New Orleans Morning, Texas at Night

Yesterday was one of our longest so far, but we seem to be maintaining our energy pretty well, if not just getting kind of loopy. We started off the day by checking out Café Du Monde. Jeff had once gotten a can of their coffee as a gift and he wanted more – because it was apparently that good. I was skeptical. I had tasted the coffee in Australia and it was so much more delicious than any American coffee that I couldn’t imagine that a small sect of Americans could be doing it right and keeping it a secret from the rest of us. Turns out that Café Du Monde isn’t really a secret. It’s open 24/7 because it’s so sought after.. for the experience of French coffee and their famous beignets (basically fried dough piled high with powdered sugar). Either New Orleans travelers aren’t spreading the news with enough vigor or the rest of America just doesn’t care about tasty coffee – because this stuff was fantastic! It was definitely up there with the Australian stuff. And that’s wonderful. So I bought a can or two to take home with me. Only $5, how could I not? Cheap AND delicious?? Please. Something is backwards here. Starbucks coffee tastes burnt and it sells for like $10 a bag.

Anyway, that was a great time. Nothing starts a good day like some good coffee.

We also took some time to walk around Dana's neighborhood. It's beautiful. The houses are stunning and we found a tether ball pole and Jeff and Melissa made sure to make good use of it as we passed by. Nothing like a little exercise on a road trip. The weather was perfect. PERFECT. I think we were in heaven. I also did a little house hunting. Goal after getting to LA: get rich so I can build houses like these.

And the day was good, though I was sitting in the backseat for most of it (our backseat that is piled high with our bags).

That was actually awesome. I don’t know why it’s thrilling to sit in the backseat of your own car, but it is. I was getting a little giddy.

We got into Texas and everything started to get… bigger. Hah. I’m not even joking, we saw some seriously oversized stop signs. It was hilarious. We stopped in Houston for a late lunch. Houston is a very attractive little city in the middle of nowhere. Beautiful architecture, really pleasant skyscrapers, and we all really appreciated its cleanliness. It’s just a nice city to look at, and that’s all I’ve got because we didn’t have much time to explore its cultural aspects. Keep in mind we don’t have GPS trackers or iPhones or any kind of high tech devices that could lead us to the internet. Just maps. We prefer it that way. You learn a city so much faster that way. But once we got to the center, we noticed that, like most financial districts, the center of the city had no eateries. Melissa had been talking up “Chick Filet” all day as it’s only in the south, so we decided to try to find one. And when we collectively put our minds to something, it happens. So I texted google. YEP you can do that.

I wrote “address: chick filet, houston TX” and sent it to GOOGL.

Immediate response: “3101 Holcombe Blvd, Houston TX”

Brilliant.

Jeff couldn’t find Holcombe. But of course I spotted it on the map immediately (way to go, Jeffo). After much turning around and regaining our sense of direction, we were on our way to Holcombe, crossing our fingers that Google hadn’t let us down. But with determination and MY AMAZING MAP SKILLS! We got there. We felt very accomplished.

Back on the road. And by the road I mean I-10 which stretches the entire length of our drive from New Orleans to LA. We did get a little turned around once we hit RT-183 to Austin but a freight train distracted us. I have to warn everyone, there’s a section of RT-90 in Texas that smells so strongly of horse manure it could seriously knock you out. Just be careful.

We’re staying with Melissa’s family friends in Austin. They are a lovely older couple who have a beautiful house on top of the steepest hill I’ve ever had to drive up. Austin is really hilly – who knew? We arrived at 10pm and they had a FULL MEAL waiting for us. They were Southern hospitality all the way. These people are amazing. Though I did have to move my car at one point and when I came back inside I was told that I should be cautious of feral pigs. FERAL PIGS. (Turbo, are you sure you want to move here? I hear they love Turbos) Can you imagine suddenly being charged by a pack of wild boar in the middle of a subdivision? Yeah, neither can I. I’m told they don’t charge… but… let’s face it, when the term “feral” is applied, you have to assume they charge… especially after Turbos.

We’re going to spend another night here in Austin. It’s overcast, and there is talk of ice tonight… a rare occurrence, and shocking because last night was so warm… but we’ll see how it goes.