My Texas Adventures - Part 1

[Hans Jung]

I have been following Susan Polgars Daily News blog with interest for quite some time and have been intensely curious as to what has been going on at Texas Tech (specifically SPICE or Susan Polgars Institute for Chess Excellence) in Lubbock, Texas. In her current SPICE tournament (she has been running high quality international tournaments since 2007) she added a new section - FIDE Open Rated - and I decided it was time for me to travel down and see things first-hand. Shopping around online I discovered that Greyhound had a 15 day Discovery pass (travel anywhere unlimited in North America during 15 days) for about $350. and as I had planned to go to Lubbock, Texas and after to the Grand Canyon and total flights would cost me over $1000 I decided on the bus deal without considering repercussions. The bus trip took me thru Detroit, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Memphis and on to Dallas and finally an all night run across Texas from Dallas to Lubbock, more than 52 hours in total. The difference between Canadian Greyhound and American Greyhound is ominous. On boarding in Detroit the driver made a short speech: Besides alcohol, drugs, profane language, and smoking being prohibited - loud conversations both on and off cellphones were prohibited. The driver would give one warning then on next offence he would pull the bus over and the offender would be escorted off the bus by the state troopers. I actually saw a graphic example of that in Arkansas and my exposure to the grass roots of America (its average Greyhound travellers) thru those cities was to say the least not pleasant. One eye opening adventure occurred on the allnighter out of Dallas. Shortly before the bus pulled out a real character got on the bus. Dressed in a classy white leather Stetson and with a form fitting Levi shirt and jeans and alligator boots, he was a "real" Texan cowboy. A little worse for drink he still managed an incredible amount of charm and tipping his hat and murmuring compliments to every lady on the bus he swaggered to the rear. I managed a short nap and awoke later to a curious sight. At the rear of the bus a group of five interesting characters had managed to find their own entertainment. They had upended what looked like an old metal ashtray and placed a cafeteria style plastic tray on top. The cards were flying and a poker game was in progress. The cowboy, an older gentleman in a much worn suit who looked like a used car saleman, an aging hippy with a beard, a young gangly student, and a really old gentleman with very few teeth in his smile were what I saw when I went back for a closer look - and all 5 were smoking! (one of them a cigar). The cowboy invited me to join them - said he liked my flavor (whatever that means). I went back to my seat to get my camera and when I came back the cowboy said "you can take a picture but then Ill have to kill you". The things that go on thru a Texan night. They played until about an hour before the bus arrived in Lubbock. My first sight of Lubbock was pleasantly interesting - the bus terminal was a modern terminal designed with wings in four directions and made from beautiful brownish pink brick in the Spanish style. Although it was only 630am and still quite dark I new the mood of my journey had changed when I was greeted by Cat Stevens "Its a wide World" followed by two Stevie Nicks classics and two Buddy Holly tunes on the PA system. - To be continued

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

I wish this was Facebook and I could "like" this. Please keep it up Hans!

(I did 10 hours on the bus to Baltimore in February and it darn near did me in. 52 hours is unimaginable!)

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Hans, can you post a picture of the cowboy and his poker buddies?

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Hans, can you post a picture of the cowboy and his poker buddies?

If he could then he'd be dead.

[Hans Jung]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Neil, I dont recommend what I did to anyone. I thought the return trip would be easier but it ended up being 70 hours! (3 consecutive days and nights!)

[Hans Jung]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Part 2. Lubbock is an interesting, divided city. Several years ago a tornado wiped out the entire north east end of the city. After the rubble was eventually cleared what ended up being rebuilt on the land was city, state, federal, and educational buildings only so the result was the odd building as well as very large parking lots and many empty lots spread over a section of at least two square miles. As a result of the tornado almost the entire residential and business district was relocated to the west end past the area where Texas Tech University is. In effect you have a divided city - the east end shuts down after 5pm and ineffect becomes a ghost town and the vibrant west end. My lucky booking on the internet was a very cheap motel on Avenue Q which is the divider of the east and west end. It turned out to entirely suit my purposes as it had a Walmart 100 yards away and a Denny's across the street. My initial walk from the bus station (about one mile) was thru the ghost town as it was before anything opened at 8 am. The walk to Texas Tech (where the SPICE tournament was being held) westwards was much more pleasant. It was a little over a mile thru student housing and then the university grounds. The FIDE Open which I was playing in started at 5pm that day first round, with 3 rounds the next day and 2 on the following. The only grandmaster tournament in progress when I arrived was the SPICE A section with GMs Dominguez, Le Quang Liem, Feller, Shulman, Meier, and Robson - a double round robin of 2600 and 2700 GMs. (two other sections of mainly GMs and IMs had already finished). I tried to ask for a first round bye due to tiredness but Susan Polgar herself with great charm and persuasiveness talked me out of it. Meeting Paul Truong and Dr. Hal Karlsson for the first time gave me a burst of energy as they are excellent hosts, great conversationalists, and lots of fun to be around. (Paul is Susan's "silent"partner and husband and website guru and Dr. Karlsson is the originator of SPICE). However as Murphys Law would have it my first round game turned into a marathon where I absolutely refused to win (the longest game of the round), ran out of energy, and somehow swindled a miraculous draw. To be continued

