Snapshots: Roll on Highway*--Part 1

A day late, yes, but definitely not a dollar--or any photos--short. 

We didn't get home until about 4 p.m. yesterday, and man, I was WRECKED. I definitely did not have any energy for writing or posting photos. But now, after a solid night's sleep in my own bed (YAY) and my first cup of proper coffee since leaving home, I feel capable of diving in to the snapshots from our trip.

Ready? Let's go!

The drive from our house to the sea is over 12 hours, and we can't realistically do that in one day with our crew, so we didn't even try. We planned on stopping for the night somewhere, and that meant we didn't need to leave punishingly early.

I was shooting for a 7 a.m. departure, so I told everyone we were leaving at 6:30 a.m. Sure enough, with everyone working towards leaving at 6:30, we were rolling away from the house at 7:05 a.m. 

We brought the dogs with us. Adventure Van is big enough that we can have a full-size dog crate set up in the back for Odin, to separate him from his brother so there's no growling and jockeying for space in the main part of the van.

Odin's van den.

Jasper just goes under the seats in the back, where the children sit.

Someone's gotta guard the toys.

And then, we drove. I drove across the entirety of Texas many years ago when I was helping to move my grandmother's things from Louisiana to Arizona, but I don't remember much of it. Perhaps because the way I drove then wasn't memorable. Or perhaps because I wasn't visually assaulted then by hundreds upon hundreds of wind turbines and their accompanying hideous infrastructure.

I really, really hate those giant wind turbines that have gone up in the past decade or so. They're just such an eyesore, and their constant spinning has a bad effect on me. Texas is COVERED with them. Particularly around Lubbock, apparently. I was not a fan.

Anyway.

The children were interested to see those oil derricks that look like giant birds continuously pecking the ground. I didn't take a photo of one, but if you google oil derrick, you'll see them.

I was less interested to note that we could actually smell the oil as we were driving through those areas. When we got off the main road for lunch, we drove by one of the derricks that had a sign warning of poisonous gas. Super.

Thankfully, the smell--and presumably the gas--wasn't bad where we actually were, which was the rodeo grounds in Post, Texas.

Why did we stop at rodeo grounds for lunch? Because we're never actually looking for food when we stop on the road. 

Ham and cheese sandwich assembly in the back of the van.

Instead, we're looking for a place both our children and our dogs can run. Parks are good, as long as there aren't too many people or other dogs. Empty rodeo grounds in small towns are perfect.

So much space to run in. So many fences to climb. Be free, small, feral things!

The good times have to end eventually, though, and all animals and people must be once again corralled in the van. 

More driving. More wind turbines. But also the beginnings of the Texas hill country, with its lovely oaks and turbine-free views.

We made it to Eden, Texas, this night and called it quits there at a really terrible motel. 

Fun fact! Eden is the geographical center of Texas.

Eden has embraced its name and there is, indeed, a garden there. It was actually quite cute, with lots of brightly painted animals made of tires and metal and so forth.

Poppy's favorite was, of course, the unicorn.

The hill country ends at San Antonio, which we had to drive through. That was possibly the low point of the second day. A. wanted to stop at one of the many historic missions there, but we got lost in the absolute chaos of the San Antonio freeway system and had a terrible time getting back on track. 

While we were enmeshed in the insanity of San Antonio, we saw a Bass Pro Shops in one of the shopping areas by the freeway and stopped to get our salt water fishing licenses. These were required for A. and me on the charter boat we were taking the next day.

This was the younger children's first experience with the wonder that is Bass Pro Shops--essentially Disneyland with a dead animal theme--and they were THRILLED.

Giant staircases!

AND ELEVATORS!

We did manage to find our way to the mission area and stopped for lunch at the Espada Acequia. This is a stone aqueduct that was built by the Franciscan missionaries around 1740 and has been continuously running there since then. They used the water to irrigate their gardens. I don't know where it goes now, but it is a very nice little water feature in the middle of the city.

Our destination was only a few hours past San Antonio, so we pushed on until at last, we reached the sea.

I woke up the next morning and brought my coffee out onto the front porch to enjoy the fog and palm trees.

And to avoid the children sleeping on pull-out beds in the living room.

Tune in for Part 2, in which we venture into the Gulf and we see if any of us are prone to seasickness.

* Somewhere around Lubbock, the song "Roll On" by Alabama came on the radio. I hadn't heard that song in years, but the refrain was so appropriate I had it on continual loop in my head (and often out loud as I sang it) for the rest of the trip. 

Roll on highway, roll on along

Roll on, Daddy, till you get back home.

Roll on family, roll on crew

Roll on, Mama, like I asked you to do.

And roll on, 18 wheeler, roll on.