ADVENTURES
THE ROADS TO, IN AND AROUND TEXAS
4:22 PM
We wanted to see Texas; there are so many things to do and see in that state. My Beloved asked me to make a list of possibilities: not that we wanted an agenda, but if we happened to be nearby....
Of course I obliged: we always have a great time on road trips. No agenda? I was more than fine with that. Exploring is grand fun. Getting lost a happy adventure.
My Beloved then decided he wanted to fulfill a couple of bucket list items, so he scheduled them in without checking a calendar.... nor a map. Nor me.
It turned out we'd start by flying into Dallas, then had Bucket List Item #1 to get straight to in Gonzales, which was more or less by Austin and San Antonio which are in south Texas. Sounded promising, until I saw that Bucket List Item #2 was scheduled 2 days afterward, in Alba , which is just northeast of Dallas.
We flew into Dallas at 9pm. Mr. No Agenda, bless him, thought it not necessary to take my suggestion that we book a room ahead of time for that night, so was surprised to find that the 1st place we stopped at was full... as was the 2nd place.. as was the 3rd. Lost, tired, a bit overwhelmed, we practically dropped to our knees near midnight, in thanks that the 4th place had a room.
In the morning, we headed southeast for Gonzales, to get My Beloved to Bucket List Item #1. (more on that later) The rental car did NOT have a GPS - an invention that ranks right up there with sliced bread and dishwashers - but we did have a map.
Perhaps I should mention here, I am not the best map reader.
The interstates are massive in Texas. They are paved with concrete, the speed limits seem to be fast, faster and fastest: semi-trailer trucks are happiest in the fastest lane and going about 90 mph.
The overpasses and exchanges were huge; obviously there is no worry of earthquakes in Texas! Seeing highway exchanges stacked 3,4 and once, even 5 levels winding above us was not uncommon.
Once out of the Dallas area, we also discovered the on and off ramps are nothing like California's long lingering loops: they appear out of no where quickly, and are maybe 150 feet long. This leads to vehicles suddenly appearing in front of you, desperately trying to pick up enough speed to merge.... as well as us consistently passing up where we wanted to get off.
When we did get off the interstate, we found that most of the frontage roads were either one way (the wrong way for what we'd hoped for) or no right turn to go back... which led to the discovery that if you make a left and drive parallel to the interstate, you eventually get to what is called 'a turnaround' that goes under afore mentioned interstate, so you can loop back and get to where you wanted to go.
Getting back onto the interstate had you commending your soul to God and accelerating with gritted teeth.
The good news was, gas was CHEAP!
It was exciting, to say the least.
One of our favourite discoveries was the Buc-ee's conglomeration in Katy, Texas. After multiple billboards, we had to stop, thinking that Buc-ee's was a restaurant that proudly advertised Clean Bathrooms. Turns out, Buc-ee's is much, much more.
Think of a very nice Wal-Mart merged with the cleanest, best truck stop in the universe. Pulling in, the first thing we noticed was the gas station pumps - long and precise, we were proudly informed that 124 vehicles could be fueled up at the same time. And here's the best part - gas at Buc-ee's was $1,79 a gallon.
That's right, folks, $1.79.
Inside the store, which appeared to be a big as a football field, was a display of everything you might possible desire on a road trip.
Now, mind, these were just not any old clean bathrooms. There was 2 connected huge rooms that had not just stalls, but solid wall and solid door individual potties. And clean? You could serve dinner off any surface you saw. The attendants were hopping, wiping, spraying, sanitizing constantly.
Impressive.
All the employees were energetic, cheerful, helpful and charming. Perhaps all this enthusiastic, happy energy was powered by the decent wages:
We thought we'd seen it all though, until we saw the car wash. It has been crowned by Guinness Book of World Records as the longest car wash in the world (yes, everything is bigger in Texas!), and while floods of water and soaps cascade over your vehicle (yes, we had to check it out), giant brushes roll, whirl and scrub your car clean.
And the adventure continues.....
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