[Kerry Liles]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Part 2. Lubbock is an interesting, divided city. Several years ago a tornado wiped out the entire north east end of the city. After the rubble was eventually cleared what ended up being rebuilt on the land was city, state, federal, and educational buildings only so the result was the odd building as well as very large parking lots and many empty lots spread over a section of at least two square miles. As a result of the tornado almost the entire residential and business district was relocated to the west end past the area where Texas Tech University is. In effect you have a divided city - the east end shuts down after 5pm and ineffect becomes a ghost town and the vibrant west end. My lucky booking on the internet was a very cheap motel on Avenue Q which is the divider of the east and west end. It turned out to entirely suit my purposes as it had a Walmart 100 yards away and a Denny's across the street. My initial walk from the bus station (about one mile) was thru the ghost town as it was before anything opened at 8 am. The walk to Texas Tech (where the SPICE tournament was being held) westwards was much more pleasant. It was a little over a mile thru student housing and then the university grounds. The FIDE Open which I was playing in started at 5pm that day first round, with 3 rounds the next day and 2 on the following. The only grandmaster tournament in progress when I arrived was the SPICE A section with GMs Dominguez, Le Quang Liem, Feller, Shulman, Meier, and Robson - a double round robin of 2600 and 2700 GMs. (two other sections of mainly GMs and IMs had already finished). I tried to ask for a first round bye due to tiredness but Susan Polgar herself with great charm and persuasiveness talked me out of it. Meeting Paul Truong and Dr. Hal Karlsson for the first time gave me a burst of energy as they are excellent hosts, great conversationalists, and lots of fun to be around. (Paul is Susan's "silent"partner and husband and website guru and Dr. Karlsson is the originator of SPICE). However as Murphys Law would have it my first round game turned into a marathon where I absolutely refused to win (the longest game of the round), ran out of energy, and somehow swindled a miraculous draw. To be continued

Hans - I absolutely enjoy reading your posts, but if I might suggest: they would be a lot more readable if you would insert a blank line here or there... Thanks!

Looking forward for more of the adventures of H.J.

[Larry Bevand]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Hi Hans,

Great stuff!

Thanks for posting :)

In the 70's I hitchhiked from Florida to California and then took the bus back to Montreal...the whole experience took over 3 months...not sure I would do that again but it was certainly memorable :)....as is your trip from what we can see here :)

Larry

[Hans Jung]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Part 3 All of the GM's were friendly, although to me the most so was Sebastian Feller and he and Le Quang Liem were the only ones to discuss positions with me blindfold although I must admit they lost me in their analysis. I sat in on quite a few analysis sessions and every question that I ventured was answered, some to my chagrin.
I thought Lenier Dominguez was going to win the tournament but as fate had it he and Le Quang Liem had to play each other in the last round and Liem won the game and the tournament with a nice tactical finish (Q and B on the long diagonal lined up against the black king - but you'll have to look it up because I dont have the game handy)
Le Quang Liem was there with his mother and she was very nervous about his games to the point where when I went up to look at the position the first few times she would follow me up and stare at me but after talking to her I found out she was a very nice lady.
Georg Meier is a very interesting young grandmaster from Germany. Turns out he is studying at Texas Tech. When I tried to find out his background I was amazed to discover he is from the same region as my grandmother - a small town in Germany - but even small towns there seem to have at least one strong ex-Soviet trainer and a good chess club and also amazing is that he had never played in a German Championship.
Sebastien Feller would go around at the beginning of the day and shake everybodys hands. At first I thought he was campaigning for a FIDE position but it quickly became apparent that he was just a very nice outgoing young guy.
Yury Shulman was very modest and down to earth. When I asked him during the analysis of the last round game what went wrong he said it started in round two and had continued ever since.
Ray Robson was very serious about his games but whenever he got the chance he liked to have fun and his favorite person to have fun with was Tommy Polgar. I managed a few leads about blindfold chess and it resulted in him playing a member of the Texas Tech Knight Raiders a blindfold 3 minute game. Several things about that wowed me! First of all he rattled moves off in the opening past move 15 and at move 25 according to him he was still in theory. He found the crispest moves to finish and used less than a minute 30 for the whole game. The game can be found on youtube.
Andre Diamant had played in another section (C) but showed up with his young son for the birthday party( also farewell party) They were a hit. Andre forever with the jokes and witty anecdotes.
Denes Boros played in the B section but also showed up for the farewell party. He is Hungarian, a real character, and studies at Texas Tech. I first met him when he was playing speed chess with Ray Robson. To me Ray is an awesome speed player but Denes demolished him in more than one game I was watching but to be fair to Ray the overall score was apparently equal. I had a chance for an indepth conversation with him - somehow the conversation turned to music and we compared notes on Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and the Doors - it was surreal. (he's about 20 - Im in my 50's) To be continued

