There are fewer and fewer people around who will react at the mention of something like the Joleta curve or Slideoff Hill.
There was Cedar Hill too but I'm still confused how it got it's name since every hill in the area was covered in cedar. Just some of the unmarked points of interest along the old Highway 16 route heading south out of Bandera toward San Antonio.
Jenning's Store and Pete's Place were also from another time along the familiar route of my daily commute back in my working days. John T. Floore's Country Store was situated on the main highway and not a backstreet back then.
A little further up the road was The Texas Star Inn situated close to the first sign of a traffic signal before reaching Loop 410 on my daily drive. It was just a blinking light but it was a sign of things to come.
It was right after my graduation from high school in May of 1965 when I began working in the big city. I bought my first car around that time and it was a 58 Chevy.
It wasn't anything remotely related to an economy mode of transportation but luckily gas could be found for around fifteen cents a gallon at the time.
After leaving Bandera there were two places along the way to get gas before getting into San Antonio. Pete's Place in San Geronimo and a Shamrock station just before reaching Leon Valley. Meanwhile if I happened to be working in downtown San Antonio there might be gas wars going on and I could save enough money for a beer later on.
In 1967 my Uncle Sam called and said he needed my help. It was a bit of an inconvenience at the time since I had been married for just a little over a year but away I went to Fort Polk in Louisiana.
Later when he sent me to New Jersey for some more schooling that I swore I would never be a part of after high school I took my wife along with me. It was quite an experience since neither of us had ever driven anywhere beyond 150 miles of Bandera.
Fortunately by then we had a new 66 Plymouth car to travel in as we toured most of New Jersey when I was off duty and she wasn't working at Eaton Donuts across the street from our apartment.
We even made a couple trips to New York City. A PFC in the U.S. Army and a waitress in a donut shop were living an experience in places you couldn't pay me enough to visit today.
As I am now left to travel without her by my side I can think back to our early years of growing up in Bandera and know how fortunate we were living in a time that was more carefree than these current times. Friends who knew me back in the day realize God had blessed me by sending her to be my companion on my journey through life. I wasn't known for always making good decisions and He knew I needed all the help I could get. I was blessed!
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