Awesome!

The New Cowboys Stadium and its Foundation

This week my travels were both scheduled and unscheduled. Some of the unscheduled part included an opportunity to visit the new home of the Dallas Cowboys.


I found the stadium to be symbolic of modern professional football itself, big, brash, and brutal; a stark vehicle of pure merchandising. This building left Roadboy almost completely at a loss for words.

Cowboy Stadium

Before entering the structure we were regaled with all the usual facts and figures. It is bigger than huge. The steel in it could build many golden gate bridges. The conduit used in it could loop the world over and over and still reach the moon. Heck, it could seat the entire population of most cities in the US at a single time.

Perfect Sight Lines From Anywhere

Private Boxes and Lounges Everywhere

Yep This is "Their" Locker Room

After all the hoopla of the place, I found myself having to admit that while it is one of the most technically perfect built structures in the world, the new stadium is totally vacuous. It, like much of modern architecture itself, is simply devoid of soul.

The Huge Jumbo Tron

Most Spectators Watch it - Not the Actual Game

(Click it to see the Board in Action)

So, I found myself feeling sort of empty. I had just walked through a building that represents an enormous achievement, yet I kept thinking "but why was so much effort put into this?".

Then as I left, off to one side of the entry, it all became clear. There was a humble statue of Coach Tom Landry. It had been relocated from the old (now imploded) Texas Stadium (we used to call the "Half Asstrodome"!) to the new stadium.

The statue reminded me that it is not the current owner's power and money that built the Cowboys, no it was Coach Landry and the amazing string of players he nurtured that form the true foundation of this new stadium.

Landry was from the "Best Generation". A boy from Mission Texas who played high school football, then went on to UT only to have his studies interrupted by World War 2.

During the war he flew 30 B-17 bomber missions over Europe. He survived the crash of one of the flights in Belgium.

He then returned to Texas and completed his degree in Industrial Engineering.

He, himself, went on to play professional football becoming an All-Pro cornerback in New York. Eventually, he found his true calling not in playing football, but in coaching it. He became head coach of the Cowboys and under his tenure the Cowboys won 2 Superbowls and enjoyed 20 consecutive winning seasons. A feat that remains unmatched today.

Coach Landry always innovated. He changed it all up, then stood at the sidelines in his trademark fedora to watch.

He was fired almost immediately after the arrival of the present team owner.

Landry was man enough to cry when he had to tell his team his career with the Cowboys was over.

Coach Tom Landry

So before you enter the new stadium, to witness a building where every single item down to the cupholder is about money, licensed and paid for, please take a moment to look at the sculpture of Coach Landry.

He represents what the game was, and should be, instead of what it has become.


Roadboy's Travels © 2010

Dancing Upon The Clouds

Uncle Vernon's Wish

When I was a kid, it was understood that flying was expensive and pretty much reserved for movie stars and family emergencies. Dad was a police officer and his salary dictated that our summer vacations would be spent traveling in a station wagon or camping by a lake somewhere.


I took my first flight when I was five. It was with my next door neighbors; The Hackshaw's. They asked me to accompany them on a flight from the Bay Area to San Diego for a relative's 105th birthday. Mom made sure I was dressed in my best trousers with a sweater from Monkey Wards. No way was she going to let her kid look like riff-raff. We boarded a PSA Super Electra jet (why do I still remember that fact so clearly 50 years later?). The flight, thankfully, was pillow smooth. I remember how satisfying it was to gaze down on an ocean of mashed potato clouds! 

This week I flew twice. One trip was from Phoenix to rain soaked Nashville. That trip involved weaving our little jet between one amazing cloud formation after another.

Plying Our Way to Nashville

As I looked out at the valleys and canyons formed by a series of magnificent Cumulus Castellanus clouds, I remembered the last request of my Uncle Vernon. Vernon was the uncle that normally did not feel the need to say all that much. Smiles came easy to him. And when my chain smoking, diesel fixing, uncle neared death, he instructed aunt Zora to make sure he was buried without shoes - so he could "dance upon the clouds in his bare feet".


As I looked at those amazing clouds it occurred to me how we mostly miss the essential joy of flying; simply looking out the window. Nowadays when I fly, I see most passengers reading their books and kindles, watching movies on tiny little I-pod screens, sleeping, and/or playing sudoku. Almost no one gazes out of the window. Pilots seem bored too; rarely pointing out amazing sights below us like the Grand Canyon or the Meteor Crater anymore.