[Jean Hébert]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

This is way too good for Chesstalk! :)

[Hans Jung]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Stop it Jean. You just made me blush.

[Hans Jung]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Part 1 - extra (this is for Neil) Detroit bus terminal has large barbed wire fences surrounding and 80% or more Afro American passengers. Outside is the ghetto (or seems like). We drove thru pouring rain the first night actually until the next morning approaching Memphis.
The bus stations in Cinncinati and Louisville are modern and no gating but much signage. Same as Detroit regarding passengers. "No admittance beyond this point", "No trespassing", "Do not cross this line" are in abundance.
You were not allowed to walk in the loading bays and the departure doors from the main terminal were locked until 5 minutes before departure. You absolutely had to wait in line. There was a mania for high security.
I couldnt walk anywhere to stretch my legs- the best I could manage was back and forth at a slow pace across the terminal twenty times to sort of stretch my legs - I couldnt leave the property.
In all the stations until Dallas there was nothing good to eat - at best a sleazy snackbar.
In Nashville a deputy sheriff and his deputies (3 big old boys with guns) stood and surveyed the crowd of passengers. We were there for over an hour and they were there with us. Why? The snackbar was awful - the coffee was worse. Surely there were better places for policing.
The driver from Louisville was a big friendly Afro American who tried to convey that he was friends with everyone (until he made the speech about pulling over and being escorted off by the state troopers). He drove like a maniac to Nashville and shortly after leaving Louisville opened both front side windows probably to stay awake but the howling wind and spray coming in were not conducive to passengers sleep.
We had our first white driver in Nashville. He talked to any passengers who would listen. Apparently there had been a glitch in driver rotation, he was on his day off but was getting double time so was in a good mood. He was from Jackson, Tennesee (close to Memphis) so we had to sit in that whistle stop for an extra 20 minutes while he entertained the locals on the front bench with some down home stories.
I got my first real meal since leaving Canada in Memphis. There was a Denny's half a block from the bus station. I had grits and a Spanish omelette and bottomless coffee and took another full meal to go. To be continued.

[Erwin Casareno]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Hi Hans, i enjoyed reading through your stories about your trip. It has lots of interesting info and details that i felt like i was there with you on each of those moments. You certainly have a gift in writing. Thank you for sharing.....and more blessings for you in the days ahead.....Regards, Erwin

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Thanks Hans! I can't get enough of the road stories. It makes me want to hop a Greyhound for Tijuana.

Those bus drivers are an odd lot. Last time I rode, mine made me put on a luggage tag from the bus line even though I had 2 other tags on already. I began asking him why and he just repeated his instructions to me. I realized it was pointless to make a fuss.

I'm still in awe of your voyage. Depending on your travel buddies, that many hours in a bus could be truly awful.

Keep up the stories please!

