An Easy Day in Houston, TX

Day 10: We’ve made it to double digit travel days! After ten days on the trip, we are finally only hours away from the coast and we’ll begin heading east tomorrow towards Louisiana.

Chad and I awoke from a hot night's sleep in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel. Overnight, there was an electric car charging, a few other car campers, and real RV campers parked in back to keep us company.

Personal hygiene on the trip is our number one priority. Stay clean you arm pits!

During the hot evening, I wasn’t able to fall asleep very well because of the heat. Let’s start adjusting faster, Katie! Once asleep, I was out for the night. Chad was super groggy and bug-eyed when he woke and I guess he woke up all night long to every little noise.

On a positive note, we needed to go to a wifi location for me to blog and that means juice to shock Chad back to functioning. We found a little café called Cafeza and spent the morning in their company.

Early afternoon, we put ourselves back into the dry sauna car to go tour Houston. We have to remember to leave the windows cracked just a little bit to let all of the super hot air escape. But, we could treat it like having our own personal sauna on wheels and only sit in it for less than 20 minutes without starting the vehicle. Side note: Chad and I would sauna almost everyday back home at the gym and we kinda miss it.

Chad found a location for us to go walk around a park and I drove (the second time of the trip, woot woot). When we drove by the intended park, it looked like a memorial and had little parking. We kept going and found a larger parking lot a few miles up the road and the greenery spread in gentle hills within the large city.

With a hangry Chad, I found a Mediterranean restaurant within walking distance and we took our gyros to go. Time for a picnic in the park! There was only one picnic table perfectly resting in shade calling our name. The gyro was refreshing and the Greek salad was awesome. We also tried a build-your-own-gyro dish with sauteed fresh veggies and chicken. It wasn’t the best, but anything tastes good with the tzatziki sauce.

"Chad, this table looks like a sacrificial alter. Are you going to sacrifice me?"

"Of course not, because then I would have to talk to myself the rest of drive home."

I have a friend, Vicky, who moved to Lake Jackson and we set it up to have dinner with her. It was getting later into the afternoon and she mentioned Houston traffic is really bad, especially with construction, and we had a hour to drive south. Instead of touring Houston, we thought it would be safe to start heading out before everyone started getting off work.

It was only 3 p.m. and we were in stop and go traffic. The roads traveling around Houston were super congested, but it eased up the further south we went. We needed gas for the rest of the day trip and headed out to Costco. No sense not going to Costco, we've hit every fuel stop there and we don't want to break the streak!

While on the way to Costco, I called my brother to catch up and hear about his new truck. Sounds like he really likes it and was taking it for a car wash later that day!

Meanwhile, we are being reminded by friends of what's going on in Minnesota. SNOW and more SNOW!

After fueling up, I thought it would be a great time to relieve myself before getting on the way. Chad thought otherwise! :)

"I'm so offended by your bladder, Katie. Your bladder is the most offending thing I have ever met."

I guess I have to use the bathroom more than he does?! Obviously, I'm a lot more hydrated than he is???? Hopefully, I won't be banned from water.... ;) All geared up for the road and cleaned up, we made our way south towards Lake Jackson.

We pulled into the “City of Enchantment” around 5 p.m. and met up with Vicky at her home. Her german shepherd Tzar greeted us and we chatted for a bit. It was cool to catch up and understand more about what she is doing now that college is done.

The weather was warm, but not too humid. The neighborhoods were covered with greenery and large trees arching over the community roads. I even spotted the moss-like substance that hangs down from the southern trees and I realized the “moss” is composed of what looks like to be a variety of air plants.

Chad researched and found the hanging moss is called Small Ball Moss and it grows on larger plants. They are little air plants growing together, and eventually, hang down in large chains to look like swinging moss in the trees.

We hopped in the car and met some of her co-workers for dinner at a local tex-mex restaurant. Chad and I shared a fajita and chimichanga while hearing more about the lives of the engineers

In the morning, we'll head out to the east coast through Galveston. Here's a current beard update...I'm hoping it comes back soon!

10 Days