The Life of a Story in Progress XI: recreation of the 60's

When I lived in San Angelo, Texas during my youth, we often visited the Goodfellow AFB recreation area on Lake Nasworthy on weekends and perhaps on some holidays during which time my father didn't have to work.  http://www.goodfellow.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123256152  

We’d pack up the car with lawn chairs, blankets, swimsuits, toys and our trusty metal cooler (filled with food and snacks) and leave the house in mid-morning to spend the entire day at the park.

The rec area was a place set aside for use by military personnel and their families. There were playgrounds, baseball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, horseshoe courts and plenty of space for badminton, croquet and other lawn games.

(this is a sample cooler of the times and not our actual one)

 

And, there was fishing and boating. To fish, (or engage in any other activity) fishing poles, basketballs and all manner of equipment was available to be checked out for free at the boat house. I think items were chedcked out for specific amounts of time. We often went fishing and I once caught a big fish; I think it was among the larger fish anyone in the family caught--at least at that time.

(this is a sample thermos of the times and not our actual one)

 

One of the special activities we'd enjoy from time to time would be to check out a boat (equipped with an outboard motor) and we'd fly across the lake, from one end to the other. We'd have to go under a large bridge on one end of the lake and we'd have to slow down while passing under it. I'm pretty sure this bridge was one we'd cross over on our way to the park. Seeing the bridge from underneath was always exciting and I remember being amazed at how far away it was from the park. Each time we went out on the boat, I wondered how my father knew how long we could be out on the water and how far we could wander without running out of gas. I don't know the answer to those questions, but we never did run out of gas.

  

Once a year, around the 4^th of July, there would be a carnival at the park. This would always be a special event and I can remember playing many midway games and having special treats. Each year, we’d come home with all sorts of treasured prizes and memories. Of course, there would also be fireworks. Sometimes, there would be an entire fireworks show and other times, there’d be a smaller display. Fireworks were legal in San Angelo, TX, although you couldn’t buy them within the city limits.  Some years, part of the 4th of July festivities would include a live band. I don't know what kind of music they played but they were a band and not an orchestra, so I imagine they played music of the sixties for the most part. 

 

The rec area was very large; at least that’s how I remember it. Wherever the family set up its picnic area or cook-out area, one could wander far away to check out what was happening in another distant part of the camp. Sometimes, a family of friends would be near us and we’d hang out together, or they’d be all the way across the park and we’d visit throughout the day. Come to think of it, I don't remember ever seeing the end of the park in any given direction. I'm not sure if this is because the park was so large that finding the edge was impractical or if it's just that I never tried to find it.  

There was a time that we left the park to go home because there severe thunderstorms in the area. Along the way home, we saw a tornado off in the distance. When I say off in the distance, I mean way, way off in the distance. The terrain on the Edwards Plateau (the region in which this story takes place) is flat, flat, flat; and this means you can see far, far away.