Fact: Day Three

This was another day of less-adventure, more-travel.

We woke up early (especially since I'd been up until about 2am getting our last stuff loaded on this blog!) and got moving. We drove through Texas and saw even more picnic tables and things shaped like Texas--including an enormous steak (things are bigger in Texas) and earrings.

We all cheered when we got to Louisiana just because the scenery was a little different. And then the traffic began.

We thought we'd make it to New Orleans by 6pm. Then we figured 7pm for SURE. And at 8:30, we rolled in. We saw some of the effects of Hurricane Katrina (five years ago, right?) and were amazed by the beautiful buildings and bridges.

This is the first night we've arrived early enough to swim.

As part of this trip, Will has the responsibility to track our gas mileage. Every time Jim gasses up, Will keeps a tally of the gallons bought, total cost, and miles driven since the last fill-up. He takes this job very seriously. And there is much calculation going on in our car for the first 10 minutes after we leave a gas station (gallons per mile, miles per dollar, dollars per day...you get the idea).

Matt's job is a bit more complicated. It involves reading the giant atlas about every 4 minutes (he is getting very good at tracking the mileposts and announcing what state we're in and how many miles to the next exit, rest stop, national forest, or campground) and also keeping Jim in line. He offers helpful advice like "Dad--get in the other lane" and "Can you get around this truck so we can go faster?" and "Change lanes!" and "How many more minutes until these miles are over?" He has definitely earned his backseat driving license on this trip.

Dwight at a roadside stand. You put the best-looking beets on top. Those are the money beets.



Another state without a good spot to stop. We did take this picture 3 times, however, because the traffic was at a dead standstill...so at least we were able to focus well...

To get away from the traffic, we decided to see what mexican food in Louisiana tastes like. Not-too-authentic-but-fine was the general consensus.Dwight was impressed with the unique bathroom fixtures.
The whole place had a theme-park-decorations feel to it. It was too open and cafeteria-ish in seating so I felt uncomfortable taking pictures in the main area. In the bathroom, however, I didn't feel weird at ALL taking pictures...
Matt and Dwight at the table. Because all authentic mexican restaurants have fake-leather tablecloths...

Traffic and a huge bridge ahead.

Dwight (and Matt) recommend going to the right.

Fact: Day Two

EDITED TO ADD: I present to you.....JOEY!!! note to Mom: I have more pics and a tour of his apartment but Jim is ready to rock and roll. So those will come later.

I can't say how much I love this guy. We had SO much fun seeing him!

Day Two can be easily summed up with the following fact: TEXAS IS ENORMOUS!!!

We got up, everyone showered, enjoyed the free breakfast, and got in the car. We have a hard and fast rule in the Parker Family that we follow every trip. It goes like this: Everyone out of the car every 100 miles. So this entire day was spent getting out every 100 miles. We got to the Texas border nice and early and most of the rest of the day is generally a blur. We ate our picnic lunch at a lovely rest stop—there are rest stops about every 80-ish miles here in Texas. And we’ve determined that the Great State of Texas assumes that there will be eleven picnickers every 80-ish miles across the entire state. We laughed at how many picnic tables there are…zillions.

We drove and drove and drove and drove. And we’re still in Texas.

This day also included a highlight that will make San Antonio one of our favorite stops on this trip—we surprised my little brother Joey who is on a mission right now. He said the phrase “WHAT THE HECK..?” about 200 times and had the biggest smile on his face the whole time. We visited for about 20 minutes, left him and his companion some treats, and off we went. Through more Texas.

We stopped for the night about 35 miles east of San Antonio (I told Joey that seeing him was better than seeing the Alamo and he agreed). And I just discovered I left my camera in the van tonight. So pictures of Joey to be added tomorrow (I took pictures of his apartment for my mom—Mom, when I get the pictures posted please notice there are NO dirty dishes in the place! The photos are not touched up or staged in any way).

Facts about Texas we've experienced first-hand:

Everything here is huge (have I mentioned this state just goes on and on?).
Everything here is shaped like Texas (pie crust, hat bands, key chains, street signs,...)
The only radio stations that are static-free are the ones that we absolutely do NOT want to listen to.
They really love neon (as in night-time business-attracting glowing amazingness).
Eight hundred miles seems a lot longer when you stay in one state the entire time (think I'm going to complain much when we take a road trip someday to Alaska?)

The first Welcome to Texas sign we saw was on a too-busy-for-us-to-get-out-and-pose freeway. So we improvised.

Then we found this sign at the Welcome Center and we put Dwight right about where we were in the state. We were in El Paso about 9am this morning...and now it's way after midnight and we aren't even past the A yet...