Howdy, y’all!  For anyone who might be confused, that’s Texas-speak for “Greetings From the Road”.   Yes, I’m once again visiting the great state of Texas…but before any would-be robbers who might be reading this blog get any ideas: I left my roommate, a ferocious dog – with optimized hearing (well, for kibble being poured into his bowl, anyway), extraordinary (well, compared to most dogs) vision, and a keen sense of smell – plus a very mouthy cat to guard the house in my absence.

Even though I caught a plane to Texas, I truly have spent most of the day on the road!  I was up at 3 am to drive to Tampa for my flight, had a layover in Houston (where the folks from work tracked me down to help them trouble-shoot a small SNAFU that they managed to work around by the time I got to Dallas), rented a car, and headed out on my latest adventure.

For anyone who doesn’t know this about me: I’m a planner.  When I know that I’m going to visit someplace new, I make a list of all of the things I might like to see, how long I should allow for each of them, plot them on a map to optimize travel time, and rearrange them (bumping some things to alternate status) based on the days/times they (and I) are available.  I’m not married to this schedule…if I see something as I drive around that I didn’t know about, I can spontaneously change my plans…if traffic delays hit, I adjust by moving things around…but it gives me a good chance of seeing most of the things that I really want to see. 

I have a small bucket list; the first thing on it is visit all 50 states so this will probably be my last trip to Texas for a while…I have a lot more states to visit.  When I started traveling, I went to early Presidents’ homes and libraries; I decided this year to put that on my list as well…ok, mainly because it gave me a good excuse to go back to Austin…LOL!  (Side note on the presidents, I may or may not agree with their politics but they were our presidents, so I feel like the list should be all inclusive.  Enough said.)  Since this is my third trip to Texas (in my defense, it’s a REALLY big state and I still haven’t made it to western Texas where it might actually look like I had always imagined the state…you know, dry, brown, tumbleweeds…a lot like I imagine Arizona looks…the parts of Texas that I’ve seen so far definitely don’t look like that), I’m making a foray into Oklahoma (more driving! But it will let me check off another state as well as a presidential – Eisenhower - birthplace) on this trip.  But back to today.

Let’s start with the car…  Budget upgraded me just to be nice!  They mentioned more legroom, leather seats, and no additional charge so I happily headed for my space in the lot only to find a black (it’s as warm here as it is back home so “black vehicle” translates to “oven”) SUV.  Now some people might enjoy this type of vehicle but I’m used to driving a little car that gets pretty good gas mileage…so I’m not one of them.  When I got back to the counter to say “thanks, but no thanks” the agent had left the premises for lunch…did I mention that I’m on a schedule, here?  It took a bit of doing but I’m now the happy driver of a Ford Focus…if I could only figure out how to make all of the gadgets work…LOL!

I drove about an hour south of the airport for my first stop: lunch!  The place I had planned on has apparently gone out of business (unnoted by both Yelp and TripAdvisor) so I went to my alternate spot…only to discover that it’s a chain…a pretty good chain (which started in Nacogdoches, TX – tomorrow’s destination) and I was starving (breakfast at 3:30 am eastern time and lunch at 12:30 TX time means those meals were 10 hours apart…no, I didn’t think out the timing very well when constructing my schedule for today…silly me!) so I wolfed down enjoyed my take-out and headed to Corsicana’s Pioneer Village.

The Village is a fenced off area of a city park.  There are numerous old buildings in the compound that are stocked with period pieces (old-time merchandise in the store, animal skins in the trading post, antiques in the homes, tools in the smithy, photos/iron bars/old newspapers in the jail, and costumes/memorabilia in the Lefty Frizzel - a Western musician - building) and Plexiglas enclosures just inside the doors to keep people from touching the displays…I was the only person other than the curator that was there. It was interesting but you really don’t need to go here; this allowed me to make up a little of the lost time in my schedule.

The scrapbook store owner was a delight!  She had a very large shop (Scrappin Good Time) with a full retreat area (5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a stocked scrap room!) and helped me locate the TX-themed items I wanted.  When I asked about a small album (in the shape of TX…too cute) that was displayed, she explained that she had a die to cut the pieces, sold me the chipboard needed, and cut it (along with some paper to make covering it easier) while we chatted.  She also suggested a couple of stores that hadn’t made my list.  I spent a little more time and money than anticipated but it was fun and I wasn’t in the car…LOL!

Corsicana isn’t quite as quaint-looking as the name might suggest…don’t get me wrong, it has some lovely areas…I particularly enjoyed the Victorian house across the street from the Village that had a large landscaped star (in white flowers) showcasing a map of Texas (in bluebonnets) in their front yard; I can’t imagine how much work that took!...but it also has some rather sketchy neighborhoods that my GPS routed me through – repeatedly.  There was one particular corner where they are doing road construction (six lanes funnel into two) that I visited four times - on the way to the restaurant, while driving around the block back to the restaurant (ok, that one was my fault since I forgot to change the destination address…but, really, it couldn’t just say “you’re already here, foolish lady?”), going to the Village, and on the way to the scrapbook store) before hitting the highway again.

From Corsicana to Austin was almost three hours of driving.  Someday I’m going to be rich enough – I have no idea how or when – to stay in Austin for a whole week!  Other than the traffic, I love this town.  There is so much going on.  I dream of hitting the clubs for different kinds of live music, trying a number of different restaurants, seeing the capital building, and just plain sightseeing! By the time I made it to the LBJ Presidential Library I didn’t have much time before they closed but I saw the things I wanted to see (if not all of the films they presented), listened to a couple of recorded phone conversations (no, Nixon wasn’t the first one to tape everything!), and chatted with some other museum visitors who took my picture with LBJ’s statue.

Dinner was at the Moonshine Patio.  I ate here last year and have fond memories of their food…it lived up to the memories!  Luckily I got there early and was seated immediately; by the time I left there was a 90-minute wait for a table.  I have extras for lunch today (corn-dog shrimp, green chili grits, and bread pudding…YUM). 

I stopped at WalMart on my way out of town; all of my hotel rooms come with a fridge but each night is a different hotel and I’ll be spending hours each day in the car so a cooler and cold drinks are “must haves”.  I gave the ice that wouldn’t fit in the packed cooler to some people who were leaving and hopped back on the road although I was wishing that my day’s journey was over. 

Two and a half hours later (LOL!) I arrived at my hotel…after driving for what seemed like forever in the middle of nowhere with almost no one else on the roads.  Now, I know that the LBJ Library is located on the property of a university in Austin and that I am spending the night in College Station, TX so that I can start my day tomorrow by visiting the Bush (senior) Library but it never even occurred to me to wonder what college might be here.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I’d actually heard of the place on the signs I passed: Texas A&M…not sure what the “A” or the “M” stand for…I think they must have high rated sports teams but I couldn’t name them so I obviously don’t know the school well but I’ve heard of it.  I believe that it’s a pretty important university.

The hotel (Country Inn and Suites) upgraded me (for free) to a “Residence” (it’s like a little apartment…complete with a kitchen table!) and I’m relaxing in my “living room” while I write this…although I hear the bedroom calling my name since I’ve now been up for 22 hours.  I may sleep in tomorrow.  My schedule only includes 2 ½ hours of sightseeing, 4 hours of driving, and 4 hours of visiting with friends so a little extra shut-eye should be totally doable. Good night, all.