Northern Arizona's Meteor Crater

(Look at Approximately 9:00 O'Clock on the Photo)

Yet, while today's air travel experience is different: the seats are small, and seat mates seemingly all proudly display their latest tattoo's whilst wearing their very best "wifebeater" tank top, the view outside of the plane from a window seat is just as good as ever.


The puffy clouds are still there and the crazy quilt of America's agricultural heartland still extends from the front range of the Rockies all the way to the Atlantic.


Drifting in and out of those amazing clouds this week I was a kid again.


I also was pretty sure that somewhere out there Uncle Vernon was having the time of his life.

Roadboy's Travels © 2010

Summer's Arrival

Anticipating Another Season in the Sun

After our arrival in Phoenix some fifteen years ago, I remember having friends and relatives from Seattle to California ask "how on earth are you going to survive those beastly Arizona summers?"

The truth of the matter is we didn't really know. But after surviving many years in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska with 9-10 months of titanium gray skies or annual perma-winters, we knew we'd just adapt.

It did take a few years, but now as the first thermals of summer hit and I walk up a jetway at Sky Harbor, I'll hear visitors ask each other "how do these people stand this?". As they are asking their rhetorical question, the lizard in me is feeling the same heat and saying "Yes!"

Sadly, the lovely shoulder seasons that transition Arizona from our beautiful winters to our blistering summers, and back, are far too short.

Moon Over Sedona's Redrocks

But, the shoulder is precisely where we are now. This means the sage is blooming, native trees are ablaze in yellow, prickly pears are flowering, and the tops of the saguaro's are popping. Mornings are still lovely, evenings are a joy, but the hours in between are starting to heat up.

The streets are more spacious as a whole bunch of ASU's 65,000 students have started their journey's home, and our beloved "Snowbirds" have long since returned to northern climes to start seasonal mowing of their big green lawns.

The escapee's miss more than the heat. They miss our calm, slow, HOT, summers. They miss disgusting dust storms, loud buzzing insects, near radioactive parking lots, and the other wordly magic of our dazzling summer monsoons.

So, wherever you call home, please join me in my rapturous anticipation of the first ears of peaches and cream corn, fireworks on the fourth, the whirr of ice cream churning, lots of perfect margarita's, and maybe a harvest moon!

All the best from Roadboy!

Raodboy's Travels © 2010

The Tovrea Castle

Architectural Folly

"An often extravagant pictureseque building erected to suit a fanciful taste" 
           Merriam Webster

Update August 2014
With the City budget on the mend 2 hour tours of the castle are being scheduled for 2015. Castle tours will be conducted twice each morning on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from January 9- June 28. The ticket prices are $15 Adult, $10 Children 2-12 and $13 Seniors, Military and Students. To secure tickets call 800-838-3006. You may also access by the web:  2015 Tickets 

Accessibility is available to individuals with walkers or in wheelchairs, but not mobility scooters. For any further details you may leave a message at: 602-256-3221 or email: Tours@tovreaCastleTours.com 

Every big city has them; the orphans. They are the buildings that were built at the wrong time or were put in the wrong place. Some are just downright odd.

Frequently, they show up in extreme climates; the big heavy timber lodge high up in the mountains, or the house built by some hermit in a cave.

My home, the Sonoran desert, has always been a magnet for dreamers (sometimes even kooks) who came, spent time, money, and proceeded to build their dreams. 

After the dreamers move on, or die, the buildings (or fragments of buildings) they left whisper to everyone that passes that they have a story to tell.

In Phoenix we have a bunch of these architectural "folly's". There is the huge castle built by a rich dentist on south slope of Camelback Mountain. On South Mountain there is the "Mystery Castle" that Boyce Luther Gulley built in the 1930's as a giant "sand castle that you could live in" for his daughter (who lived in the house until her death in November 2010).


But two buildings I have seen almost every time I land at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix have always intrigued me. One is the lonely little decommissioned church sitting all by itself just west of the main runways. 


The other is the "Tovrea" Castle - the little wedding cake resting atop a hill just east of the main runways.

The Tovrea Castle

One place is sacred. The other is a folly.

