Marco & Miriam

marco.andersch@arcor.de

German-American Friendship

Hello,

Our names are Marco (29 yrs.) and Miriam (28 yrs.) and we are two crime force police detectives and IPA-members from Berlin, Germany.

This September, we spent three and a half weeks in the USA to visit some relatives in San Antonio and do some sightseeing in Texas. Before our flight, we tried to find an IPA-member in San Antonio in order to be able to exchange patches and have a look at a police station. That's why we wrote an email to Jack Bragg. We never thought that that would be the beginning of a great trip with many opportunities to make new friends all over Texas.

Jack arranged for us contacts in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. We exchanged emails with Clarence Hightower from Houston who even wanted to pick us up at the airport because we had told him that we'd arrive there. When he found out that he couldn't make it, he contacted other policemen in Houston to welcome and support us. That was so sweet!

So, on Sept. 1, we started our trip to Texas. With a delay of one hour, we finally arrived at our hotel in Houston and Sergeant Matthew Jenkins was already waiting for us. Someone we didn't really know was there to welcome us, drive us around downtown Houston, show us a police station and he even had dinner with us. What a fantastic start and warm welcome. Thanks Matt! We missed Charles Young, another police officer, who tried to meet us there, too. If we had had more time, we would have met him too, of course. What a shame it didn't work out!

Then, we drove via Corpus Christi to San Antonio, where we spent a week with our relatives (Marco's dad's half-sister, aunt, cousins etc.). In San Antonio, Detective Ray Dustin from the car theft unit showed us around his department & the police headquarters. It was very interesting and exciting for us. Afterwards, we received an invitation to visit him and his wife whenever we're back in Texas.

We continued our “Texas tour“ with stops in Fredericksburg, Austin (mainly shopping), Carlsbad (New Mexico, excellent hiking) and Amarillo (Palo Duro Canyon, Wow!). We arrived in Dallas / Fort Worth on Sept. 15. Since Jack wasn't in town, we met Mike Horton from the Dallas Police. He met us at our hotel and showed us the Stockyards, Dallas downtown and even invited us to his home for a barbecue. There, we met his wife and his four dogs. What a wonderful day and what a delicious BBQ!

We also received an invitation from Doc Graves and his wife Donna to stay at their ranch in Blum. Since our schedule was really tight (meeting relatives, hiking, Rodeo, Hockey and Baseball game, etc.) we didn't have enough time to pay them a visit, which we really regret.

We hope to meet them next time we return.

Finally, we made it back to Houston (our first and last stop) and met Clarence Hightower and his wife Susan. We spent a few hours together chatting and laughing and received yet another invitation.

We were and still are very happy and overwhelmed to have met so many nice friends. Thank you all for your kind and warm welcomes and your hospitality. We'll be back!

You made our Texas trip really special!!!