Houston, We Have a Problem

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Well, I think Houston may BE the problem! Okay, it's incredibly late. Okay, I'm exhausted from flying from NM and then getting to the airport only to find that the shuttle I booked ages ago wouldn't come for two hours ... Okay, so I had to get a taxi I can't afford (they swear they will reimburse me but not 'til next week ...). Okay, so they shifted my hotel and when I got here they know nothing about my pre-payment and may yet start quibbling it (and I can't pay twice!)... Okay, so it's just foggy/ smoggy as hell and one great twelve lane freeway with malls either side .... Okay, so the Bushes come from here .. . Okay, they have capital punishment and an oil obsession .... Okay, okay, okay!!!

As you can see I'm not enamoured with Houston so far, but I'm hoping some sleep (Americans don't do halves, so they'd say it's 11. 30) and morning light will change my mind. After all, it's fascinating to be staying on a road called NASA 1 and to see all the stores named after something spacey (not Kevin), such as NASA Flowers! (Makes the mind boggle, what kind of flowers they would invent!) I actually got very excited at viewing two model T38s en route - they're the planes the astronauts train in. I saw some of them getting ready to fly in them at Kennedy.

I saw four jet fighters take off before us at ABQ - the white rocket fire coming out the back and their sheer speed is mind-blowing. I want to fly - and fly one of those! I'll be sick to the stomach, but I'd like to go up there and roll around. I might write to the RAF and spin my book line. I guess I watched Top Gun too many times as a teenager!

I'm planning to go over to JSC tomorrow and see mission control - another of my nerdy dreams. They have tons of simulators too - so I'll be battling off the ten year oldes for those! Back off little boys and bitches - I landed the shuttle! (The guy who went in the simulator after me apparently shoved its nose into the ground, so I feel very smug!)

And, of course, there's the huge space man hanging off the roof of the local McDonald's here at Clear Lake - I would too. Hang off the roof, that is - if I were there. I've had enough junk to last a lifetime ... well, 'til tomorrow as it's all I can afford! No, I had a salad wrap tonight! Greens! I'm also having dinner with Dottie Lee, an early NASA engineer, tomorrow night which should be fun. Foolishly, I forgot my dictaphone - it's in DC - so I'll have to take notes. But then my idea is more to pick up ambience and authenticity than accurate history. Have to read the rest of her oral history interview in the morning so I feel confident in my questions. Scary in a way! I feel so honoured! But she seems so nice. I met her ex-husband's former NASA secretary at the airport! What a small world!!

I really wish I'd flown down here earlier today - I wouldn't be so wrecked and I really did nothing much in ABQ this afternoon. Just schmoozed around a Barnes and Noble. Was too worn out to get downtown and do museums and so on. I am aching an awful lot, but that's to be expected with all this running around and the high altitude in NM. I'm doing much better than I thought though!

I just wish money was less tight. I have to get to the downtown here and see the Rothko Chapel somehow - it's free and the bus is apparently cheap. I'd also love to see the rodeo, but that might be beyond my means! Oh, I'm such a cowgirl at heart - I love the fashions and the horses!! And I adore the boots!!

There's a nice humidity and heat in swampy Houston - let's hope by tomorrow I haven't decided that that too is a problem!!! Night, night. Mind that the mosquitoes don't bite.

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Comments

[Carolyn]

Humid Houston
Yes, the humidity. A friend lived there for three years and had to use heaps of hair gel to prevent total frizz lift-off. On the plus side, and if you need to cool down, there's an ice-rink at one of the malls! Carolyn