To make way for airport expansions old portions of the neighborhood just west of the airport were torn down. Despite that, no one could bring themselves to tear down the little adobe church. The church, clearly an essential part of a neighborhood that is now long gone, is still loved. So much so that it is cleaned up by former neighbors and used once each year to celebrate Christmas.

The folly is the Tovrea Castle; the little plaster fantasy sitting atop a hill surrounded by seemingly zillions of saguaros.

I had always wondered about the castle. Well this week my questions were answered as the local architectural community was given a stem-to-stern tour of the castle. 

The tour was bittersweet. Although millions of dollars have been spent to rebuild the landmark and its amazing gardens, our current economic downturn prevents the City from finishing the project anytime soon. Further, City officials have had to announce that budget woes severely limit public tours of the renovated castle and gardens.

Cararro's Gardens Surrounding the Castle

So, for those like me, that have always wondered about it, here is the story of the "Tovrea" Castle. 


First off, it is misnamed. It should be named the "Carraro Castle" after its creator. It was built from 1928-1930 by an Italian immigrant named Alessio Carraro. Prior to his relocation to Phoenix, Carraro had made a small fortune selling sheet metal in San Francisco in the two decades following the great quake. 

Alessio, and his son Leo, came to Phoenix, purchased 277 acres, and took two years to build his dream resort in the desert. 

Carraro planned to welcome visitors to his hotel and then sell some of them homesites around the hotel. His timing could not have been worse. As the castle neared completion the adjacent land was developed by the Tovrea family into smelly feedlots and slaughterhouses. So the air quality on Cararro's property was awful. To make things worse the stock market crashed.

So instead of enjoying his dream hotel, Carraro wound up selling everything to a mystery buyer who came to San Francisco in 1931. Only after selling it did Carraro realize that the buyer was representing Della Tovrea (wife of the adjacent feedlot owner) who always fancied Carraro's castle.


Della (whose husband had recently died) moved into the castle, living in it seasonally for the next 38 years.

 Plans and Sections 

The Castle itself has three full stories above ground, a full walk-out basement below, and a domed lantern on top. It defies conventional structural design, with no continuous columns running through the building from floor to floor. Instead each floor was built independently (like a series of drums).

The building features wonderful light fixtures, a large ornamental fireplace (crowned with a medallion from Phoenix' treasured Orpheum Theater), gleaming hardwood floors, and a textured basement ceiling that can only be described as whipped cream.

 

The Whipped Cream Ceiling and Fireplace Medallion

Della's story (and life) came to a tragic end in 1969 when thieves put ladders on the side of the castle and entered through open windows upstairs. An aging Della who slept in the lower floors heard the intruders. She had a gun and shot a hole through the ceiling hoping to scare them off.

 

Main Level Wall Stencils

The Bullet Hole in the Ceiling

It was of no use, the burglars attacked and beat her so severely that she eventually died from her wounds. 

Blooming Reminders That Life Goes On

So as you pass the east end of the runway at Sky Harbor look a little to the north. A folly with a pretty amazing story awaits your discovery.   

Roadboy's Travels © 2010

A Little Slice of Heaven Near Austin

Take Off Your Shoes and Sit A Spell

The Capital of Texas is known for rolling hills underlain with limestone, kids wearing "Keep Austin Weird" T-shirts, the sound of music from the airport all the way to Austin City Limits.

Austin is the University of Texas and its ubiquitous tower, LBJ's distinctive presidential library, and Ladybird's beloved bluebonnets blooming along every major highway. It is sunsets over Lake Travis, amazing steak dinners, and bar-b-que elevated to the status of a religion.

It is zillions of bats emerging at twilight from under the Congress Street Bridge, overpaid geeks, and (of course) the "Leg" (pronounced "ledge").

Austin works hard and it plays hard. Which leads to the need to slow down once in awhile.

Well, I have found the perfect place to do just that. A place to unwind, rewind, or recharge. It is just a little over 15 miles out of town and halfway to another world. It is the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort.

To get there, you point the old Chevy toward Bastrop Texas. When you reach the funny blinking lights drive a bit further and then turn left. From there you will need to drive another 2 miles through a beautiful nature preserve. Take care as you will cross a couple of horse trails and be rewarded with glimpses of the resort's golf course and the Colorado River.

