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If you have been following this blog you will know that we came to USA to attend Shayne and Elizabeth's wedding. We decided to turn the trip in to a month's holiday. So far we have travelled 3,300 miles in our little blue Toyota Yaris over mountains, through salt lakes, over the high plains and beside lakes. We have ticked off the Pike's Peak visit and today ticked another event off the bucket list. We are in Dallas, Texas.
Greg is a bit of a history buff as most of you would know. He always has a story to tell and has a vast knowledge of World History. Today we got to visit the site of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's assassination. Greg has vivid memories of 22nd November 1963 - yes he is that old. He was 10 at the time of this historic event. He remembers going out of his house in Moruya and one of the kids who lived across the street called out and told him that the President of the United States had been shot. Greg raced back inside and turned on the television to confirm what he had been told. This memory has been the motivation for our visit to Dallas on this trip.
After a sleep in we set off for Downtown Dallas and Dealey Plaza. To say that Greg was a bit excited would be an understatement. He has read many versions of the assassination of President Kennedy and was eager to see where it happened.
We purchased our tickets to the museum and spent the next two hours reading the information on display on the sixth floor of the former Texas School Book Depository - where Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President Kennedy. The museum was packed and some of the visitors were quite emotional when watching some of the video footage of the events surrounding Kennedy's death. Pictures on the walls were accompanied by an individual audio narrative for each visitor. Video footage added to the story. The corner window (known as the sniper's nest) where Oswald took his shots from was preserved as a replica of what it was like on the day. A replica rifle of the one Oswald used was also on display, even cameras used by spectators to take photos of the Presidents motorcade were on display. The most famous footage of the assassination was taken by Abraham Zapruder and his footage was displayed as a second by second account of the event.
After our visit to the museum we headed down stairs to explore the Grassy Knoll. We walked the area from side to side and Greg got up on to the very spot where Abraham Zapruder had taken his video footage - of course Greg took some footage of his own. We walked out on to the road (when the traffic lights were red) in front of the Grassy Knoll where there are two crosses on the road to show where the two shots hit President Kennedy. Greg also checked out the area behind the fence at the top of the grassy knoll and made his own conclusions, based on his military knowledge, as to some of the theories that surrounded this event.
Something we didn't know before our visit was that the road in front of the grassy knoll is not flat, it falls away at about a 45 degree downward slope making the shots from the sixth floor of the building quite believable. We also found out the reason the Secret Service took President Kennedy's body from the hospital before an autopsy had been performed - the newly sworn in President Johnson would not leave Dallas without Jackie Kennedy and she would not leave without her husband's body - so The Secret Service were tasked with collecting Kennedy's body and delivering it to Air Force One at Love Airfield.
Satisfied with our visit we went to explore the West End of Dallas. We found a memorial to Kennedy that is supposed to represent an open tomb. We also found Wild Bill's Western Store and wandered around checking out the cowboy boots before deciding that we simply wouldn't get any wear out of them back home - but we were really tempted to buy a pair each.
We returned to the car and drove the route that Pedsident Kennedy's motorcade had taken - down Main Street, right into Houston and then sharp left in to Elm where the President was shot.
Satisfied that we had fulfilled one of our travel dreams we set off in search of an afternoon activity. As we got closer to our hotel we discovered a street that had several of our favourite shops to visit - motorbike shops! We stopped in to Dream Machines of Texas and chatted to one of the salesmen about the possibility of buying one of their 350 motorcycles and then reselling it to them after a tour of the USA. They couldn't see any problems with the idea so we tucked their business card into our wallet, were given a free t-shirt each and said our goodbyes with the idea planted that we might return one day. We also visited a Kawasaki dealership and then Honda/Aprillia/Triumph dealership. We met Mike and spent quite a bit of time discussing the Isle of Man, MotoGP and Nicky Hayden. He gave us a few Nicky Hayden memorial stickers and said he hoped to visit Philip Island for a MotoGP one day.
We found a restaurant close to our hotel and discovered that it was supposed to be the best seafood restaurant in Dallas - we couldn't argue with that claim as our dinner was delicious.
We decided to extend our stay in Dallas by one day - your will see why in the next blog entry!
- comments
Mick Reilly You are going to Waco the scene of another historical event?
Christopher Rent a bike and then bring it home! I bet the stickers end up on a white Triumph in Europe in 2018.