Aren't you glad you're in Houston?

All I want for Christmas is snow tires for the rental car

For me – driving on the wrong side of the road, sitting in the wrong seat, shifting with the wrong hand, with three feet of extra car extended out to my left – crawling along the icy, snow-swept roads on the way to my meetings, was just fine.

Courtesy photo

The glowing orange digital thermometer in the rental car’s dashboard indicated that it was -6 degrees Celsius. Its continuous blinking served to crystallize my thoughts:

*Blink* the radio had just announced emergency closure of the airport.

*Blink* it was approximately 21 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

*Blink* somehow, it was still raining.

In my experience, there are only two places on the planet where it can be significantly below freezing and still rain – Providence, Rhode Island and the eastern coast of England. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself unceremoniously stranded in the latter.

When constantly traveling close to year-end, the law of averages suggests getting stuck with some frequency – I’ve had my fair share of difficulties traveling during the holiday season. A few years ago, I was cast adrift in Rock Springs, Wyoming, following the emergency closure of Denver International, chipping an inch of ice off the windshield with a plastic brush at 4 a.m., surrounded by wandering elk in the hotel parking lot, and preparing for a 500 mile race to reach the last flight out of Billings, Montana.

I’ve also been derailed in stormy Seattle and snowed-in Boston, so it was not entirely unexpected, and at least a little cosmopolitan, to be trapped in the UK this time around.

I had combined a trip for my sister-in-law’s wedding on England’s East Coast with client meetings and interviews the following days in London. I figured, wedding on the weekend, meetings Monday/Tuesday, back out by Wednesday. I hadn’t counted on the earliest widespread snowfall since 1993 to blanket the UK.

Commuters in England are as unaccustomed to driving in snow as San Diegans are unaccustomed to driving in the rain (San Diego is the first place I ever witnessed people pull over on the highway to “wait out” a light rain shower, and radio announcements like: “severe traffic jams on the 805-North due to accidents caused by today’s rainfall.”).

Not many SUVs or 4-wheel-drive vehicles can be found on London’s M-4 and M-5 motorways, so traffic in and around the city following the snowstorms had ground to a near halt. For me – driving on the wrong side of the road, sitting in the wrong seat, shifting with the wrong hand, with three feet of extra car extended out to my left – crawling along the icy, snow-swept roads on the way to my meetings, was just fine.

Fortunately, on the morning of my scheduled departure, I had just set off from the coast when I learned of the airport closure, and didn’t have too far to travel back.

After two subsequent days of hunkering down on the stormy coast, with gale force winds, sub-freezing temperatures, and – yes – bafflingly torrential rain, I was able to secure a flight connecting through Dallas, back to San Diego.

Not to be outdone by their neighbors in the North, Spanish air traffic controllers chose that exact same three-day stretch to call a general strike, shutting down travel to and from that country, and stranding hundreds of Iberian-bound travelers at the London airports.

Despite the crowds, I navigated through the airport and onto the plane, where I learned that flight time would be10 hours and 10 minutes to Dallas – followed by a 3 hour layover and a 2 hour 55 minute flight to San Diego. That would ensure a good 40% more travel time than the usual San Diego to London jaunt and thus 40% more quality time to be stuck in cylindrical close-quarters with 200 winter travelers, sneezing, coughing, and sharing all sorts of fascinating airborne pathogens.

Of course, by the time I landed in San Diego at 10:30 p.m., I was as sick as the rest of my fellow travelers. Of course, it had been about 26 hours since I had woken up the previous morning in England. And of course, having to re-check my suitcase after landing in Dallas, the bag never made it.

However, in the cab on the way home, I couldn’t help but be pleased. In fact, I was thrilled. I had already exorcised my annual holiday travel demons the first week of December! Karmic equivalence ensured incident-free travel for the rest of the season. And I’m happy to report: so far, so good.

I’ll be boarding that flight to Boston next week with a smile on my face.

