Traversing Texas

Along our journey around the United States, we have been reading John Steinbeck’s account of a similar adventure, Travels with Charley in Search of America.  Though we started from opposite coasts and circled the nation in opposite directions, both Steinbeck and we traveled through Texas toward the end of our respective journeys.  We can confirm one of Steinbeck’s observations about this state:  “Once you are in Texas it seems to take forever to get out, and some people never make it.”

We entered Texas on November 12^th and, after driving 1268 miles, finally escaped on the 17^th.  We entered Texas from eastern Oklahoma, headed straight south to Beaumont, then turned west through San Antonio and on to El Paso at the far western tip.  We had imagined Texas to be mostly flat dry plains, but we were surprised by beautiful tree-covered hills along the eastern portion of the state, and the many lakes and rivers near the gulf.

Like Steinbeck, we decided to visit relatives along the way.  Beaumont is the home of Cousin Bob and his lovely wife Pam.  This is the same Bob with whom Dave went fishing in Canada in July, but fishing is more than a seasonal outing for him—it is his passion, as evidenced by the mounted specimens in his trophy room and the fish images on most of his clothing.  Highlights of our visit included an inspirational folk mass at St. Anne’s Church, looking at photos of past family reunions, and consuming a large quantity of gulf shrimp, boiled in a big pot with potatoes, onions, hot sausage, and corn on the cob.

In San Antonio we camped for two nights at Fort Sam Houston and visited much younger cousins who have only vague recollections of those same family reunions.  Cousin Rebecca and A.C. have lovely 13- and 11-year-old daughters, and Cousin Anna and Billy are raising 3 boys and 2 girls, all under the age of 6.  All the children of both families were foster kids, later adopted.  What a commitment of love!  We all enjoyed a wonderfully chaotic meal at a Tex-Mex restaurant that accommodated the whole group at one long table. 

We stayed an extra day in San Antonio to visit the Alamo, another place on Jane’s “bucket list.”  The next day, we stopped in Kerrville to visit Dave’s Uncle Otts and Aunt Arlene, whom we hadn’t seen in 11 years.  We needed one more night of camping along Interstate 10 at Ft. Stockton before reaching the western border of Texas the next afternoon and finally passing into New Mexico.