Road Warriors

One thing that Fran and I learned when traveling ten years ago was to go slowly, meet local people, and learn the story of a place.  So we drove straight through from Portland to visit my Dad in Indio, and then from there straight to Louisiana in under three days.  Huh?

Our thinking was that we know the west coast, and we spent a full winter roaming the desert southwest. But the South will be new to us, so that is where to spend the time before we start paddling.

As we left California, most of the places along the route were recording temperatures above 70F and nights in the fifties.  Yippee!

Imagine our surprise sleeping in our summer bags under the stars the first night at 24F!  Whoops.


We bundled into some extra clothes.  The next two nights we pitched the tent! I'm glad we spent planning looking not just at average temperatures but also at extremes. We are prepared for most anything,and even have our dry suits (as long as we can fit it all in the boats!)

A cool surprise enroute: we drove through the little town of Johnson City TX just after nightfall and the sight caused an immediate unplanned stop. The city park is jammed full of lit Christmas displays, including the Manger Scene and lots of animal shapes and every bush and tree and even wall was covered.  The Courthouse is literally draped in lights, and the electric company was decorated like only people with the equipment to reach high into trees and free electricity could manage. Spectacular! Later we learn this is a Regional highlight and some folks drive an hour from Austin to see it.
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We are surprised how huge Austin is, and settle for a short river walk. Austin has a reputation with considerable similarity to Portland.  Outdoor oriented people, active creative scene, bicycling, etc.  It even has the same tie dye shirts with 'Keep Austin wierd'. A big difference apparent in all of Texas is continued investments in freeways. In Portland the focus is on limiting car travel and the traffic is a major reason we are likely to move away. So far it appears that Texas is not shy about taking the Federal Highway dollars that Oregon passes on and building road. The traffic flows much better.