From the Desert to the Sea

Good bye Texas, it's time to head west as we wrap up our road trip.

Here is a short video clip of our last hours in Texas with the open sky and country music to drive by. It is appearing that this video only works in certain browsers, google chrome and firefox seem to have the best success. Or it may not show up at all depending on your device.

It wouldn't be a road trip if we didn't stop at an outlet mall, weird Huh? Don't really know how that got started but now it's tradition. So here's Tom enjoying a massage chair during a break in the shopping followed with a food court snack.

Then it's off to our last campsite in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.

Leasburg Dam State Park on the Rio Grande was the "almost" perfect stop. Lovely scenery but way too many gnats for a float on the river. So we settled for relaxing in the rv and then a short walk about  to capture the desert scenery.

I love how this Horned Lizard stopped and looked right at me. He's my favorite! Wish I could rub his soft tummy. 

                                                          The pretty evening sky over the desert

The next day we drove through New Mexico to Marana, Arizona where we enjoyed visiting Tom's sister Linda and her hubby Randy. As always, Linda served up delicious food and then we had a relaxing evening in their lovely home in the Arizona desert. 

  On the final day of our vacation we continued to enjoyed the ride even though scorching desert temperatures reached 118 degrees. It certainly helped us appreciate coming home to San Clemente, known for having the best climate in the world. After 29 wonderful days on the road we are so grateful to God for safe travels, for the great time spent with family and friends, and for the opportunity to see this beautiful country. This road trip may be over but the journey continues on. Stay tuned.

Home sweet home! Life in our beautiful village by the sea.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Texas, with is welcoming people and wide open spaces has been unexpectedly beautiful and green. Many times we have driven through and endured the vast expanse of Texas but this year we had time to slow down and enjoy all the diversity the Lone Star State has to offer. 

Pictured is downtown Austin in the early morning right after a thunder shower. We are driving over the Congress Bridge which crosses the Colorado River. Every evening people gather on this bridge to watch a spectacular dark swarm consisting of thousands of bats fly out from under the bridge. 

Austin is the capital of Texas

Leaving the city we drove west through the green Hill Country. It's the Napa Valley of Texas with winding roads dotted with many vineyards and wineries.

We were in search of a town called Driftwood where a well known BBQ, The Salt Lick, is located. 

What an impressive place it turned out to be! This was no ordinary bbq restaurant. The grounds were beautifully landscaped with multiple eating areas able to accommodate hundreds of people and parties. Even their boots were Texan sized, just right to fit Tom. 

The star of the show was the mouth watering BBQ meat selection. We sampled the ribs, sausage and brisket and then headed back in to buy as much as our frig could hold. Yes, it was that good!

Here are a couple of satisfied customers. 

               Leaving the hill country we headed into the open plains where "the prairie is wide and high, clap, clap, clap, clap, deep in the heart of Texas". 

        

             The sage in bloom, is like perfume, clap, clap, clap, clap, deep in the heart of Texas. 

        

Watch out for the giant roadrunner!

Tom found some locals to kick up his heels with "out in the West Texas town of El Paso", 

Marty Robbins style. 

Thank you Lord for your beautiful finishing touch on this fun day. 

Hello Texas

After a beautiful drive through East Texas we arrived in Houston in time to catch an Astros baseball game.

Minute Maid Park is a beautiful structure with a sliding roof which made it very comfortable inside on this hot day in Houston.

We had to sample the Astros fare and found the bbq brisket sandwich very satisfying.

From our seats we had a great view of the giant windowed wall that opens up when the roof slides back.

On the MeadowMeter we give the friendly Astro fans the highest rating. Especially this brother and sister sitting next to us who were great cheerleaders in getting the crowd excited.

The Astros mascot "Orbit" was astonished when the Astros scored 8 runs in the first inning!

Here is the HOMERUN train, woo wooing across the tracks after another HOMERUN was hit!

Astros Win! The night was capped off with opening the roof followed by a Texas-size fireworks show!  

Our next stop was Fulshear, Texas to visit Lorraine's nephew Will Turner, wife Marissa and their sweet baby James. They recently moved here and it was so great to see them in their beautiful home and that they are settling in nicely as a family of three. 

Their little guy, James, is such a cutie! With his great disposition and his parents smarts, there will no stopping this guy. 

On the Turner's recommendation we made our next stop at Trudy's Tex-Mex Restaurant in Austin. Trudy's is known for their award winning margaritas but it was the deep fried stuffed avocado that was the biggest hit. Muy Bueno!

McKinney Falls State Park in Austin was our camp spot for the next two nights. 

This is a pic of the refreshing falls the first day we arrived, the next pic is the falls after thundershowers and flash floods the next day. Not too many bathers wanted to get swept away.

We enjoyed riding our bikes through the lush grounds, even spotted some wildlife in our own campsite. 

Buffalo burgers we brought in Oklahoma got bbq tonight in Texas. Yeehaw!