to eat and use the restrooms.  

The women took care of the children and food. 

Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, southwest of Waco. Killeen is a ranching village in a cotton-growing region that is home to Fort Hood Military Base. 

It is 759 miles, which will take about twelve hours. The family left late in the afternoon, which meant driving all night. 

The family had been riding for hours, and when it became too dark to see, they all fell asleep on the mattress. 

The father was doing the driving, but he felt himself drift off to sleep.

The father was awakened by a loud horn honking, which alerted him that he was swaying on the interstate. He was so frightened that he stayed awake the rest of the night. 

There were no video games during this time, and the kids had to make up things to do. 

The kids would look at the tags on cars and trucks to see which state they were from.

Another fun thing was reading billboards. 

Texas is a big state, and when the father said we are in Texas, the family rejoiced, but needless to say, they still had to ride several more hours.

The family did not care much for the flat state of Texas, with its oil wells everywhere.

After several long hours on the road, the family finally arrived at the son-in-law's home. 

He lived in a three-bedroom trailer outside the army base. 

The kids could not wait to get out of the truck and stretch their legs.

The food and clothing had to be unloaded and taken inside.

The kids played outside until dark, when the mosquitoes started to bite. 

That night, the smaller kids slept on the floor. The mother and father had one bedroom to sleep in. The two couples with their six-month-old babies also had a bedroom to sleep in.

They were not kidding when they said the mosquitoes swarm like flies, and they are as big as elephants in the state of Texas.

The next day, the family spent a relaxing day swimming in the lake near Belton.

That afternoon, the women went shopping, checking out all the small shops nearby.

The next day, the family loaded into the truck, leaving behind one daughter and one granddaughter.

They started their twelve-hour journey home. No one fell asleep.

The family had a great trip, even though they rode hundreds of miles in the back of a pickup truck, and they were bitten by mosquitoes.

Their father almost wrecked the truck on the interstate. Taking a trip to the big state of Texas. 

None of this mattered to the family because it was a family vacation, so much like the Vacation movies that Chevy Chase made. 

1962~ The Battle of Shiloh April 6-8, 1862

1962~ The Battle of  Shiloh April 6-8, 1862 

The Battle of Shiloh:

The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was significant in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. 

A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and was encamped principally at Pittsburg Landing on the West bank of the river. 

Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant there.

In the summer of 1962, our family attended the one-hundred-year Centennial of the Battle of Shiloh. 

We were vacationing in Savannah, Tennessee, with my dad's friends Ronnie and Maria Cornelius.

Ronnie's parents lived in Savanna, within walking distance of the Shiloh Battlefield, where the

A reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh was taking place.
Ronnie, Maria, and their children were staying with Ronnie's parents.

From the Cornelius home, we could see the Merchants (Sutlers) setting up tents with period-style goods to sell to reenactors and the public. 

There were men dressed as Union and Confederate soldiers, preparing to engage in battle.

We were amazed as we watched the cannons and rifles being fired during the reenactment

The smell of gunfire (burning powder)and black smoke filled the air. The battle raged on, men were dying, bodies covered the ground, what an awful sight, death.
We walked back to the Cornelius house, and Dad was ready to return to our vacation campsite on the Tennessee River.

We had arrived in Shiloh in Dad's new Blue Dodge pick-up truck, pulling our red and white nine-seater outboard motorboat.

The truck bed was filled with eight kids, water skis, orange life jackets, swimsuits, extra clothes, food, and water.

We had come prepared to swim, fish, and camp on the Tennessee River.
We brought a large green military tent for all our belongings and for all of us to sleep.

Dad and Ronnie had put out trot-lines early that morning, and by late that afternoon. 
They had caught enough catfish to cook for dinner.

After Dad and Ronnie had cleaned all the catfish, they built a roaring fire.

Mom had a cast-iron pot with a handle, and it hung over the hot, roaring fire.

Mom would fill the cast iron pot full of Mazola oil when the oil was boiling,

she would drop in the catfish. 

While the oil was still hot, Mom would make hush puppies and drop them one by one into the pot.
She stopped cooking hush puppies when there was enough for the family.

In preparation for our upcoming meal, we would cover the picnic tables with a white sheet.

We would set out paper plates, forks, napkins, cups, ketchup, tartar sauce, and cups for iced tea.

We had purchased a cooler full of ice at the local store.

The kids would retreat back into the Tennessee River until dark, leaving mom to clean up after dinner.

It would be way after nine when we headed to the tent and would fall onto our pallets (a place for us to sleep.

We would be awakened by the buzzing of vampire mosquitoes, which left red blotches everywhere on us.

Insect repellent was the most.

We were invited to eat Sunday dinner with the Cornelius family.

Mrs. Cornelius had prepared cornbread, meatloaf, fried potatoes, white beans, corn, and apple cake for dessert.

Our vacation included eating catfish, camping, skiing, and swimming on the Tennessee River, and the reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh.

My least favorite thing about our vacation was the vampire mosquitoes.