Part 1 - extra (this is for Neil) Detroit bus terminal has large barbed wire fences surrounding and 80% or more Afro American passengers. Outside is the ghetto (or seems like). We drove thru pouring rain the first night actually until the next morning approaching Memphis.
The bus stations in Cinncinati and Louisville are modern and no gating but much signage. Same as Detroit regarding passengers. "No admittance beyond this point", "No trespassing", "Do not cross this line" are in abundance.
You were not allowed to walk in the loading bays and the departure doors from the main terminal were locked until 5 minutes before departure. You absolutely had to wait in line. There was a mania for high security.
I couldnt walk anywhere to stretch my legs- the best I could manage was back and forth at a slow pace across the terminal twenty times to sort of stretch my legs - I couldnt leave the property.
In all the stations until Dallas there was nothing good to eat - at best a sleazy snackbar.
In Nashville a deputy sheriff and his deputies (3 big old boys with guns) stood and surveyed the crowd of passengers. We were there for over an hour and they were there with us. Why? The snackbar was awful - the coffee was worse. Surely there were better places for policing.
The driver from Louisville was a big friendly Afro American who tried to convey that he was friends with everyone (until he made the speech about pulling over and being escorted off by the state troopers). He drove like a maniac to Nashville and shortly after leaving Louisville opened both front side windows probably to stay awake but the howling wind and spray coming in were not conducive to passengers sleep.
We had our first white driver in Nashville. He talked to any passengers who would listen. Apparently there had been a glitch in driver rotation, he was on his day off but was getting double time so was in a good mood. He was from Jackson, Tennesee (close to Memphis) so we had to sit in that whistle stop for an extra 20 minutes while he entertained the locals on the front bench with some down home stories.
I got my first real meal since leaving Canada in Memphis. There was a Denny's half a block from the bus station. I had grits and a Spanish omelette and bottomless coffee and took another full meal to go. To be continued.

[Hans Jung]

Re: My Texas Adventures - Part 1

Part 1 - extra - Jim Lewis was my fellow traveller from Detroit to Dallas. I met him in the Detroit bus terminal and ended up sitting together.
Worked out well because Im a big guy and he is at least 50 pounds lighter and 6 inches shorter. We were crammed in like sardines from Detroit to at least Louisville. My knees were pressed into one corner and the seat in front of me and couldnt move.
Jim was ok with half on the seat and jutting out into the aisle. Jim owns a spread in Colorado (a 20 acre horse farm). His wife had passed away last year and he was just coming back from truckdriver training in the eastern US. His plan was to work driving truck for 5 years and pay off his mortgage so he could sell his property and buy the dream property in Oregon in the mountains with a fishing stream running thru it and close to the kids.
Jim had been an outdoorsman all his life and has lived in most of the western states. His stories about fishing, hiking (Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Rockies etc) and trips on his Harley Davidson and with his kids kept me going on the long trip. Maybe he was stretching it a bit with the fishing stories but there is nothing like interesting conversation to help pass time in an unbearable situation.
Another thing that helped me was playing chess games over in my head. If I could retain the positions clearly I felt better at the end but if I tried more than two an hour I started to feel worse.
Memphis is a city that I hope to check out more in the future. There is a intersting pyramid in the downtown that I would like to know more about. Also travelling over the Mississippi produced an astounding view to all sides.
After the Mississippi came Arkansas - really a beautiful countryside with small rolling hills, streams, lots of woodland, and nice stretches of homesteads.
Our new driver (back to Afro American) was a character using the mike with his rolling, lilting southern accent to tell quick jokes, try to get the passengers to join him in a sing-a-long, and point out various interesting features of the countryside just like a good tour guide.
We picked up a lot of new passengers in Little Rock.
About 20 miles out I was startled to hear a string of profanity from a woman at the back of the bus and then the driver: "What the hell" and then: "Woman you can stop right now" and then the driver immediately got on his cell phone and a couple of minutes later we pulled off the interstate onto a secondary highway and then a run down village and a potholed main road which rapidly deteriorated into a gravel road and then a dirt track.
After a few turns we ended up in front of a run down warehouse which was the local Greyhound depot. The driver than made an announcement: "Woman you wait here. You will soon get your escort."
About ten minutes later a sheriffs vehicle and three other white cars squealed to a halt in front of the bus. A young white guy (looked about 20 but could be anywhere in his 20's) with a sheriffs badge came on to the bus followed by two deputies who were Afro American and were both over 300 pounds (ex footballers). They were so big they had to shuffle down the aisle sideways. Shortly after the sound of a slap was heard and then more profanity. The sheriff came back with his hand locked in a death grip around the throat of a young lady. His face and arms were flushed deep red and he kept repeating "Maam - dont you ever do that again" The lady in question was extremely good looking but had too many muscles from working out. He threw her on the ground and put another set of handcuffs on her just above the elbows and then dragged her over to the police car and smashed her head on the roof before putting her in the back.
Apparently she had slapped him across the face before he put the initial set of handcuffs on her wrists. The locals on the bus kept up the rhubarb all the way to Texarkana (on the Texan border) " Shes gonna get hers. Oh boy" Slappin the sheriff - wait for the old judge" She thinks shes tough oh lordy" etc etc.