Racing through Texas

 

After New Orleans, our destination was Big Bend National Park, in the southwestern part of Texas. Vicky, who does our trip planning, had a somewhat difficult time finding promising places to see in the southern part of Texas on our route there, so we decided we’d just race across the almost 1000 miles from New Orleans to get to it.

Along the way we stayed at two nice Texas State Parks, both of which offered great privacy and clean accommodations. We may return to one of them next year for the hiking at it.

Last night was our first night at Big Bend National Park, one of the least visited National Parks in the country. I can understand why—it is too far away from population centers, and one has to drive hundreds of miles across the least attractive state in the union to get to it. I’m sorry to have to be blunt about it, but with the exception of a few spots, too much of Texas is just not very pretty. I am sure most of it was at one time, but too much of the beauty of the state seems to be gone, as if preserving the beauty was not a priority in comparison with economic development.

And one of the few high point places that the state can point to—the Alamo—is frankly sort of bizarre. The state makes a huge deal out of the Alamo. There is the Alamo-this, and the Alamo-that (Alamo pawn shop, Alamo gas company, etc.).

Why celebrate a colossal military failure, one where the leaders made incredible blunders, and so the people defending the mission died running from it?

Davy Crockett didn’t go to his death there swinging “Old Betsy” as Fess Parker did in the 1950s Walt Disney Davy Crockett series, or being stabbed with a lance and then heroically blowing himself up in the ammunition depot as John Wayne did in The Alamo. Instead, he was captured, tried to make a deal, and was executed. Not that glorious, huh? That’s Texas, though.

For me, the most unreal aspect of this whole Alamo business is that General Santa Anna, a few years after his later defeat in Texas, was invited to New York where he was treated as an honored guest, and during that visit introduced something vital to American culture—chewing gum.

The Alamo should be sponsored by Wrigley, I think. The Wrigley Alamo!

And now, in typical Texas fashion, the place is smack dab in the middle of a city, leaving nothing of the feel of what it was like at the time. Instead of preserving the entire battlefield in a beautiful and realistic way, all that is left is a few of the buildings, right in the heart of downtown San Antonio. What would Davy Crockett think? General Santa Anna would certainly be laughing, all the while blowing bubbles with his chewing gum.

Not only does Texas unfortunately get our vote as the least attractive state we have been through, but even their fast food breakfasts are bad. On one of our two mornings we stopped at a McDonalds, only to be charged $3.29 by a young man, who seemed mad he had to be there, for an egg McOverpricedMuffin. By far the highest price we have seen in the entire U.S. The next day all we could find open was a Subway, where our egg sandwiches were cold and the coffee was so bad we poured it out. How can you mess up coffee? And our "sandwich artists" were so friendly:

Us: "we were glad to find someone open!"

Sandwich artist: blank stare.

Later at Big Bend we ran into a nice young couple from Austin on one of the trails. We described our trip across Texas. The woman asked, knowingly, "so you drove through Houston?" Our answer: "yes, and we can't wait to do that again." She explained that her husband's family was from Houston, and her family was from Dallas, and so family visits ranged from bad to also bad. I told her that if Texas seceded from the union, Washington state would adopt Austin.

When we were on the outskirts about to travel through Houston, Vicky found from our iPad that there was an accident on I-10 and traffic was closed through it.

But wait! There is a bypass!

Nope, Won't work. the closure is before the bypass.

Wait! There is a toll road around Houston that will work!

Yes!

Uh oh. To drive on it you need a pass, which we didn't have and which we couldn't get. There are no cash options, and Texas won't mail a bill to our home. Can you believe that? What an attitude toward out-of-state travelers. Not only that, statements are boldly posted that if you go through an automatic toll booth and don't have a pass, the "closest police unit will be dispatched to investigate!"

Oh crap! That's all we need. To be stopped by a police car in Houston and have to spend even more time there! Plus, being the honest person I am, I would feel compelled to add, while providing my drivers license and proof of insurance, that it must suck to work in the ugliest city in the ugliest state of the union where their high point was a military battle where they got their butts kicked.. After saying that, even mentioning that Vicky used to be a cop probably wouldn't keep us out of jail.

So Vicky furiously looked on line for another route, but couldn't find one. I mean, ALL WE WANT TO DO IS GET OUT OF HOUSTON!!! Is that asking too much?

So we stopped at a gas station/ammo store (for real) and asked the attendant. "Is there another way to the other side of Houston?" Answer: "no, but the person working in the food section will know." Vicky asks the person in the food section who says about the guy at the gas station/ammo store, "ask him, he'll know."

Remember the olden days when you could always stop at a gas station/ammo store and get directions?

So, we try again, with another person. A nice, friendly woman who wanted to help:

Vicky: "is there a way to the other side of Houston. We are going on I-10 but there is a big accident blocking it, and the only other way we can see is on the toll road, and we don't have a pass for it."

Woman: "where are you going? If I know that, maybe I can help you."

Vicky: "we want to get to the west side of Houston so we can continue on I-10

Woman: "but where are you going? I can't help you if I don't know where you are going."

Vicky: "we just want to get to the other side of Houston on I-10, we are going to Big Bend National Park"

Woman: "that's not in Texas."

Vicky: "actually, yes it is."

Woman: "is it?" "Well, then, you take I-10 through Houston."

Vicky: "that's where the accident is."

Woman: "take the toll road."

Vicky: "we can't, don't have a pass, and Texas won't just mail a bill to our home."

Woman: "then take the feeder road."

Vicky: "a feeder road? What's a feeder road?"

Woman: a look at Vicky like she's an alien from Mars

She patiently explained to us uninformed travelers that the "feeder road" runs along side the interstate (it must be the regional term for frontage road).

At least she had a solution, and was very nice, although to get all the way around a city the size of Houston on the frontage roads would take more time than buying a house there and then getting the state of Texas to mail us a toll road pass.

To be fair, she's not the only one in Texas who is unfamiliar with its only two National Parks. The person who worked at the Texas visitor's center, when we asked for information about Guadalupe National Park, said "is that in Texas?" She turned to the other worker there and asked "do you know where that is?" The other worker said "no."

I'll bet they all know how to get to the Alamo, though.

So we now have another possible reason why Big Bend is one of the least frequently visited National Parks--the parks service is trying to keep it a secret from Texans. The parks service probably figures like we do--Texans messed up the beauty of Texas so much that they might mess Big Bend up too. Somebody would probably build a full scale model of the Alamo there or something, or maybe think its a great place for an oil well museum (actually I think there is a museum of oil in Texas--can you believe that? It's at one of the State Parks. And can you believe, danggit, we didn't have time to stop at it?).

It’s too bad more people don’t just close their eyes and drive across Texas to visit Big Bend, because our initial impression is that it is as beautiful as is Zion National Park, which is swamped with visitors. And, for us, an additional positive is that it is a hiker’s paradise—that is what it offers.

We are staying in the Chisos Basin Campground, a place made to order for our camper. To get to it one has to travel up and over a pass that is limited to RVs less than 25 feet in length. We are staying in the tent section, which we are allowed to do if we don’t use a generator.

And it is stunning. All around us are high peaks, with beautiful rock formations. Spectacular.

We have altered our plans and will probably stay here as many days as we can.

 

Posted with Blogsy