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You'll Be "Glad" You Did!!!

Fred Miller

John L, I may have asked you this before, but I don't recall, after all, I am an old phart...

When you were with Shell in Houston, were you in the the building on Louisiana St. in downtown Houston?  I ask because when I worked for JPMorgan Bank in Dallas as an analyst, I worked every other week in Houston at the JPMorgan Tower at 600 Travis downtown.

I always stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Louisiana.  I walked the tunnels between the hotel and the bank mornings and nights.  And I remember passing by the Shell Tower each trip.  This was from 1991 to about 1995. 

Who knows, we could have run into each other at some point...

John Landess

Fred,

I was in Houston on temporary assignment, and worked mostly in engineering in our Wood Creek facility. I was downtown on numerous occasions though, and often wandered the tunnels during lunch time, They were amazing. This was in 1985.

When the family came down, we leased a really nice home in the Katy area (Williamsburg Settlement), and my kids went to various schools out there.

When I retired in 1993, I had to attend meetings downtown with my wife. These meetings were to prepare one for retirement. The joke was that they had to untrain you from working.

We stayed in the Regency at that time also, and walked the tunnels daily. My wife was amazed at all the businesses down there.

Houston is a pretty cool big city.

ps: Lee Blanton worked downtown quite a bit and later was assigned to the New Orleans office, when I was there working out in the gulf.

Ray Marshall worked for Shell also, but I am not sure where he was assigned. He did a lot of International work.

Rex Booth

In 1965, Dean Martin went back to Houston. I passed through Houston on a Greyhound Bus in the summer of 1961, headed to Lake Charles. At the bus stop in Houston, there were a lot of guys I talked with heading to Fort Benning, Georgia, for boot camp, Airborne, and Rangers. I finally went back to Brylcreem. That was quite an adventure... Whew!

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

I was reading about John L's story about wondering the 
tunnels in Houston made me think/remember when 
I was in Atlanta, Georgia, putting in a Sally Beauty Store,
we went to the undergound stores down town! 
As a little girl raised in a "Small Country Town" I was amazed
and a little in AWH!
Roswell had very few basements! I had seen a fruit cellar.
Moving to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware In 1966 I was
also amazed with all the big towns, that ran one after another, the
traffic and "STRANGE" People!! HAHA Country Folks aren't
use to those type of things!

 

Rex Booth

Yes, I can relate as another small-town kid.  A year after going to California, the LP gas company I was employed, transferred me to Los Angeles. Talk about one town after another! One never knew when you passed through one town and entered the other.  It is wall-to-wall houses and shopping centers that repeats itself like Pete and Re-Pete...

LA County covers 4,000 square miles and is home to almost 10 million people. Within LA County, there are 88 "incorporated" cities, each with its own city council. There are also 125 "unincorporated" cities within LA County. 

Construction of the "Imperial Highway" began in 1931. It was the main artery going from east to west, passing through Orange County, LA County, LA City all the way to the Pacific Ocean, ending just south of LAX airport, stretching a total of 82 miles through city after city. In the 1930's one of my uncles drove a big-rig truck hauling fruit and vegetables from huge farms in Imperial Valley all the way to El Paso.  In those days, the Imperial Highway was only a two-lane road. 

Fred Miller

Had an exciting contest here in Texas.  I spit coffee when I saw the name of the winner... Chunkasaurus Rex!

r

Rex Booth

Ha! Chunky-saurus rex made me Chuckle!  Be glad it wasn't "Tyrannosaurus Rex"...

Rex Booth

Have you carved a pumpkin and put it on your porch, yet?

Rex Booth

T'was walking through the forest and came upon...

Rex Booth

Quoth the Raven: "                "......

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

It seems the entire world is celebrating Halloween today but I don't do Halloween. But I do celebrate the following. 19 years ago today David and I had our first date.  What a fun time we had. Talking, sharing, laughing!  So on those following October 31st evenings we always went out to eat and celebrated our wonderful life together. I’m sad for my loss but my heart is full remembering our precious time together. Love each other well while you have time. ❤️💕🥰

Charline Lake

Paula 

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

Paula what a beautiful story. Thank You for sharing.
I know you miss David! 
 

Fred Miller

Rex Booth

Paula,

What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us  ~ Helen Keller

Rex Booth

Fred Miller

It has taken me all these years to finally realize that when you replace the "W" in What, When and Where with "T"....you get the answer to each question.

So would "who" wind up being Tho...?   ~  Only The Shadow Knows 

Rex Booth

Roman Roads: New digital map expands the empire’s network to nearly 300,000 km by Dario Radley 

November 9, 2025

A new high-resolution digital map of Roman roads, called Itiner-e, is providing the most detailed picture yet of the Empire’s vast transportation network as it existed around 150 CE. Published in Scientific Data, the dataset almost doubles the previously known length of roads, now totaling 299,171 kilometers (185,896 miles) across almost four million square kilometers.

Section of the ancient Roman road Via delle Gallie in Valle d’Aosta, Italy

At its height in the second century CE, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain in modern-day Europe to Egypt and Syria in Africa and Western Asia, with over 55 million inhabitants. Its extensive road network was vital for administration, trade, military logistics, and cultural exchange. Despite centuries of research, however, the network has never been completely mapped, and earlier digitizations have lacked high resolution.

Itiner-e was developed by Tom Brughmans, Pau de Soto, Adam Pažout, and their colleagues by combining archaeological and historical sources with modern and historical topographic maps, satellite imagery, and remote sensing.  

Digital Map of Ancient Roman Roads - "Zoom out" to see all of Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. 

https://imperium.ahlfeldt.se/

Rex Booth

Celebrating Veteran's Day

Marine Veteran still going at 101

Rex Booth

Rex Booth

Tommy Weathers

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

Rex. Love your crazy cartoons. They always bring a smile to me. 👏👏😊

John Landess

Tommy,

Wow, it took you quite awhile to decide on the playboy thing!! I mean if that is what you were referring to?

Rex Booth

Paula,

Well now, I'm happy it put a smile on your pretty face! My warped sense of humor could be wrapped up in this song by Waylon Jennings,  "I've always been crazy... but it kept me from going insane"!!  

This song is dedicated to you, Paula!  Hope you enjoy the fun!

"The Highwaymen":  Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson 1993