Upon arrival you will see that the hotel is made up of a rambling series structures. It is clearly designed to be reminiscent of a comfortable old farm. Parking is not convenient. But a proper stay at a resort like this means you will have no further need for your car, so that part is forgivable. Plus a hotel staffer in a golf cart will likely greet you at your car to shuttle you to the lobby.

Welcome Home

Once you park the chevy, you are done with it.

Entering the lobby is a pleasure. It is big and beautiful, yet it somehow feels homey and understated at the same time. There are big stone fireplaces at each end, big comfy seating, and a chandelier overhead that is actually an old tree branch.

The Lobby

Check in is smooth, but then you must actually make the trek to your room. It may prove to be a real hike as the place is very spread out. Along the way, however, you will journey through an amazing photo and poster gallery of the who's who of the Texas music scene. I found myself wandering almost aimlessly through the whole place just to see all of the photos.

The Galleries

Outside the hotel is another story. You have horseback riding, views and trails along the river, a magnificent golf course, and a huge fitness complex. Then there is the swimming pool. The pool area is a complete party zone. There is a walk-in sandy beach, waterfalls, beach volleyball, waterslides, even a lazy river where you can jump into an innertube and just float.

The Swim Extravaganza

There is a big bike rack with cruiser bikes you can just grab and go. And everyone is taken care as there are bikes of very size and shape (even the tricycle and training wheel set is covered).

Nights Are Special Too

The rooms are big and comfy and quiet as can be. The beds are great.

The only drawbacks are miserable water pressure (water dribbled out of my shower and refilling the tank after a toilet flush is an all day affair), weak front desk / bell service staff, and that annoying "Resort" fee. Earth to Hyatt: The place is worth it, so just adjust the room rate.

Overall, I'd have to say, this is a place where you can step back to a better time. A place where it is totally viable to just sit on a porch and read a book.

One of the Dining Rooms

It is a place to play with the family, eat some great food, and just get human.

All found - deep in the very heart of Texas!

Roadboy's Travels © 2010


PS: Special Thanks to Paul for the Great Photos!

Traveling Well - For Less!

Roadboy's Travel Tips: Part 1 Airlines

Updated 10-22

 

Once again it is time to update the "Traveling Well" post I first penned in 2010.

I believe that travel should be something to remember. Never a chore. So I plan trips to experience unique places. I just like to do it in comfort at a fair price. The next three posts will cover how to select and get the best possible prices for airlines, rental cars, and hotels.


Airlines

Flying is a crapshoot. Mergers, hidden fees, and tarmac waits - oh my!

Now, first things first. I always shop for good fares. But I don't always fly the lowest priced carrier. 

 

With some sleazeball airlines now adding hidden fee after hidden fee. fare is cheap. Want a seat assignment? That's extra. Want to use the overhead bin? That's extra. Want to get a boarding pass? That's extra. Want a coke on board? That's extra. Want any legroom at all? That's extra. Some of the fastest growing carriers in the US have all adopted the Ryan Air / Easy Jet European model of the death by a thousand cuts. As a result I unclick, Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier when I price match on google flights. i simply won't fly those carriers. Life's too short.

So here's the rest of the domestic options.

• Alaska

Nice people, an expanding route system, clean planes, and fair rates. Their first class on long flights is always nice. Thier Frequnet flier program is wonderful.

 

Their odd merger with Virgin America is now complete. They had to switch aircraft and they inherited another fragile hub (SFO where the tiniest whisp of fog closes the second runway and sets off horrible delays). 

 

If Alaska ever truly wants to become a national carrier it needs an all weather hub somewhere that doesn't have a view of the Pacific Ocean.

But for west coast service from Mexico to Alaska Alaska is the best.

• American

After years (decades) of declining service levels flying lousy flying stock American has finally gotten rid of that awful fleet of skinny old MD 80's. Its Airbus centric fleet now is excellent.

 

Historically American rivaled United for having some of the most patronizing, godawful, staff in the air. American staff openly exuded contempt for passengers and used the most bizarre upgrade policy (segments) in the industry. Throw in wretched hubs in Dallas, Chicago and Miami and viola - Yuk. 

 

Hard to imagine that despite how hard I tried to avoid flying them, I still passed my 2,000,000 miler status on AA years ago.

