Managed to get out and be on the road by 9.15, a trip record. Today was going to be a lot of small roads - no interstates or freeways, so would be likely to take a while longer to cover a similar distance.
On the way out of Lubbock, we passed miles and miles of cotton fields - this was pretty interesting, as while we knew what they looked like, had never really seen them before. This spark of excitement soon passed as we drove through the next 100 miles of it.
Western/Northen Texas is the 'classic' Texas that you may think of: arid, desert-like and flat. There was some soil and clearly people were able to make a living from farming the land (arable and dairy/meat), but it didn't look easy, and as a result wasn't densely populated. The small towns we did drive through looked run down and not too wealthy - either filled with agricultural or chemical businesses. Chalk it up as our least favourite scenery.
What there was a lot of, however, was churches. The Lord has a strong presence here, as you might imagine, but they look nothing like a UK church. All single store, made of tin and wood, with only really a spire giving away it's true purpose: to save, praise be.
After a quick stop and snack, we came into Lampassas, the largest town we'd seen for a while - a lunch stop. Found this nice 'mom and pop' restaurant called 'Country Kitchen'. As you walked in, it was clearly very, very Texan. Nearly spit and sawdust, but not quite. B had brisket, pinto beans, potato salad and 'hush puppies', which are little corn maize balls. I had some fried chicken breast - both were pretty good, although I did get food jealousy after trying the brisket which melted in your mouth and very tasty BBQ sauce. This place also had an array of homemade pies - Pecan (pronouced p-khan over here), Cherry, Apple, Pumpkin, Lemon Meringue and a few others that we couldn't identify. This caused excitement, so after a mandatory purchase of p-khan and apple pies, we left.
As we arrived in Austin, it was rush hour. Nightmare traffic, close to LA levels, but made worse by Austin's completely incomprehensible highway system. Think Spaghetti Junction in Brum, but far bigger and by no means intuitive. After a bit of a struggle, we picked up the apartment keys and did a spot of food shopping. Met an American who has some good friends from Sheffield and loved our accents. Then, with heavy hearts, we tackled Austin traffic again to the apartment itself - again, rush hour, strange highway organisation, made for a taxing last few miles, taking about an hour to get through.
Lacking energy to do much else, we watched a couple of films before passing out. The drive in the main had been a cinch - just those last 20 miles or so had really taken it out of us after the 7 1/2 hours or so previously.
373 miles for this stretch:
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Showing posts with label Rush Hour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rush Hour. Show all posts
Monday, 28 January 2013
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Santa Barbara - San Diego - 16/1/13
We were up by 8 to find that Arlene had set breakfast out for us. This was a delicious array of cereals, pastries, croissants and fruit. Drinks were fresh coffee, tea and fresh Californian oranges picked from her neighbour's garden. Neither of us had ever tasted orange juice like it - naturally sweet, orangey and fresh. Exactly how it should be. Southern Californians probably drink this all the time and look at you sideways if you admit to drinking concentrate - that's what I like to think anyway.
We chatted to Arlene for an hour or two about her life and adventures until a friend of hers called Larry arrived to help Arlene in the garden. Larry was of similar indeterminate age as Arlene, tanned, healthy etc. Clearly southern Californian life suited them both. Larry was telling us that he'd been watching a flock of Pelicans and a pod of Dolphins having a 'feeding frenzy' (his words) as a school of sardines were gradually reduced in numbers. Time was getting on and we were looking to leave, so we said our goodbyes, got ready and drove to the bay that Larry had said that the event was happening to see if it was still going on - Larry said that he'd never seen anything like it in all the 30 years that he'd lived in Santa Barbara. Unfortunately the sardines had managed to escape or had all been eaten by the time we'd arrived, but we got to see Santa Barbara which was a lovely looking town, but what do you expect when the rich and famous have holiday homes there? Would definitely be worth another visit!
About 12.30 we set off again on Highway 1 to San Diego. We drove through Malibu (predicatably posh) and then unfortunately hit Los Angeles about 2-2.30. The traffic was appalling. It was a good 2 1/2 hours (and 1 Taco Bell stop) later that we finally saw the back of LA. Which was nice. The plus side to this was that we ended up on Sunset beach just as the sun was setting - there's a reason they call it that.
Night seems to fall more quickly than you may expect on the west coast; as we left Orange County it had started to get dark and we finally arrived at Rebecca's house in San Diego at 7pm. Another 6 1/2 hours of driving and 219 miles.
B did all the driving that day and by the time we'd disembarked, her body and brain were more scrambled than usual. (She's just hit me).
Rebecca arrived home at 7.30 and she was lovely and friendly. She lives in an area of San Diego called Ocean Beach, only a short walk to the beach itself - so no car needed!
We were starving, so were advised of good Mexican food at a place called 'Rancho's'. Lovely, fresh, healthy and tasty. Can't beat fresh Guac!
On the way home, we stopped by at a liquor store and B was pleasantly surprised to find that they had cider (of the local kind), called 'Angry Orchard'. Not too sure what to think about the connotations of that name. A slow meander back up to Rebecca's house due to food and sat chatting with her and her friend Ory until around 11. Great end to the day.
View Santa Barbara to San Diego in a larger map
We chatted to Arlene for an hour or two about her life and adventures until a friend of hers called Larry arrived to help Arlene in the garden. Larry was of similar indeterminate age as Arlene, tanned, healthy etc. Clearly southern Californian life suited them both. Larry was telling us that he'd been watching a flock of Pelicans and a pod of Dolphins having a 'feeding frenzy' (his words) as a school of sardines were gradually reduced in numbers. Time was getting on and we were looking to leave, so we said our goodbyes, got ready and drove to the bay that Larry had said that the event was happening to see if it was still going on - Larry said that he'd never seen anything like it in all the 30 years that he'd lived in Santa Barbara. Unfortunately the sardines had managed to escape or had all been eaten by the time we'd arrived, but we got to see Santa Barbara which was a lovely looking town, but what do you expect when the rich and famous have holiday homes there? Would definitely be worth another visit!
About 12.30 we set off again on Highway 1 to San Diego. We drove through Malibu (predicatably posh) and then unfortunately hit Los Angeles about 2-2.30. The traffic was appalling. It was a good 2 1/2 hours (and 1 Taco Bell stop) later that we finally saw the back of LA. Which was nice. The plus side to this was that we ended up on Sunset beach just as the sun was setting - there's a reason they call it that.
Night seems to fall more quickly than you may expect on the west coast; as we left Orange County it had started to get dark and we finally arrived at Rebecca's house in San Diego at 7pm. Another 6 1/2 hours of driving and 219 miles.
B did all the driving that day and by the time we'd disembarked, her body and brain were more scrambled than usual. (She's just hit me).
Rebecca arrived home at 7.30 and she was lovely and friendly. She lives in an area of San Diego called Ocean Beach, only a short walk to the beach itself - so no car needed!
We were starving, so were advised of good Mexican food at a place called 'Rancho's'. Lovely, fresh, healthy and tasty. Can't beat fresh Guac!
On the way home, we stopped by at a liquor store and B was pleasantly surprised to find that they had cider (of the local kind), called 'Angry Orchard'. Not too sure what to think about the connotations of that name. A slow meander back up to Rebecca's house due to food and sat chatting with her and her friend Ory until around 11. Great end to the day.
View Santa Barbara to San Diego in a larger map
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