Little did we know that we were driving into a massive thunder booming, tornado flailing, gulf storm.
As we drove down toward New Orleans we were hit with blindingly powerful rain. We’re from the Pacific Northwest, so we are accustomed to consistent, heavy rain, but this was dangerously different. Rain smacked our windshield so hard that at times it would have been impossible to see the car in front of us if it were pressed up against our bumper. The rain intensity wavered, but after several repeat assaults we became concerned and Googled for information. Yup, huge storm heading our way. Vehicles pulled over onto the side of the highway, and we saw a couple who had spun out into the grassy ditch of the median.
Based on how bad the storm looked, we decided to race our way west and try to escape its wrath before the worst of it came. Neither of us had experienced a tropical storm or tornadoes before, and we didn’t want to if we could avoid it.
So we hit up New Orleans in a flash. We crossed over some of the longest bridges in the world. Woo! Got to eat a quick meal in the French Quarter. Woo! Walked down Bourbon Street and grabbed a bag of beignets from Cafe Du Monde. Woo! Looked at the Mississippi delta and took a picture of the St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square. Woo! And then got the heck outta dodge. We spent only a couple of hours in town, getting soaking wet all the while. It was worth it. Those beignets were to die for.
We didn’t have time to appreciate all the swampy places we passed, but we did get to go over some more extremely long bridges.
As we passed through Louisiana and entered Texas the stars in the sky shone through. We had made it. We had escaped the storm. We stayed the night in Beaumont and heard how the storm had ripped apart homes in New Orleans and killed 18 people in Louisiana. I’m sure glad we got away. It was going to continue to pummel the Southeast for another day or two.
Texas turned out to be quite a lot better than we had anticipated. We drove through the oil industry around Houston and decided to take a detour up to Austin and down to San Antonio. South Texas was beautiful. The Lone Star hung high on many homes and businesses. The cities were huge, so much more than we expected, and way bigger than any other metro area on our drive aside from the San Francisco Bay Area. Houston had an amazing grocery store called H-E-B which was like a Costco and Whole Foods rolled into one. Austin looked clean and modern. San Antonio was rustic and cute.
We spent our afternoon in San Antonio. We had been told that the riverwalk was a great aspect of the city, a path which flowed around, under, and through the best parts of the city. It was true. Downtown was great, and the riverwalk was beautiful. Jill and I grabbed some of the best barbecue we had ever had at Augie’s Alamo City BBQ Steakhouse. Damn that sauce was good. Seriously go here if you ever happen to be in San Antonio. Best food on the road trip!
And wait a second, did that place say Alamo City? Yup. Another surprise! We followed Alamo Street to, you guessed it, The Alamo! What a sight to see, and so unexpected. It was actually the anniversary date of The Alamo, so much of it was roped off for an evening event, but we still got a good look at it and the monument to Davey Crockett and the others who died to defend the place.
San Antonio was fantastic. We took in every bit we could before we had to move on. We drove further east to the town of Marathon. We were set up to visit the least visited National Park in America, Big Bend National Park! Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day, and Part 6 will include the return home from the road trip!
Part 1 West Coast
Part 2 Arizona
Part 3 New Mexico
Part 4 Midwest
Part 5 The South
Part 6 The Border
