Texas, Texas, Texas

Since leaving New Orleans a week ago we have been in Texas.  We had a great stop at sister Helen and Dave's in Georgetown north of Austin.  They showed us all the sites in the Hill Country of central Texas.  Its an area I have longed to visit.  We enjoyed being in a house again and all that comes with that, Helen is a great cook.  Saw the LBJ library in downtown Austin, amazing place and free, unusual for a presidential library.  LBJ got more done then most presidents but unfortunately will be remembered more for the Viet Nam war.  His impact on education, civil rights, health care, and many more important issues are truly a lasting legacy for this great Texan.  We visited his ranch outside Johnson City, TX and his family gravesite there.  After a great hike in the hill country we stopped for some Texas BBQ.  Wow, that is good.  It is a toss up between NC BBQ and TX BBQ for best BBQ in the country but those two are way ahead of the rest.

Texas is 880 miles wide along higway 10 but the first 100 miles almost did us in.  Actually just 20 miles going around Houston.  A semi driver decided to play squish the RV off the road where two lanes became one in construction zone.  Having the right of way does you know good when a semi decides to crowd you out of a lane.  I have no idea how we stayed on the road but just as my pants were drying out, a pick up pulled in front of me and slammed on its brakes for stalled traffic.  Once again I don't know how I was able to stop and avoid this guy, but by this time it was over I had decided to cross Houston off my places to ever visit again.

The horse has caught smell of the barn (Seattle) and our trip is finding itself going into warp speed.  We are getting to the point where we are far enough west to be able to say we can come back via our new home in Seattle, so our pace is quickening.  We now have to be sure we avoid snow until crossing the Siskiyous in Northern CA and Southern Oregon.  Heading into Arizona today should end worries about snow for a while.