Home sweet home, our last day on the road was our easiest. The curtain falls on the Texas adventure

The final leg of our trip from Terre Haute, Indiana to home in Lapeer, Michigan was very uneventful, which is always a good thing. We were up early and out before 8 a.m. for our trip home.

Trailer back home

OnStar came in handy because as we approached Indianapolis there were electronic signs warning us that I-70 (the Interstate we were driving on) was closed ahead due to an accident. I knew we would be turning off I-70, but what I didn’t know was whether our turn off was before or after the wreck.

Joan suggested we call OnStar and the advisor did a little research and told us we would turn off before the wreck, which we did. The peace of mind knowing I wouldn’t have to detour through city streets with the trailer was worth the service.

We started seeing convertibles with the top down just north of Indianapolis and I wondered out loud about the last time a man in his blue Sebring had had his top down this early in the season.

Somewhere on the route in Indiana we passed the headquarters for the Nestle Co., which I guess I had missed on previous trips through the area. At precisely 12:09 p.m. we crossed back into our home state and about 2 ½-hours later we were home.

Galveston sea wall with Diane and Denny (Joan too)

Well, Joan was home, I was off to the RV dealer to have the trailer winterized as despite the current warm weather it would just take a couple of cold days, which we are bound to have in the next month or so, and we could have some serious ice damage to the trailer.

I waited for the trailer and then had the difficult job of backing the trailer into the driveway. The backing is no longer a problem for me, but the impatient drivers on our busy roadway make it a challenge. It only takes me about 30 seconds to get the trailer off the road, but that is still too long for some folks. This is the first time the trailer has been here since we left for Tucson in September as we stored it for a couple months in Texas.

Before I close out this trip’s blog posts I’ve put together some reflections on Texas.

Two months in Texas does not qualify us as experts in the State. But after two months of our Tejano sampling we have come away with some very fond memories and mostly favorable impressions of the State and the people who live here.

Alamo

The first thing that came to mind is that you see a lot of Texas flags, more state flags flying at businesses and private residences than I think I have ever seen in any other State. And while I won’t swear to it, a few of them, in violation of flag etiquette seemed to be just a little bit higher than the U.S. Flag where they were both displayed together. Maybe just an inch or two so you couldn’t prove it from the ground, but close enough in height to leave you in doubt.

Texans, especially the ones who have lived here from birth, are proud of their state. Not in an arrogant way, but they don’t bad mouth their State and are not eager to point out flaws, as some of my fellow Michiganders are.

Lots of flags

After seeing the Alamo up close and becoming immersed in the story and then wrapping up the package with a visit to the San Jacinto Battlefield where Texas won its independence you can see where that intense pride was germinated. The State’s rich history and its influence on the future of America as a whole would leave anyone with a huge sense of pride.

Universally, we found Texas folk to be polite and especially courteous on the highway. In our unscientific two-month poll we have decided that Texas drivers are the most polite of any state we have traveled in so far. If you need to merge and turn on your clicker they will wear out their brake linings to let you in.

Me at the San Antonio hockey game

Driving in Texas was a pleasure, except for the high volume of traffic we found around Houston on almost every day at almost every hour. The patience of the drivers here made it much easier.

Drivers smile and wave you through when you are stopped at a sign and I can honestly say I haven’t seen on instance of road rage here in the two months we traveled the state and that was about 3,000 miles.

The State is not just a melting pot, it is a boiling cauldron of races and cultures who for the most part seem to get along pretty well. Many times Joan and I were in the minority during our trips shopping or to the various tourist spots. But we never felt out-of-place or not welcome. Knowing Spanish would have been a plus.

People seem genuinely friendly and accommodating and will offer a hand to a stranger lost in a strange land. And yes, they do say “Howdy” and “y’all.”

Jan and Norm on Super Bowl Sunday

Some of my Northern friends sometimes make light or even fun of Southerners, but I think we mistake the slowness of their speech and strange accent with ignorance and yet we found them bright engaging folk.

Not everything here is perfect. In San Antonio we saw plenty of depressed neighborhoods, there is crime in abundance, as there is everywhere. Contrast some of the bad neighborhoods with some incredible wealth which we also saw, but not nearly in the same abundance.

