CC Trip 2012 - Texas

We made it back to Biloxi, MS, where we spent one night before we headed to Texas.  Of course TZ HAD to make one more visit to the casino, and it was a very good decision.  He's "up" quite a bit for the trip.
Our first stop in Texas is a campground in the Galveston Bay area.  Here's the view from our door:

Here's the view at sunset:

There are about 200 green parakeets that visit the campground twice a day.....We know when they're here by the chirping of hundreds of birds!

We visited the NASA Space Center .....you know, "Houston, we have a problem..."  The displays and exhibits were exceptional.  We took the tram tour and visited Mission Control, a Space Station and Shuttle Mock-Up Facility and a building housing a display of rockets.  Here's some photos from today:

These babies greet you at the entrance

Actual size front of a shuttle

One side of the cockpit

Mission Control ("retired" in 1991)

Mission Control work area - mock up used
in the movie Apollo 13

The following five photos show the actual area the astronauts use to train for the Space Station and former Shuttle program.

The Shuttle is being dismantled and the future training venue will be for the Orion program.

These photos are of the Rocket exhibition.

The rocket is so big, I was unable to get it into one photo.

These are from the inside exhibit.

Moonwalking ....

Actual Moon Rocks

The Space Center was well done and we had a "blast".......sorry, I had to.


Left the Galveston area for Quitman, TX, home of TZ's property.  Here's Tony exercising during the ride:

We reached the famous town of Quitman, which is a small, rural town, between Tyler and Sulfur Springs, about 90 miles east of Dallas.

Those larger towns have everything we could want, so there's always somewhere to go or something to do.

Pop. 1809....soon to be 1810

As you drive around Quitman, you see farms and ranches, and plenty of oil drilling rigs.

Someone we know has one of these on his property, and collects between $1000-$2000 each month.  Not bad!  We've seen the usual horse and cattle farms, but also llamas, goats, and shetland ponies.


For now, we only have a cement pad with hook ups for electricity, water and sewer, so we're able to park here for a while.  

The plans are in the works for a canopy over the entire cement pad, with a studio apartment and loft behind the motorhome, and a garage for the car.


We're traveling to Arizona to see friends.  I-20 has the highest speed limits I've ever seen:

And also, very cool overpasses:

Taking all these photos must have really overwhelmed Tony: