Texas

So remember when I was amazed at theinterstate sign in California that listed exit 830 or something, and thought that was big. Well I drove the entire length of I-10 from El Paso to Orange, and exited the state at mile 825 or so.

Day 26, 10-5-08:
Leaving my room in El Paso I surveyed the map and locked my destination into the GPS. It happily told me to drive for 8 hours or so. I sighed. Texas is a big state, and contrary to some memes is not actually flat. It's just mostly flat. And dry, and a bit like cornfields, only replace 'uggh corn' with 'uggh sagebrush'.

It is also a very fast state. I enjoy moving quickly between destinations, and typically consider 75 mph to be the top of my comfortable driving speed. My car's transmission gearing was not meant to go much more than 70, so my tachometer starts creeping above 3000 rpm when I hit 72ish. The speed limit on I-10 from El Paso to Kerrville is 80. 80 freaking miles an hour. Thankfully there isn't much traffic along the route on a weekday, but man, it gets disconcerting when fully loaded semis travel around you at those speeds; the inertia they carry is downright nauseating to think about and what it would do to you. So, I gritted my teeth and barreled down the road at Ludicrous Speed.

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Before moving to Minnesota with the parents when I was 12 we lived in Williamston, MI. Our neighbors there were the Bonds, and I was friends with their daughter of my age, Amie, when we were small. Like, 3-4 small. They movved away then and ended up in the suburbs of Houston, before moving to Kerrville a few years ago. I contacted the Bonds and they agreed to put me up for the night. I arrived around 6pm at their 80 acre ranch, and was greeted by Mr. Bond at the front gate.

I dont really remember the Bonds. I've met them after they moved away but in reality I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, and kept having these half-remembered memories pop into my head as we were talking that great. First Mr. Bond let me ride a four wheeler as we rammed around the ranch to feed the deer. See, Texas gives a tax credit for properties that are used as farms or ranches (both) and the Bonds have a deer herd. In addition to domestic white tailed deer they have populations of Indian deer and something else, and the only species name I can remember (forgot to write them down) is the Black Buck, from India. They sell the animals to game farms that operate throughout this part of Texas, as well as hosting their own shoots.

We went to a nice Mexican restauraunt for dinner, Mark, Linda and their youngest daughter Adrianne. Aftre returning to their ranch I discovered with delight that Mr. Bond had a beer keg on tap, and we spent the the next few hours talking about life, family and good things.

Day 27, 10-6-08:
I awoke the next morning, late, to note that Mr. Bond had already left for a long trip around the country for his busines, and Adrianne was at school. Mrs. Bond and I talked for a awhile, and having made contact with Amie who lived in Austin now, I bid her farewell. It was a great time on their ranch and I really appreciated the Bond's hospitality and memories.

I drove from Kerrville to Austin, and along the way stumbled on the Lyndon Johnson State Park and museum(s).



I drove through the town of Johnson City, which evidently was founded by LBJ's family. I arrived at Amie's apartment complex, and after soem awkward moments owing to the fact that for most intents and purposes, we were strangers, we set off for lunch at a place nearby.

We had a pleasant conversation, where I learned that she had only recently returned to Texas after living in New York City for the past 7 years, working recently in music licnesing for NBC. She nows does her job from Austin, where she got to keep her NYC-size salary. I admit, I am a bit envious, and we parted amicably, and she gave me some cool places to see in downtown Austin. I stopped there for an hour, visiting the famous Bat Bridge and some of the music scene of Austin, which during the day is unsurprisingly pretty dead.

Next I drove Southeast to Houston. Not wanting to stop in Houston proper I decided to drive out to Galveston to look at the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Originally this sounded like a good idea, but it quickly became obvious that it was a bad and not very honorable one, what with gawking at people's misfortune. I then decided that my intended trips around the lower ninth ward and similar areas in New Orleans were a similar no-go.

I tried to find a place to stay along the gulf coast, anywhere along the gulf coast, but was continually out of luck. Every hotel from Galveston to well into Louisiana was booked solid with repair teams cleaning up after the season's hurricane damage. I finally found a room in Kinder, LA, after searching until 10 at night, and 25 miles north of the I-10 corridor. But even that place was $80 for a Days Inn.

And with that, I'll leave New Orleans until tomorrow. Bye!