Blue skies over Texas

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We woke this morning to sunny skies and calm winds, a great relief from yesterday, when the winds in Holly Beach were so strong it was difficult to close the car door. We left the hotel at 7:55 and 81 degrees and hopped right onto I-10, which was right outside the hotel. The first leg of our trip took us to Houston. Of course we passed the obligatory fuel plants along the way, one in particular looking like a monster of an erector set on steroids. And one gas plant had the biggest flame burning at the top of a chimney that I have ever seen…seems like a real waste of fuel, but I guess there is a purpose in this. And after checking the internet, the expert authority on everything (not), it seems that these are pressure relief valves and I suppose it is preferred to a massive explosion, right? (smile) Check out the photos.

The drive to Houston took us about two hours. It was supposed to take an hour and a half, but a major traffic jam caused us a 30 minute delay. Once we arrived, we spent a considerable amount of time driving all around the city. Being Saturday morning, it was easy to get around. We didn’t see a lot of traffic in the city, but we did see a lot of people in the parks, walking, running and riding bikes. And Houston has it’s share of beautiful green areas with walkways snaking through them for those who want to pursue their healthy activities. It also has it’s share of very tall buildings. The tallest being the JP Morgan Chase building at 75 stories followed by Wells Fargo and Bank of America at 72 stories. It was a real neck stretching/twisting event trying to see the tops of these buildings from up close. All in all, the city is beautiful, clean and friendly. We were happy to be able to see it this time around. The last time we were here was on a Sunday morning and we thought it would be a breeze driving around, but a parade in the city had a lot of streets closed and we ended up driving in circles on the one-way streets, never finding a way to get into the main part of the city, so we gave up and moved on to Galveston. But this time our visit was a success.

We then asked the lady in the square black box on the dash to take us to San Antonio. Now, I did my homework and I know that there is not much going on between Houston and San Antonio, and that sure seemed to be the case today. We saw a lot of empty green pastures, many surrounded by barbed wire fences, but no ranchers and no cattle. We identified a number of rice paddies and a few crawfish farms, though. But no one was out there harvesting anything today. The landscape in Texas is simple and beautiful…flowing green pastures dotted with and surrounded by lush trees, which create their own colorful tapestry against the azure blue sky. God’s country, for sure.

We arrived in San Antonio in early afternoon to discover that, despite the fact that it was the weekend, traffic was very heavy, likely caused by A LOT of road and building construction as well as some kind of festival in town. There were a ton of people milling around the Alamo, but that is usually the case. And it IS summer time. I mean, how many parents put the Alamo on their agenda to show their kids a little bit of American History, right? And of course there is the River Walk. We didn’t even try to do that today…it was 97 degrees and the pavement was blistering hot. Nope, I was happy to do my touring in the comfort of my seat in my air conditioned car.

Something new since our last visit to this city is the way many people are now getting around. Remember the scooters we used to ride as kids? Yup, they are everywhere, on street corners, in front of buildings, in groups and standing alone. A lot of people were riding them. I saw a few that were powered by human energy but most had little motors on them. What a great idea. I had to know more, so I looked them up. It is a service by a company called Bird. They own the vehicles and they are all connected online. You download an app, put in your credit card info. and unlock a scooter. When you are done, you lock it back up through the app, wherever you happen to be and leave it there. They will be collected and charged up for the next day. Course, like all new things, this service has met resistance from some communities and the scooters have been outlawed in places. But for now, they are alive and well in San Antonio.

We ended up at our hotel at 4 PM and got settled in for the night. Check out the photo taken from the window of our 7^thstory hotel room. And this is one of the things I think of when I think Texas cities…always a confusion of roads suspended in mid air like a tangle of spaghetti. Who designs these things, anyway?

Tomorrow Odessa.

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Comments

[Bob]

Re: Scooters
Saw a lot of those scooters last year in San Francisco. Must be helpful going up the hills and scary going down!

[sheflys]

For sure
San Antonio is pretty flat, but San Francisco, OMG.

[Elizabeth Brooks]

Scooters
The scooters are all over DC. They leave them anywhere they want. I passed a few of them on the sidewalk near our home. Too bad you missed River Walk but I understand the heat problem.