I Saw Miles and Miles of Texas

So as it turns out, our expectations of Texas were different than the actual thing. It’s a vast, huge state. There are so many different faces of Texas, and we’ve seen many of them. Also, we had a preconceived notion of the folks of Texas (based on previous associations in other lives). We were hugely surprised with Big Bend, we were surprised with the scenery along the way, we happily stumbled on the state park and the little towns along the way.

We stopped in a town called Uvalde, TX, to mail an important envelope. As I entered the Post Office there, a man exited with an armful of mail. I dropped my important envelope in the slot and left the building. As I was walking back down the street toward the rig, I saw John standing out on the sidewalk, stretching his legs. I also saw the guy with the armful of mail approaching him, and I noticed but could not hear a verbal exchange. Apparently, the guy saw our California plates and said something like “You picked a helluva place to camp” and John replied that “The bad news is that they’d only let us stay for 2 weeks.” And the guy said “I saw your plates are from California, isn’t that what you people do? Park on the street and camp?” And John said, “Yes I’m just another homeless person, with a 24 ft shopping cart.”

Which is when I showed up and they were laughing. So we got to visiting and this nice man asked us about our travels, and we asked him about his life here, and in the end, he said if we were going to San Antonio (which we were), he would leave us some passes at the Briscoe Western Museum where he was a board member, and also gave us some other useful information such as restaurant suggestions and other fun things to do in San Antonio.

Off we went to San Antonio. Little did we know that the San Antonio Rodeo (a very big one) was in town, and we were fortunate to get a spot at an RV park right close to the Rodeo. Also, we were right on a bus route into downtown San Antonio, so we were able to get in some sight-seeing. We went to the Alamo (an historic site right in the heart of the city), and walked on the River Walk, a touristy but elegant attraction along the river right through the heart of the city). We had a great dinner at a place our buddy recommended. The next day, we found the museum our friend had left us passes for, spent a couple hours there, then we embarked on a Verizon mission to try and get some phone issues resolved.

After a couple hours (no lie) at the Verizon store, with our issues resolved, we walked down the road to a BBQ place for a late lunch, and as it turned out, was a restaurant that had been visited by none other than Guy Fieri, of Diners, Dives, & Drive-ins. Of course it was excellent, and when we were done, we decided to walk across the road to another museum.

After that, we walked back across and went into the meat market that was associated with the place we had lunch, called the Smoke Shack. We bought a few items and got an Uber back to the RV park to rest before we went to the RODEO!

The San Antonio Rodeo is a real big deal, and cowboys & girls come from all over the country apparently. So we went up to our balcony seats and watched the show. It was crazy. I kinda felt sorry for the animals, and also for the cowboys who got beat up doing their things, but it was entertaining and much more so than the performer who followed up the rodeo with a concert in the arena. Also, it was good to see that some of the rough rides required the riders to wear helmets and protective vests either under or over their cowboy shirts.

We enjoyed San Antonio and would return again, hopefully when it wasn’t windy and raining (which it was).

I’d be remiss if I didn’t post a photo of roadside BBQ. We found a hole in the wall off I-10 somewhere in east Texas, it looked like truckers were pretty regular customers, and the ribs were sold out by about 12:15. Luckily, we got ours early and they were amazing.

Bypassing Houston, we opted to turn south and head down to the Gulf. We landed in Galveston, which I guess we really didn’t realize was an island. It is a quirky place with a lot to do, sandwiched between the Gulf of Mexico and a couple different bays. All the homes we saw were built way up off the ground; guessing they’ve learned lessons from hurricanes past.

We found a park right on the beach, and even though it was pouring rain at the time we arrived, we were still able to sit in the rig and see the ocean.

The Gulf coast is much different than our rugged Northern California coastline, and life is much different here as well. People can drive vehicles onto the beach, you can also haul your rigs out there and camp. We decided to stay on pavement. We goofed around, and drove around the town, and wished that we had more time to spend in Galveston. They were getting ready for their big Mardi Gras celebrations, which sounded like a really fun time.

We went for a really long walk down the beach in the morning, and the rain had let up and it was really pleasant. One thing I noticed though, was that the air didn’t smell salty like I expect the ocean to. It smelled of petroleum and it reminded you that the oil refineries were just back up the way we had come down, and it took a little of the charm away.

Because we had to be in New Orleans soon, we needed to keep on driving, so we carried on and said goodbye to Galveston in an unusual way. In order to not have to go back up to Houston, there is a way to move on along the coast even though the land ends on the east side of town. There is a ferry, which runs every 30 minutes, takes many cars, trucks, and RVs! And the bonus? It’s FREE.