Jan 4 – We reach Texas and some sun, but it is windy.  Still plenty of bayou along the way after passing through the last of Louisiana with its ranches, sugar cane, and rice fields.

Jan 4 – In Beaumont, we stop at the Gladys City Boomtown, a replica of an industrial town for oil production.  Oil globs were seen after heavy rains and gases were heard.  In 1901, oil was discovered after several failed attempts, and the Lucas gusher erupted.  Overnight the city population exploded.  People lived in tents in the mud, some men even rented the barber’s chair overnight to sleep in with their suitcase of up to $100,000 chained to the barber chair and their legs.  The barbershop was expected to make change from $1000 bills.

Jan 5 – A drive through cattle country to the Bolivar peninsula with its huge community of homes/cottages on stilts along the seashore.  We take the free ferry to Galveston and visit the city.  We also stop at the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig museum.  This is a retired jack-up drilling rig that showed us the story of oil/gas exploration and production in the Gulf.  Very informative – we enjoyed seeing scale models of platforms and ships with their multiple lines going off the main pipe down to the seabed.

Jan 6 – We head to the Houston Space Center and enjoy the day here.  Like Kennedy Space Center, there is a tram tour, films, and lots of exhibits.  There is more emphasis on the Space Station work, as well as the future plans for missions to Mars.  There is also a space shuttle exhibited here coupled to the top of a Boeing shuttle carrier.  A Saturn V rocket in excellent shape is on display and we have a very informative tour, learning more details about various NASA mishaps surrounding space missions. 

Jan 7/8 – Onwards to San Antonio.  We head downtown on our bikes along the beautiful River Walk.  There are several canals downtown with boat cruises/ferries.  It is very pretty along the river with eateries, shops, and homes.  Along the way we see two snakes sunning along the river before slithering in the water and swimming at high speed away. 

There are 5 missions to visit along the River Walk including the Alamo.  Some are open or partially open due to President Trump’s partial government shutdown as he fights for money for his wall.