We've also added some more pics to our photo album.
This week started off with our final day in San Antonio. Monday morning we decide to jump on city transit (there is a stop right outside the KOA campground entrance) to go downtown to see the Alamo and whatever else San Antonio has to offer downtown.
So we wander out to the bus stop. No one else there. Nice day, very busy street/road with lots of fairly large trucks shooting by.
A few minutes later this "older" couple walk out the KOA gates and come over to the bus stop and sit down. Farmers? not sure big old guy wearing bib overalls etc etc...but Illinois Bob (as we'll call the fellow) sits down beside Brian and he strike up a conversation about where they're from (Illinois in case you missed the hint in his assigned name), where they're going etc etc etc.. More big trucks shooting by.
A few minutes later two young couples (late teens maybe early 20's) come out of the KOA and over to the bus stop. One of the young ladies was wearing a very low cut summer dress. So low cut in fact there was an exposed nipple (a possible wardrobe malfunction?).
Just as they walk up to the bus stop, with said nipple exposed, a big truck goes by. Illinois Bob exclaims loudly that "back home they all have to keep them's tops on. If they don't keep them's tops on, they can get a ticket"... it took us a moment or so to realize that, although he appeared to be looking in her direction (it was the same direction the truck went), he was totally oblivious to the lack or shortage of top on the young woman's dress. He was talking about the big truck that went by with the back of the truck uncovered... it wasn't until he continued his exclamation "... if they don't have them's tops on, stuff can fly all over the place..." that we realized he was commenting on the state of the truck and not on the state of the young woman's dress.
The bus came and we laughed almost all the way downtown :-)
By the way... Alamo excellent...
...rest of downtown... hmmm not so much... went down to the famed "river walk", did have an excellent lunch... mostly junky tourist crapola stores... came back early to the KOA and jumped in the pool.
For the rest of the time this was another one of those relatively short distance weeks. It was time for visiting friends in Houston Texas.
Once again we opted out of the straight run freeway from San Antonio to Houston. The secondary highways again showed more of the countryside. We also found out that there is a rice growing region just southwest of Houston. Even though we ambled through the countryside, it was still a relatively short day drive to get to Houston. For lunch we veered north to Luling, the home of the Luling Market BBQ. Not much to add to previous descriptions... just great food in a great environment... :-). The food was so good ... no plates, just butcher paper.
Wednesday night we went with our friends James and Melissa to the Houston Dynamo vs FC Dallas MLS football/soccer game. Then Thursday night the four of us went to the Astros vs Diamondbacks MLB baseball game. It looks like we are not the good luck charm hoped for... Houston teams fell a bit short in both games. Oh well... on the baseball front now after 3 games in our travel "series", it is visiting team 2, home team 1.
Thursday, during the day, we drove out to the Johnson Space Center for the NASA visitor's center. What a great place. The displays about the history of the NASA space flights are terrific and the tram tour is very interesting. The display of the Saturn 5 rockets, in Rocket Park, used for many missions is absolutely awesome.
On the way back into Houston, we decided we needed yet more BBQ so stopped in at the venerable Goode's BBQ Company where the ribs, brisket and sausage were once again a very nice lunch.
Friday we drove to Columbus where we spent a nice evening out in the back of James' family ranch.
There are also fireflies here. It was pretty neat to see the "spark" like effect they have as it got darker out. We sat around a huge fire James made, watched the stars and just had a good old visit.
We had our very first sighting of an armadillo in the wild. Most exciting for us.
The Texas countryside offers many features which we do not have at home .... bugs that bite, sting, or otherwise try to scare the living hell out of you. We had admired a lovely huge fluffy black caterpillar ... 'look at this lovely caterpillar, see how fluffy it is'. Not a minute later Melissa is quite disturbed to find a caterpillar near their tent, the thing had to be scooped up and taken away to be beaten to a pulp where no one will step on it. Turns out they have poisonous stingers in their hairs and can give you a nasty sting - some asp caterpillar stings might require medical attention. After that we were very careful ..... marching around in a most rediculous fashion wishing I had brought tall boots (which would have been perfect for the 90+ degree heat).
Saturday we went back out to the ranch and spent a few hours at a swimming hole in the Colorado river. Water was warm, relatively clear and not flowing too fast. We took lawn chairs down to the water and sat in the cool water (at least Melissa and Kris did; Brian and James had a manly adventure to see if they could wade across the river and only managed to find a couple of deep holes in the bottom, thus adding risk to adventure). Nice place, quiet and peaceful. We finished off the day with a lunch visit to Jerry Mikeska's BBQ joint in Columbus. You might recall our earlier visits to brother Clem Mikeska's BBQ joint farther north in Temple. Food was pretty much the same, very good as usual. Decor is a tad more taxidermyish. As James asked us, in warning, the first time he took us to Jerry's a couple of years ago "hope y'all aren't disturbed by a bit of taxidermy?" Which seemed like an odd question to pop spontaneously in a restaurant parking lot. Believe me, if you can't tolerate being watched while you eat, this is not the place for you. The stuffed white bears standing in the doorway offering up baskets of candies is a tad weird.
On Sunday we drove back into Houston as it was a Nordstrom SPA day for Kris. General driving around and getting ready to head west.
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You do seem to meet the most interesting folk in your travels!
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