Denny and Diane

For the most part I never got used to the traffic control lights. I am used to the vertical traffic control lights, but Texas uses a horizontal system that contributed to me running at least two red lights without even realizing it until my co-pilot let me know (too late, by the way).

Another traffic difference that was hard for me to get used to was the acceleration deceleration  lanes to get on and off the freeways. I’m more accustomed to the overpass on and off ramps of Michigan, but in Texas, you often leave the freeway and merge directly onto a frontage road with traffic coming at you.

The Sam Houston Tollway is a tremendous rip-off and the next time I come to Houston I will avoid it at all costs (which is a lot when you are pulling a trailer).

Now, for the weather. Everyone here told us we came during an unusually, make that record setting, wet winter. If we heard it once, we heard it 30 times that “we never get rain like this in the winter.”

Did I say we had rain?

Well, yes you do, because we lived through about 14-inches of rain in San Antonio and Houston during our two months here. Our last weekend in Houston saw 4-inches of rain fall in two days, more than the highest total ever for March. So I guess we’ll have to give them a pass on the weather as they needed the rain because of a lingering summer drought.

But if you live in a place that needs rain, call Joan and me and makes us a really good deal and will pull our trailer down and deliver you a soaking like you’ve never had.

Here in a nutshell is our two months away from Michigan: Saunton, Illinois, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, blew another road toll in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, welcome back trailer in Amarillo, Texas. Historic Village, zoo, 12^th Armored Division Museum and Frontier Texas in Abilene, Traveler’s World welcomes us to San Antonio, Margarita on the River Walk, Roosevelt Bus No. 42, “He doesn’t bark, he bites!”, Alamo, San Jose and Concepcion Missions, two Rampage hockey games (“We Want Chicken”), Holy Trinity Anglican Church, farmer’s market, potlucks at the park, happy hour on Friday, a Valentine’s Day country western dance in the rec hall, rain, rain and more rain, Jan and Norm join us for Super Bowl in our trailer and a week of Rodeo action, mall shopping, the World War II Museum in Fredericksburg, wine tasting and a great dinner at the Cabernet Grill, Augie’s Barbeque, LBJ Ranch tour, a Whooping Crane boat tour, dinner at Water Street Seafood in Corpus Christi and a view of the USS Lexington, a move to San Leon and a long back-up on a blocked street, a walk to two bays, Galveston, oh Galveston, a walk through hillbilly hills in San Leon, we welcome Diane and Denny to our home away from home, dinner at Pappa’s Barbeque, hello Karen, good-bye Karen, back to San Antonio and the Alamo, River Walk and Mission, a nice night at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront, a visit to the Houston Rodeo with Diane and Denny, no luck for a visit to the 75^th Division headquarters, a cold day at the Kemah Boardwalk, home tours on Galveston, a trip to the Lone Star Flight Museum on the island, lunch on the sea wall, a ferry boat ride to Bolivar Peninsula and dinner on the sea wall at Casey’s, Jim and Denny ride the Boardwalk Bullet, a day at the Armand Bayou Nature Center, good-bye Diane and Denny, we head back to Armand Bayou for a nature walk, don’t forget the Colon Rectal Surgery place, a visit to the Haak Winery, a visit to the San Jacinto Battlefield and the USS Texas Battleship, Johnson Space Center, back to Galveston and “The Great Storm of 1900” and the Elissa and a Galveston Bay boat ride and dinner at Miller’s, a walk through The Strand,  The Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Houston Health Museum and the Weather Museum with a great video of Hurricane Ike, two Houston Aeros hockey games against the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Houston Aquarium, a one day stop in Little Rock and a visit to downtown and the Clinton Library, a rainy trip to Terre Haute.

So that brings the curtain down on our latest adventure. We appreciate having you along with us even if it is only on cyber space. It also means we won’t bore you with more trip pictures or stories unless you want more. See you in the fall for our trip back to Arkansas and Crater of the Diamonds State Park.

Mileage out: 9479

Time out: 7:57 a.m.

Mileage in: 9884

Time in: 2:50 p.m.

Total Tahoe miles for this trip: 6,749

Total Trailer miles for this trip: 2,183

Total trailer miles since purchase: 14,682 (and I can still remember most of them.)

Good night, folks.