The Great State of Texas

I am now sitting in Brownsville Texas, four miles from the Mexican border and thinking back over the time I spent in Texas. I spent a lot more time in Texas than I planned on and don’t regret a minute of it.

I entered Texas from New Mexico on one of the longest and most boring drives of this adventure expecting to see longhorn cattle, big 10 gallon cowboy hats and oil rigs everywhere.  I did see a few oil rigs, very few cowboy hats and not a single longhorn. Apparently the longhorns are now long raised for show. Texas is experiencing record low rainfall so my entire journey was very very dry and brown.

There were a few firsts for me on this trip in Texas;  1. I saw an Armadillo and caught it by the tail. 2 I rode a mechanical bull, 3. I joined a motorcycle club (The Road Rockers), 4. Got really really drunk for the first time on this adventure and finally 5. I spent 6 nights in the same bed.  I have been called “Sir” more times in Texas than all the previous states combined. Texas is great, Texans are great.

After leaving my friends place near Austin I headed south and spent the night in a small coastal town called Rockport. There were lots of shore birds, beautiful homes, great food and best of all a cool breeze. After putting up with 100F in Austin a cool breeze was a welcome change.

From Rockport I continued on to Corpus Christi. I stopped here just long enough to take a few pictures of an aircraft carrier. Corpus looks like it would be a fun beach city to come back and see sometime. Continuing south the stopped in South Padre Island, this place was cool and I regret not doing more research on this place before. I could easily have spent a few days here with its great beaches, cheap hotels, shopping and all sorts of water sports. Unfortunately my insurance for Mexico starts already and does not last forever, so I moved on closer to the border where I could focus more.

I now have to prepare to enter Mexico, sort paperwork, print a few extra copies and other minor details. I am nervous and excited at the same time.

See my Texas route here  http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=281120