TEXAS

We made it to The Great State of Texas - Our route along I-10 W indicates that the route will span almost 900 miles to the New Mexico border. Luckily, we'll break up the drive with a few days in San Antonio starting tomorrow, and a few more in Austin before we head to Arizona.


The weather in east Texas is windy and cold, and will be below freezing tonight.  But fair weather is on the way - sunny and high 50's to 60's.  That's more like it and we'll take it, because back home, yet another snow storm is heading their way tonight and tomorrow.  Sorry friends!


San Antonio is a very clean city, with areas of inlaid brick on the sidewalks and streets.  When we went on Friday night, there were surprisingly few people out and about.  Maybe they felt it was too cold out (!).  Buildings were dramatically lit up and the Riverwalk, under the main streets, is a great place to take a stroll, with small sightseeing boats and restaurant balconies overhead.  Very picturesque - only no pictures due to the darkness, sorry.


On Saturday we went to the Imax theater to see "The Price of Freedom", a story about the battle at the Alamo, and then visited the shrine, which is in the center of the city.  Originally a Spanish mission, it became a fortress for the defenders of Texas, both soldiers and volunteers, including Davy Crockett, under Col Travis against Mexico's Gen Santa Ana.  For 13 days in 1836, these men fought off daily attacks by the Mexican army; When it became evident to Col Travis that no additional help would arrive, legend has it that he drew a line in the sand with his sword, and asked any man willing to stay and fight, and die for the cause, step over the line - all but one did. With the final massive assault on March 6 - all 200 or so defenders died at the hands of thousands of Mexicans, and the loss of these heroes would be remembered in infamy: "Remember the Alamo". Eventually, Gen Sam Houston recovered the Alamo, which enabled Texas to survive and eventually become the 29th state.
Here are some of the day's memories:

This is an impressive sculpture of Col Travis, Davy Crockett
and the defenders of the Alamo

At night, the horse-drawn carriages are lit up -
Very dramatic!

We visited the oldest saloon in Texas:  The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum, and The Texas Ranger Museum, which gave a great look back at when the Rangers began, with rooms of original artifacts, letters, badges, rifles, etc.

Looks like our living room

Some fabulous antler chairs

Tony found the Chuckwagon

We stopped by a San Antonio Margarita Man business - Tony is partners with our friend Mike in this business in CT - They rent out the machines which make frozen drinks and slushies for the kids. Their contact in San Antonio, Chris, has an affection for corvairs:

Drove up to Austin, where we visited with Tony's cousin Marie and her husband Hans, who prepared a wonderful home cooked dinner for us and their son, Peter.  Had a great time and we're happy we were able to see them.

On our second day in Austin, we visited the flagship store of Whole Food Market, on Cousin Marie's recommendation.

WFM has an interesting history:  in 1978, two entreuprenaurial "20 somethings", one a college drop-out, borrowed $45,000 from family and friends, and opened a small natural food store in Austin. Two years later, they partnered with two others, which resulted in the opening of the original Whole Foods Market store.  Less than one year later, the worst flood in 70 years devastated the city of Austin; the store inventory was wiped out and most of the equipment damaged.  The loss was over $400,000...... and WFM had no insurance! Customers and neighbors joined in to repair and clean up the damage.  Creditors, vendors and investors all provided breathing room for the store to get back on its feet.  WFM re-opened less than one month after the flood.  Since then, it has been expanding and acquiring other markets, and is now international.


The landmark store in Austin is 80,000 square feet, with 600 employees and a 5 story parking garage. At your service are a Concierge, Personal Shopping, and cooking classes.  The bakery has 3 different ovens: deck, hearth and wood stone. The seafood department offers 150 in season catches - smoking and curing is done on the premises. There are 1,800 types of wine, and thousands of beers from around the world, with a walk-in cooler of 400 sf.  There are various eateries throughout the store, prepared foods, etc. It's like Stew Leonard's on steriods!


Tony's cousin, Frank, from NJ, plays cards with a fellow whose brother opened a bagel shop in Austin, so we had orders to check it out.

Wholy Bagel had a nice assortment of freshly made bagels, so of course we had to buy a bunch, and we split and froze them to enjoy in the mornings.


In a parking lot, we came upon this sexy thing:

We crossed party lines and visited the LBJ Library & Museum, which has many wonderful exhibits during LBJ's lifetime - we especially enjoyed the one on the 60's.  There are hand written letters and speeches, and viewing areas of the gifts given to President & Mrs. Johnson by heads of state. Some of them are priceless artifacts from around the world.  Also, there are many videos and murals of events of the time.  This is the only Presidential Library we've ever visited, and it was well done....and free, as LBJ wanted it open and available to everyone.

Life size animated Rancher LBJ

Replica of LBJ's Oval Office

We missed an unusual tourist attraction in Austin: The Congress Bridge Bats.  From March to November, approximately 1.5 million bats emerge at dusk, from under the Congress Street bridge.  It's said that the sky grows dark as they fly out and forage for food. It is the largest urban bat colony in the continent, and the nightly event has become one of the most spectacular and unusual tourist attractions in Texas. With all these bats, I would guess there's no mosquito problem in Austin!


We drove west, leaving Austin and heading toward AZ.  Austin is a very clean city with a great highway system, like San Antonio.  However, you can have the traffic in Austin.....any time, day or night, there's plenty of company on the roads.  By the way, about 100 miles west, the speed limit increased - don't think I've ever seen this before:

Tony got in one of his famous naps today!  

Western Texas is very desolate - a lot of nothing surrounding you. 

The area is loaded with ranches for raising sheep and angora goats, the largest concentration of such ranches in the country.


We made a fuel stop and came across two certified Rednecks.....They had built a shooting perch in the back of their pick up truck.  Note the ferocious beast protecting the ensemble.

They use it to shoot coyotes, which over run the area and prey upon the rancher's sheep and calves. The basket in front of the truck holds the days catch.

Our former neighbor, Dick, who moved to Florida, but I think secretly misses living here, emailed us photos from the latest snowfall -  Connecticut really got hit hard this year......and there's still 6 weeks of winter left!

YIKES !!  Here's our neighbor Geri standing in front of her home:

We are staying at a campground about 100 miles east of El Paso, before crossing into New Mexico.   Don't want to stay too close to the Mexican border - especially near Juarez!