Eric Holen

While trying to track down some pictures for another blog post, I came across these two pictures from when I served on President Clinton’s motorcade in November 1996.

Then President Clinton was making a brief stop in El Paso for a reelection campaign event.  I was a Senior Paramedic at the time.  I and two other paramedics were selected to serve during the event.  Oscar Salazar was the second Senior Paramedic on the detail, but I can’t remember the name of the other paramedic that served with us.

We got there early and staged with the Secret Service and the El Paso Police Department, long before Air Force One had arrived.  It was very interesting to see how the operation unfolded.  While we were scheduled to part of the motorcade, it would only happen if Marine One, the President’s helicopter, was grounded by weather in El Paso or in Las Cruces, where he would speak later in the afternoon.

After the El Paso event finished and the helicopter took off for Las Cruces, it became a little more relaxed.  We had to remain on site and ready in case there were any problems with the helicopter returning.  Once the helicopter was gone, we were allowed to take some pictures.  We all had our pictures take in front of the limousine.  By the way, the seals on the doors are magnets that are applied once the vehicle is in place.  I even took one picture of their staged firepower in the back of one of the SUVs, which I was told quite firmly, not to do again.  Later that evening, we had our picture taken with Air Force One in the background.

As exciting as it was to serve, we spent a lot of time just waiting.  From start to finish, we were there for about 12 hours.  Unfortunately, the weather cooperated and the motorcade never moved.

Since then, I have been a fan of anything related to the U.S. Secret Service and Air Force One. 

After a few years of begging, Yvette finally consented to going to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Bryan/College Station.

Due in large part to my dad, I have always been a big fan of museums. Whether it was something local, far away, or on the way somewhere else, he always seemed to find an interesting museum to stop at. Once there, he “encouraged” us, which is putting it lightly, to look at and read everything.  Through those experiences, I cam to enjoy going to museums.

Yvette was not as excited as me for going and, due to a bad day of work that Friday, we almost did not go.  However, I woke up early Saturday morning, fixed the issues, while letting Yvette sleep in an extra hour.  Once I had everything working (at work), I woke Yvette up with my excitement that we were going.

Now, normally on Saturdays, we run our errands and clean the house.  Having the opportunity to go out and do something helped make it “Not Another Saturday”.

We headed out east of Kyle and up SH21 to Bastrop where we stopped at a McDonald’s drive-thru for breakfast.  We continued on, arriving in College Station before noon.  The drive up 21 was nice, especially outside of Bastrop, and I was surprised that it was 4 lanes.

We arrived at the museum around 11:30 AM and took a quick break before embarking on the tour.  There is a beautiful horse sculpture just outside the museum.  It represents the freedom that came when the Berlin Wall came down.

The museum admission was $7, but for $3 more you get an audio wand.  At certain points throughout the museum, you key in the display and hear additional information on an exhibit.  I highly recommend getting the wand.

There was a traveling space exhibit from NASA, which we saw just before entering the main part of the museum.

Overall, there was plenty to see and read.  We saw a Presidential Limo, fighter plane, antique car, the Oval Office, Camp David, and plenty of other things.  Yvette was surprise out how interesting she found the exhibits.  We ended up spending a little over two hours at the museum. You can see some of the pictures here.

Instead of sticking around, we drove to Lockhart and had a good dinner at Chisholm Trail BBQ.

It was great to get away from the house and spend the day with my wonderful wife doing something that I enjoyed.

I don’t know if I am allowed the leak the cover this early, but what a surprise that Yvette made the list of best Texas spouses AND made the cover! I love her, she’s beautiful, and she is the best spouse.

In my last Monday Mash, I mention the sunburn that I received at Saturday’s and Sunday’s Texas Longhorn softball games. Here is the proof. Note the big red patch from the back of the baseball cap. I have a similiar but light patch on the front of my head when I turned my cap around so that the bill would protect my neck.

The sunburn did not hurt much, until I shaved my head Monday morning, but I did feel a litle sick Sunday evening.