Improvise, Adapt and Overcome! 7/27/2019

This is the unofficial motto of the Marine Corp (Clint Eastwood says it in “Heartbreak Ridge”). But I think it applies to those of us who participate in Volksmarching, so I am borrowing it. We showed up to register for the Parks Walk Event in College Station last Saturday. The personnel at the start could not find the “Walk Box”. So since  College Station also has an A&M Campus Walk, so we looked up the registration information and found that it was at the Bush Presidential Library which wasn’t open yet…. so we decided to just wander around the campus. We parked at the Alumni Association (free parking yeah!)

Behind the alumni building is the huge A&M class ring which is great for taking pictures.

We headed off down Houston Street passing this sun dial (it does more, it tells season too).  When we came to a path leading to the right over a bridge into Spence Park, we headed that way.

We passed this nice pavilion with Kyle Stadium in the background.

We continued on and turned left on the last path in the park.  To our right were several bon fire sculptures.

Directly in front of us was a nice A&M seal on the side of the building.

We turned left again and headed back toward Kyle Field.

Further down Houston street dead ends.  We usually turn left, but today we took the “path less taken” as Robert Frost recommends and found this nice sculpture called “Adagio” by Larry Schueckler.   Did you know A&M had a performing arts center?

We climbed a set of steps and found this lovely glass and steel creation called “Tri-Nimbus Chrystallis” by John Kebrle and Hilliard M. Stone.

Continuing on we went down a different set of steps toward this fountain.

In front of the fountain is the original statue of E. King Gill (The 12th Man).  Statue was originally in front of Kyle Field but a new statue of Gill is there now and this one is in Rudder Plaza.

As we continued along Houston (on the other side of Rudder Plaza) we could see the Albritton Bell Tower which stand at the original entrance to the campus on Old Main Drive.  Further progress was blocked by construction, so we again adapted and turned left to circumvent the construction.

Our new walk route brought us to the lovely YMCA building.  It was built in 1914.

I was surprised to find the Muster Candles sculpture in front of the YMCA.  The last time we visited the campus this was up near the domed administration building.

There is also a nice compass rose in the paved walkway.

The dome on the administration building has scaffolding around it.  It is undergoing repairs/restoration.

Past the construction we turned left on Houston again and that brought us to the “Fish Pond”.  The Fish Pond fountain was donated to the university by the Class of 1938 in honor of their classmates who lost their lives in World War II.  I don’t know where it was originally but it was moved here in 2011.

After the fish pond we wandered left, then left again toward the bell tower, going under the railroad tracks via the lovely walk under.  We eventually came to another nice gazebo.

We turned left and found this horseman in front of the Kleberg Building.  Understandably, the statue is of Robert Justus Kleberg, Jr., who donated the money for the building.  Mr. Kleberg was part owner of the King Ranch.

We angled to the right and found another walk under the railroad tracks which brought us to this statue of A&M Football star John David Crow. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1957.

We circled Kyle Field passing in front of the Hall of Champions with its cadet statue.

We didn’t go all the way to George Bush Drive.  We turned left and cut across to the parking lot.  If we’d have gone all the way to the street we’d have a much better a picture of the “Gig’em Aggies!” statue at Aggieland Outfitters.  (note small thumbs up over his left shoulder).

We past the Gruy Fountain in front of the Hagler Center.

And that brought us back to the Aggie Ring and our parked car.

We drove over to the Bush Presidential Library and stamped our record books for doing the Campus Walk.

After getting our paperwork done we walked down toward the small lake behind the library, passing this section of the Berlin Wall.

Grave of the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush.