880 Miles of Texas: The Real Journey Begins

I knew I was in for a long ride through Texas when I entered the state at mile marker 880 on I-10 West.  The drive on Monday from Hammond, Louisiana to San Antonio, Texas is the longest so far and probably the longest of the entire trip.  Louisiana is much wider than I considered and took me somewhere between three and four hours to drive across - it's a little blurry at this point.  I certainly got my fill of the bayou and probably drove past thousands of gators and other critters in the low country.  I think I must have driven over more miles of bridges in two days in Louisiana than my entire driving career prior.  It was an interesting drive and I appreciated all the bridges and waterways to mix up the view.

Welcome to Texas! (Very small on the right past
the big rigs...sigh at taking photos while driving)

When I got into Texas at mile marker 880 I realized what a much much much wider state Texas is!  The drive became more monotonous with long, flat straightaways.  Thankfully, there were no really long stretches without at least billboards or exits to glance at.  I enjoyed several interesting podcasts from "Stuff you Missed in History Class" and "Radio Lab" during my drives on Sunday and Monday.  Topics ranged from "guts" on issues related to digestion and potential personality affects of bacteria stored in our intestines (obviously Radio Lab) to the iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (Stuff you Missed in History Class).  In addition to podcasts, I also rocked out to anything from She & Him to Madonna to Garth Brooks and tried my best to enjoy some of the pop stations I found in Houston.  I may be too old for pop...

I arrived in San Antonio in time say hi to my college friend Erika's husband Daniel, meet their four-month old cutie Matthew Gilroy and go to one of Erika's favorite restaurants for delicious Tex-Mex - puffy chicken tacos with guacamole!  Including my stops for breakfast in Hammond, gas in Baton Rouge, lunch at Cracker Barrel in Lake Charles and gas west of Houston, I made the trip in nine hours!