Mrs. Evans - Home Page

I couldn't help but plug the work of a friend for moment. Our favorite 1st grade teacher has been working dilligently to construct a class web page and I think she's doing a marvelous job and thought you might like appreciate it also. Check it out:

Mrs. Evans - Home Page

Keeping up on the weather

I've recently become reaquainted with "The Weather Underground". They offer a free weather service that I though would make a neat addition to the blog. When I travel somewhere, I'm going to post the weather info on the blog bringing the reality to the masses and giving me a chance to see what the weather's like when I wax nostalgic.

We passed IAH (Houston, Bush Intercontinental) in order to turn around and land on runway 8R. Got a fabulous shot of the entire airfield.

The Blackhawks were not as prolific but still a stunning display in the sunrise.

As we taxied to runway 15 we passed a field of Army helicopters on Ft. Hood. There were probably about 100 Apaches and Blackhawks standing by. It was an awesome sight to see so many of the aircraft stacked up, looking ready to spring to life on thier own. These are Apache attack helicopters pictured here.

Emma decided to take on some light reading while waiting to taxi at GRK.

I looked out my window and what did I see?

As I throw open the shutters of my hotel room window, I pause for a moment to take in the scene before me. It doesn't take long for my attention to be drawn to the neighboring DairyQueen at which sits a pickup truck with it's hood open. Inside the truck shoot flames like an oversize B-B-Q. I watched employees bringing cups of water or soda out to drown the fire (ha!) and even tried an extingisher to no avail. In the end the thing went out on it's own and this guy and girl went back smooching calmly until her coffee break was up.

This is even more amusing when you consider this all happened mere moments ago while in Copperas Cove, TX. I guess everything really is bigger in Texas.

After hacking though the bush to find the cache it seemed that Emma was worthy of some reward. So we went for a wade in the Lake to cool off a bit. Afterword we realized we had only some emergency clothes to change into, but Emma didn't seem to mind.

We went after a Geocache in this park on the lake shore.

A fine example of the dominant local vegitation.

Our nifty rental car. Tried and Blue, and that's about it.

This is Stillhouse Hollow lake. One of the many lakes that make the greater Killeen area a boone the water sports lover.

I don't know what these are called, but I couldn't help but stop to snap a photo.

The Blue Bonnett is the state flower of Texas and it is definately prolific. However it's not the only wild flower here in an area with roadways that are littered with wildfowers.

Emma and I played for a while after an early lunch Wednesday. This was Emmas second exposure to fast food playlands. Her first came only yesterday and didn't go well as she was scared by older kids. Today we were the only ones here on a playland where parents were welcome to play with their kids. Emma warmed up slowly, but with Dad along things became too fun to leave without any trauma.

We stood on the bridge about one hundered yards from here and saw Air Force One take to the sky as Pres. Bush left Ft. Hood. I also watched some F-16's take off and learned later from Hannah that they had been dispatched to intercept a private plane which had violated the airspace around Air Force One and forced the plane to land at GRK. Somebody didn't do thier homework before setting out via VFR.

The Maxdale Cemetary, formally dedicated in 1863, was the location of another geocache just beyond the river.

We were directed by sign to this historical marker on the opposite side of the river. It was a little aggrivaitng to not know the historical signigicance of this historical marker. We learned later from a Geocachers page that the marker was errected to praise those who built it to bridge the frequently flooded Lamprass River in1914.

Emma and I take off Geocaching near GRK while mom works. This disused bridge over the Lamprass River was a great place to get out the car, take a stroll and enjoy the lush greenery of Central Texas.

Bush tells Texas troops U.S. role in Iraq diminishing during visit to Fort Hood

HoustonChronicle.com - Bush tells Texas troops U.S. role in Iraq diminishing

We made it to Copperas Cove and into the hotel. We had no more returned form buying some snack than Emma was in her chair munching while watching TV.

Hannah snaps htis photo of a Continental 777 while we wait on the taxiway between runways 33L&R. The engines are made by General Electic and are the largest Turbofan Jet Engines ever made. The intake is six feet in diameter - meaning I, being 6'1", could almost stand up inside the air intake!

On a rare take off from the "33" runways I scored ths awesome photo of the entire George Bush Intercontinental (Houston/IAH) Airport. The plane taxing to runway 33R at the bottom of the picture is the same type of plane I'm taking the photo from. They start small and don't get any bigger as you climb.

On an ERJ-135 en route to GRK from IAH. The baby finally dozed off after mom hypnotized her from across the aisle during our long taxi.

The Great Ingram Adventure: Deep In The Heart of TexasIssue 1 - It's all GRK to me

We're visiting Killeen/Fort Hood, whose airport code is GRK, while mom closes the station in preperation for the SkyWest phase out of the Continental system. Fort Hood Home Page

Congratulations Brad & Jenn!

The inaugural issue of the Ingram Times confirmed today that Brad and Jenn are having a baby boy to be named Hunter Bradley Ingram. We at the DougandHannah blog wish them well as they prepare for thier first baby.