In the past five years American has also shown dramatic signs of improvement in customer service. It all seemed to happen after the merger with US Airways who had been acuired by America West (who always had the nicest flight crews in the air). 

AAdvantage American's current frequent flier program is now like Delta and United's presenting a constantly moving target in redemption pricing. 

 

Yet, they keep advertising to sell points. But why would any sane human buy points from when the airline continuously erodes the value those points? 

 

Some good news for me is they have finally bagged those stupid upgrade "Segments".  

• Delta

While I find the state of Georgia to be filled with some of the nicest, most wonderful people in the US, none seem to work at its airport. No matter how many improvements the airline makes Delta's main liability will always be its home base at Atlanta's horrible Hartsfield airport consistently one of North America's largest and worst hub airports.

For years Delta was another of the "recovering" legacy airlines. Their planes were old (oh those horrible Lockheed L10-11 Tri-stars) and the merger with NWA just increased their inventory of antique planes along with another hub in Minneapolis. 

 

In the last few years however, I find Delta's planes to be vastly improved and immaculately clean. Delta is now one of my favorite airlines to fly and their hub in Detroit is very nice. Salt Lake City....not so much.

 

• JetBlue

Great flights, fair prices and nice planes. They Are launching European service soon and offer a business class product called Mint. Sadly JetBlue just underserves the market I live in (Phoenix). 

I am at a complete loss why they recently purchased Spirit. What a clash of cultures. We will just have to wait and see how that goes.

• JSX

This is the anti-airline few have heard of. They offer an excellent alternative to conventional airline service. Sort of a private jet meets scheduled airline vibe. Small jets configured for comfort. They fly between separate private terminals at major airports. There are snacks, comfortable waiting rooms and quick TSA free boarding. I fly them whenever possible.

 

• Southwest

Smiling superbly trained staff (the best in the business - period). Clean almost new planes. Terrific refund / change policy. Wonderful frequent travel recognition with its "A" List program.  What's not to like? Lets start with "Just OK" fares and a new vein of special fees. Southwest's rabidly loyal customers drink the cool-aid and think they are always getting the best price.

Reality - After Southwest lost their fuel hedge pricing advantage, their prices began to mirror everyone else. In fact their fares are frequently the most expensive so spend the time to compare (I use google flights to start my comparison shopping)

They also have some nasty quirks that annoy me.

Quirk one. When you go to cash in a free trip you find that they now limit award seats just like everybody else.

Quirk two. The free bag thing. Recently I needed to change plans and return home from Denver on short notice. On the way to the terminal my I-phone showed Southwest had the most convenient flight at a $20 more than a less convenient Frontier flight. When I get to the counter I am told the fare was actually two times the price on the web. I show the agent the price on my web-phone. Counter agent laughs and says "That's web only, we can't sell it at the counter"(!?!?) So I fumble through a time consuming smart phone web purchase (the fare saving went a long way to pay for that little I-phone). 

For giggles I asked how come Southwest's web fare was $25 more than Frontier's? The agent winks and says, "we don"t charge $25 for checked bags". Got to hand it to Southwest, instead of just charging the passengers that check their bags, they charge everybody! Perhaps it is unfair to compare Southwest to the truly awful Frontier however.

In their zeal to perk up the bottom line, Southwest now charges (a lot) for the first 15 passengers (Business Select) and another fee each to buy lower boarding passes numbers.

• United

Another "Legacy" carrier in and out of trouble. the friendly skies are anything but friendly.

 

It is hard for me to ignore that so many of my worst travel experiences have been on United. But, like Delta, lately I see glimmers of hope! Planes getting cleaned up, fair prices, and improvements in service.

The new kids: Breeze and Avelo. These airlines are seeking to fill in the gaps in underserved markets. They have some good leadership, I hope they thrive.

Getting the Best Airfare

Normally I find it best to buy a month or so in advance. That said, fares can fluctuate wildly. All it takes is one company starting a 48 hour fare sale and all bets are off.  99% of the time, however, waiting to buy tickets just before you go is nuts. 

 

With the removal of change fees during Covid (lets see how ling that lasts?) there is really little reason not to set a Google fare alert and buy whenever fares are rated "much below normal".

