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The Cruise--Details

I didn't include more details in the prior "The Cruise" post for two reasons. 1)  I didn't think anyone would be interested; and 2)  This trip didn't include much of the normal topics:  good beer, good coffee or John-style travel. But there are details, which may be useful to some people contemplating how such a trip is put together. On the first day of the trip, we drove three hours to pick up my mother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  At 85, she isn't comfortable driving for long distances and hadn't flown for many years. We then drove 3 1/2 more hours to Chicago, where we checked into the Wyndham, where you can get a room that includes the cost of parking for up to 12 days.   We were up early on the hotel shuttle to O'Hare, where we then boarded the a non-stop American Airlines flight to New Orleans. Here, we checked into a Hampton Inn near the port.  My mother was pretty tired, so Julia and I went out for a Cajun dinner and live music.   Rememberi...
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North Padre Island, Texas

Today turned out to be another long day.  The original plan was to drive from Edmond, Oklahoma to South Austin, Texas.  Once we found out that our Padre Island airbnb had a cancellation, making tonight available, we decided to push on.

We saw billboards for fried pies in Oklahoma and Texas.  Julia was intrigued and ordered a peach fried pie, shortly after we passed the Texas state line.



I took a bite, but that was enough for me.  The peach filling was ok, but the pie crust's grease coated my entire mouth in just one bite.

Interstate 35 was not very interesting, but the road was in good shape, and the speed limits were very accommodating.    I can't remember the last time that I drove on a stretch of road with 85 mph as the speed limit.

We drove across the bridge from Corpus Christi to Padre Island just as the sun was going down around 6 p.m.  

 

It was a beautiful, familiar sight, and the temperatures were still in the low 60's.  Readers will remember that we stayed in the same general area in 2021.  This is a different airbnb--smaller, cheaper, not on a channel but closer to the beach, very bright and clean.  We met one of the friendly owners upon arrival.  Our first impressions are positive.

We will be here for eight days and then continue our travels for a couple of days in San Antonio before crossing the Mexican border.  At least, that's the plan.




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greg said…
Ahh. So that's why you thought the I-35 corridor wasn't so bad, you bypassed the whole Austin Metro mess. Does this mean the construction tangle in Fort Worth and Waco are finally cleared up? (Haven't been that way in forever because it was such a mess)
January 26, 2023 at 9:50 AM
John said…
It was probably a combination of luck and going through mid-day. There was some construction on the north end of Fort Worth, but it didn't really seem to slow down the flow of traffic. Just annoying concrete barriers that were too close on one side with semi trucks on the other. I don't remember construction being an issue around Waco; we were listening to a book downloaded from the library and the miles flew by. Around Austin, google maps sent us down Hwy 130, and then we were on two lane highways the rest of the way to Corpus.
January 26, 2023 at 12:46 PM
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