William Lepiesza is associate director of the Houston-based executive recruiting firm, The Alexander Group.

Not many SUVs or 4-wheel-drive vehicles can be found on London’s M-4 and M-5 motorways, so traffic in and around the city following the snowstorms had ground to a near halt.

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Now hear this

New Texas museum shines spotlight on Tejano music history

Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum, San Antonio, tejano music

Photo by Edmond Ortiz

Roger Hernandez serves as board president of the Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum.

For a city that proudly calls itself the capital of Tejano music, San Antonio has long been missing a permanent place to honor the genre’s pioneers and preserve its history. That gap officially closed In December with the opening of the Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum at 1414 Fredericksburg Rd.

The music couldn’t have found a better steward than its founder and board president. Roger Hernandez has had his finger on the pulse of Tejano music for decades. His company, En Caliente Productions, has provided a platform for countless performing artists and songwriters in Tejano, conjunto, and regional Mexican music since 1982.

Hernandez says his wife, who ran a shop at Market Square years ago, would often get questions from visitors about the location of a physical Tejano music museum, a thing that simply did not exist. In 2022, he banded together with friends, family, and other local Tejano music supporters to make the nonprofit Hall of Fame a reality.

“I decided I've been in the music scene for over 40 years, it's time to do a museum,” Hernandez recalls.

Hernandez says a brick-and-mortar Tejano music museum has long been needed to remember musical acts and other individuals who grew the genre across Texas and northern Mexico, especially those who are aging. Recently, the community lost famed Tejano music producer Manny Guerra and Abraham Quintanilla, the renowned Tejano singer/songwriter and father of the late superstar Selena Quintanilla-Perez. Both deaths occurred roughly one week after the Totally Tejano museum opened to the public.

“They're all dying. They're all getting older, and we need to acknowledge all these people,” Hernandez says.

The Totally Tejano Museum — named after Hernandez’s Totally Tejano Television Roku streaming — has 5,000 square feet of space packed with plaques, photos, promotional posters, musical instruments, and other memorabilia honoring the pioneers and stars of the beloved genre. Mannequins wear stage outfits from icons like Laura Canales and Flaco Jimenez, and a wall of photos remembers late greats. Totally Tejano Television plays legendary performances on a loop, bringing the exhibits to life.

The newly opened Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum includes a growing collection of memorabilia. Photo by Edmond Ortiz

Hernandez says the museum will soon welcome permanent and rotating exhibits, including traveling shows, a Hall of Fame section, and an area paying homage to Chicano music crossovers, such as the late Johnny Rodriguez, the South Texas singer-songwriter who blended country with Tex-Mex music. Plans call for the organization to hold its inaugural Hall of Fame induction in February 2026.

Eventually, a 2,000 square feet back room will be converted into additional display space and host industry gatherings, community symposiums, and record and video release parties. The museum also plans to add a gift and record shop and a music learning room where visitors can listen to early Tejano music and browse archival photos. Hernandez is already talking with local school districts about educational field trips.

Much like Tejano itself, the museum is a grassroots production. Hernandez and fellow board members have used their own money to rent, renovate, develop, and maintain the museum space. The board also leads the selection of the Hall of Fame honorees and curates the exhibits.

Hernandez has been heartened by the museum’s reception, both from media outlets and music fans around Texas and beyond.

“We had a radio station come in this morning from Houston to interview us,” he says. “People have come in from Lubbock, Texas. We have had people from Midland, Texas. We have another person who emailed us who’s coming in from New York. People are learning all about us.”

That includes many of the musicians who helped shape the genre. Johnny Hernandez, Sunny Ozuna, Elida Reyna, and Danny Martinez from Danny and The Tejanos are among the luminaries who have already graced the halls.

The Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum is now open 10 am-6 pm, Tuesday-Sunday, and closed Monday. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Fans can call 210-314-1310 for more information.

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