Blogs from Texas, United States, North America - page 6

The Tower of the Americas is the second highest free standing tower in the USA, with the first being the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas and the third is the Space Needle in Seattle, both of which we have visited (see and respectively). Sorry America, but they are all outdone by the CN Tower in Canada (see ). The tower and a lot of the city centre regeneration, including the Riverwalk, seems to be linked to the 1968 World Fair, which is frequently mentioned. If I am not mistaken, it was a similar World Fair that gave rise to the Space Needle in Seattle. Perhaps we need the 2023 World Fair in our home town so that the whole world can see what Hemel Hempstead has to offer (and I cringe whilst I'm writing this)!? I ... read more

There was a laundry near the hotel and we had considered getting some washing done to make sure that we had enough clean clothes to last until the end of the holiday. Unusually (or maybe not for New Orleans) the laundry had a voodoo theme. After consideration, we decided that it was not worth the risk of cursed laundry (oh, and we didn't really have time given the long journey that we had ahead). The estimate for that journey was seven and three quarter hours plus breaks, so we decided to not had hang-around and we were on the road by 9.00am, which is early by our standards. The Interstate 10 was just a couple of miles from our hotel and then that would take us to within a few miles of our destination in San ... read more

Today, we thought we would head into Downtown Houston, although our guidebook had not filled us with optimism for what we would find when we got there. We were staying about 10 miles from Downtown, but it was fast and straightforward on the Interstate 45. There was just all the lanes coming and going and I think there were up to nine lanes in each direction at one point. There's also a constant stream of raised advertising boards, most of which seemed to be for ambulance-chasing lawyers. Don't get me started on them, as that scourge of modern life has been exported to the UK now. We headed to the Montrose District first, which our guidebook had said was one of the few areas that could be explored on foot. Sorry Houston, but we were decidedly ... read more

For those of you interested, our next ride, which we are in the planning stage of now, starts in Houston Texas around 1st September. Our bikes have been stored there for 3 years courtesy of Tejas Motorsports. Tejas service centre are prepping them now ready for our arrival (Long storage because of Covid) We firstly head North for 700kms to join up with part of the Trans America Trail near Fort Smith in Arkansas. Then East on the Trans America Trail to Damascus Virginia for around 3000kms. Here we join up with The Mid Atlantic Back Country Discover Route for around 1700kms. To get a feel for these trails and also to see a good travelogue see this video by BDR of the MABDR. https://youtu.be/L1jxCi2GJfs After the Mid Atlantic BDR we head to Hancock in New ... read more

I had the opportunity to visit San Antonio recently with a friend and explore what they had to offer. I wanted to share a few pictures with you all as it is a beautiful place. I don't have pictures of the Alamo here as I visited it and completed a full tour a couple years ago. Initially we visited the "Nowhere Bookstore", an independent bookstore created by author Jenny Lawson. We then followed the Missions Trail and visited three of the Spanish missions found in the area. An evening stroll on the Riverwalk - San Antonio's prize walkway that runs for miles throughout town. There are some lovely sculptures and we were looking specifically for bats as the area is known for having massive numbers of Mexican free-tailed bats. We didn't have luck with the bats ... read more

When we awoke in Van Horn it was to the still-howling wind and about 55 degrees – it sure felt cold! We could have a leisurely start to the day because of all the time changes – and my head is still spinning – in Van Horn we were in Central time, but we were just like 3 miles from the border with Mountain Time. So our phones changed themselves prematurely. AND, to make things even more confusing, we were expected to lunch with dear LME friends from way back in early 2000s, Charlie & Karin McClain, in Las Cruces NM. So we couldn’t arrive too early. And then by the time we eventually got to Tucson for this night, the time changed yet again!! So driving west is longer! Anyway, we hit 2000 miles of ... read more