1. Always buy more than 14 days in advance. Usually the time frame between 14-45 days is when savings can be secured.

2. Test fares using Fly.com, GoogleFlights, and Kayak. They will search everything but Southwest.

3. If you are more than 14 days out check Southwest. Unless they offer a sale, after 14 days they will likely price out high.

4. Check SkyLux if you want international business class.

5. Subscribe to TravelZoo's Weekly Top 20. Amazing what shows up there now and then.

5. Check your favorite airlines website and search their last minute deals. Once in awhile they are great. 

The Best For Last!

I've saved the best tip for last.  Register for Travel Zoo's weekly "Top 20".  In the past two years every week they have unearthed truly exceptional deals.

Thats how Roadboy does it.

Roadboy's Travels © 2010 (2022)

Traveling Well - For Less!

Roadboy's Travel Tips: Part 2 Rental Cars

Time to update my "Traveling Well" post.

I believe that travel should be something to remember. Never a chore. So I plan trips to experience unique places. I just like to do it in comfort at a fair price. The next three posts will cover how to select and get the best possible prices for Airlines, Rental Cars, and Hotels.


Rental Cars

In the word of rental cars size is relative. I consider a full sized car something like a Taurus. To a rental car company a corolla might be a full sized car. 

• Enterprise

Enterprise takes forever to rent you a car. First you "meet and become best friends" with a smiley rental agent. They all look like they spend belong to some religious cult. Then you fill out endless manual paperwork and endure the up-sell. After that they take out a clipboard walk around the car.

To their credit when you return they always ask how their "service" was. I am honest and tell them I feel that it wasted 15-20 minutes of my valuable trip time. They routinely offer 10-15% off my rental. 

They frequently have GREAT weekend rates (not uncommon to find $9.95 /day cars).

• Budget

Uneven company. Their Fast Break program is pretty darned good. Pricing is typically a little above Thrifty, but well below Avis / Hertz. 

• Dollar / Thrifty

Frequently the best rates and always the longest wait for an airport shuttle. The wait usually nets pretty decent cars at good rates. Thrifty has a great frequent renter plan delivering a free day for every sixteen days you rent.

• National / Alamo

I hate Alamo and National. Slow service, relentless up-sells, and lazy / surly staff. The cars are increasingly old and frequently dirty. National, which used to be great, is now owned by Alamo and has descended to Alamo's level of poor quality.

• Avis

Frequent shuttles deliver you to surly staff, delivering dirty, overpriced cars. Avoid.

• Hertz

Too Frequent shuttles (sometime one comes before the previous one leaves). If on an expense account, Hertz is for you. Translation: Hertz rents fine, clean, cars at prices that are routinely two to three times what the others cost. This company is experiencing financial death rattles and may disappear in the next year.

Getting The Best Rental Car Rates

1. Travelocity has hands down the best comparison page for rental cars. I always start here. Then I go to the specific rental car website website to finalize the rental.

2. Reserve a car well in advance. Rental cars rates almost never decline as your travel dates approaches. If you wait, you usually lose. Since you don't have guarantee the rental with a credit card, there is nothing to lose with an early reservation. As the date approaches, check for "Last Minute" or "Hot Deals".  These deals are frequently sorted by airport. If you stop at the first page of the car company website the deals don't show up. You gotta dig.

3. While Priceline has never really delivered hotel deals for me, it has with rental cars. I have twice bid $9.00 a day and gotten Hertz full sized cars at LAX.

4. Roadboy's main tip for renting a car. Learn to emphatically say NO! When they ask if you want them to fill the tank with cheap gas. Say no (you have to buy the whole tank). When they try to sell supplemental insurance by telling you they won't deal with your insurance company, look indignant and say no! If you are unsure check with your insurance agent before you go, they will tell you the rental car company supplemental insurance is a scam. When they tell you they can "put you in a more comfortable  car for only $20" say no! They mean $20 a day (which with taxes and fees is like $32 a day). If they get pushy about upgrades it means they are out of the car class you ordered. Just smile and say "I'd like the car I ordered or a free upgrade to the next car class". How about a GPS? "No thanks I brought my own".

Rental car companies cream the novice traveller. I see it all the time. I'll be at the counter reciting my string of "No's" and next to me is some young couple buying everything without clue one that their weekly rate just quadrupled.

Thats how Roadboy does it. 

Roadboy's Travels © 2010