By Judy Hitchings, F93640
June 2016
June 2016
For 29 years, members of the Heartland Execs. chapter have gathered to rally with friends. Last fall, our destination was Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.
We arrived Saturday, September 26, at Texas Motor Speedway, which was our home for an activity-filled week. After greeting everyone at happy hour, we were treated to a catered dinner from Amore Italian Restaurant in Dallas.
On Sunday the speedway hosted a type of event that most of us had never experienced: a Red Bull Air Race. Wow! How thrilling to see pilots maneuver airplanes through a maze of pylons over the track, make a loop flying upside down near a building, and then start all over again. If you get a chance to see an air race, it’s well worth the time.
The next day we visited the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. It offered so many interesting details of the day President John F. Kennedy was shot and the days that followed. We stood near the window from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal bullet. That night we lightened things up with a fun dinner at Babe’s Chicken Dinner House in Roanoke.
After our Tuesday morning business meeting and lunch on our own, our next stop was the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth. This was followed by an excellent Mexican dinner at Joe T. Garcia’s. Dining outside among the waterfalls and a canopy of tropical plants was a perfect ending to the day.
On Wednesday we toured the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. We saw both the very serious and the more jovial sides of the presidency. In the replica of the Oval Office, visitors could have their photo taken while sitting at the president’s desk. The “Sept. 11 Remembrance Display” includes a 22-foot pulverized steel beam from the World Trade Center in New York.
Our Thursday adventure took us back to our younger years. It was senior citizens’ day at the State Fair of Texas, the country’s largest state fair. Many of us ate our way through the multitude of tempting offerings, which included corn on the cob and just about anything fried, including elephant ears and a Texas specialty, Fletcher’s Corny Dogs. Our day was topped off with an open–air concert by the U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps.
Our last day included a car show, a ladies’ shopping trip, and relaxing. That evening, we were the dinner guests of our rally master, John Knott. We enjoyed a wonderful meal in the elegant atmosphere of the Speedway Club at Texas Motor Speedway.
The next day, before our early-morning departure, hugs and warm wishes were abundant. Next year we will gather in Branson, Missouri, to celebrate our chapter’s 30th anniversary.