Thursday, August 17, 2006

Texas, Texas, and more Texas

Day 26 - Thursday - August 17, 2006

After a delicious breakfast of cinnamon french toast and sausage, I loaded up the van while Emilio helped James load some furniture for Grandpa H and Betty Lou fed the animals with the kids.

1000 - On the road. About an hour later than I had hoped but we were able to do a lot this morning. I didn't really want to leave anyway... We made several stops along the ranch roads to take pictures of the "spooky trees". Unfortunately some sort of disease is killing the trees but the "skeletons" that are left make cool pictures.

1036 - Fredericksburg. Gas $2.91/gallon. Ryan is reading The Boxcar Children and wants to know what queer means (as in Queer Noises in the Night). I told him strange or unusual. As we drive through town I remember the fun shopping we did here on our last visit. Maybe next time we can try it again.

1055 - pass a sign for Luckenbach Road. Isn't there a song about Luckenbach, Texas?

1112 - Johnson City, former home of Lyndon Johnson. Along the road today we have seen lots of peach orchards and wineries. Think the girls back home would want to go to Texas for a wine-tasting weekend?

1124 - Just realized I have been driving without the radio on.

1128 - 30 minutes to Austin. Texas is just entirely too big I think.

1137 - That town had a Sonic and a Dairy Queen but no Jack in the Box.

1154 - Picking up traffic headed into Austin. Tell the kids that I'll give $5 to anyone that spots a Jack in the Box.

12:10 pm - I am eating Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges from Jack in the Box. We had to backtrack and meander through town a bit to reach the JITB we saw from the highway but we made it. A trip to JITB is worth getting lost for! I'm sure there will be a JITB on every corner now that I've finally found one.

12:28 pm - Just as I'm finishing my fries, we see a sign for another JITB at the next exit.

12:29 pm - Ryan's napkin from JITB says, "It could be a long day." Oh how true that is!

12:35 pm - Okay. Austin is really big. Also, we have seen 5 JITB's since we stopped at the first one.

1:09 pm - 50 miles to Waco. It is 100 degrees outside.

1:54 pm - leave McD's playplace. It is VERY hot outside! Backyardigans DVD is playing. We shall continue our very hot, never-ending journey across Texas.

1:57 pm - pass a 24-hour Drive-Thru Starbucks. I definitely wouldn't mind having one of those where I live!

2:35 pm - Waco, TX. Gas, $2.70/gallon. Miles driven so far today, 200. Yikes! We are NEVER going to get out of Texas at this rate. Also, next time we're in Waco, I'm going to the Dr. Pepper museum!

3:08 pm - Another small town. No sooner do I get around the slow people in front of me on the highway and get settled into a good traveling speed, than I have to slow down again for another town. Can you sense the frustration and futility that comes from driving across Texas?!?

3:09 pm - Felisa is whining. Oh and I have no cell service.

3:24 pm -
Emilio: "We're seeing a lot of Texas today."
Ryan: "Yeah, we learned that
Texas is really big and it has a lot of Jack in the Boxes, and we might not ever
get out."

3:26 pm - stop at JITB again. This time have 2 tacos for Ron! And Grandpa R gets to have an extra potty stop while we wait in line at the drive-thru.

3:55 pm - dead armadillo on the road

4:10 pm - Athens, TX

4:18 pm - I lost my road somewhere in Athens. Now we are headed southeast. Guess we'll just pick up 79 in the next town instead of following 31.

4:54 pm - Ryan woke up from his way-too-short nap and asked, Are we out of Texas yet?

4:58 pm - ask for directions at an antique store in Jacksonville because of course 79 did not intersect the road we were on like it showed on the map and there were no signs at the T-corner indicating which way we should turn to find 79. Luckily the girls sleep through all of this.

5:00 pm - It's five o'clock. What have you done today?

5:30 pm - Rush hour in Henderson.

5:38 pm - Lost again! This time I decide to do a U-turn and go back through town to find my road because zig-zagging up and down across Texas is really getting old and I just want to get to LA!

6:11 pm - NE Texas is green and has lots of trees.

6:21 pm - Ron called to check in.

6:24 pm - another dead armadillo. Wish I could have seen one that wasn't dead...

6:27 pm - Louisiana!!!

6:30 pm - LA-Tex business sign sets of ponderings in my mind of how the 2 letter state postal abbreviations were chosen. Was there a formula?

6:36 pm - See a Starbucks billboard, "Ladies and Gentlemen, start your blinkers!"

6:37 pm - See a rainbow.

6:38 pm - Sprinkles and wind to go with the rainbow.

6:47 pm - Interesting. I didn't know they have casinos in Shreveport.

6:58 pm - IHOP. Kids are very excited to be eating pancakes for dinner. Anything to break up the monotony of the driving...

7:58 pm - Gas, $2.79/gallon

8:08 pm - Starbucks.

9:39 pm - pass the last Mason exit. Oops! So much for "I'll take the next exit and find a hotel." The highway is very dark with nothing around. I call my travel agent, Ron, and ask him to find out if there are any hotels coming up. I really don't think we can make it another hour to Jackson, MS.

10:00 pm - Days Inn, Rayville, LA. Bedtime!

1 comment:

Cheryl Wray said...

That quote from Ryan is priceless!!! I'm originally from Texas, so I certainly know how BIG it is. It does sometimes seem like you'll never get out!
Those bacon cheesy wedges sound TOO good!!
Glad you're having a good trip!