Day Three dawns.
The hotel breakfast is only adequate. Yep, this is one of those places that seems to think cheese is a required ingredient in the hot offerings. I make do with the more “continental” alternatives (i.e. cold cereal and fruit) but decide this doesn’t have to dampen my day.
I’m more concerned with how long it will take us to get from our location to Rice University. Since the time I resided in Houston the sprawl and matching traffic have since taken on a dimension of their own.
But before setting out for the next institution of higher education I got out the Sangean and took a listen to the terrestrial radio offerings, mainly on the AM band.
I wanted to take time to do this, as Houston is where my DXing and overall radio listening as-a-hobby really took off. As I expected, and since the Internet makes getting current radio listings a breeze I heard what I already knew: while the frequencies are the same, most of the stations have changed formats. And on the AM dial, which even back in the early 1980’s had several Spanish-language stations, I heard less espanol and more Asian.
Time to put away the device and get the luggage into the Suburban for our venture into the university-heavy area of the Bayou City. Turns out the traffic flow was smoother and faster than predicted and we got to the brainchild school of William Marsh Rice sooner than anticipated.
Long story short: After finishing the nearly hour-long introductory session, all three members of the Geofamily elected to leave and head to our next road-trip destination. Sometimes you just know right away when a school won’t be a good fit. Enough said.
It’s only midmorning and we all agree that returning to Interstate 10 and heading towards Seguin is the plan! And if we play the cards right and don’t encounter any significant delays it will allow us a little time to visit Texas Lutheran University.
Back to the Katy Freeway we go! I’m behind the wheel this time and can’t wait to see the sight of houses, apartment complexes, strip malls and industrial parks give way to brush and grassland. Once we cross the Brazos River I know we’re back in real Texas.
And for once, the audio accompaniment synced well! Between Sealy and Columbus the classic country station on SiriusXM (Willie’s Roadhouse) offered Asleep At The Wheel’s “Miles and Miles of Texas.”
Yes, I sang along. The ladies probably rolled their eyes.
High noon has come and gone and we’re all feeling hungry. Now think: On the road in Texas where should one have a fast food lunch?
Of course—Whataburger.
It wasn’t on my food scorecard list I shared in the previous entry but hitting Whataburger at least once was always part of my master food plan for this trip. The Columbus location didn’t disappoint, either.
Geogal takes over the driving task and in about 90 minutes we approached Seguin. Rather than exit on 123 and head to Geomom and Geodad’s house we went straight to the TLU campus.
This visit proved more worthy of our time than Rice, even though we didn’t have an appointment and would not be able to sit in on any classes much less get a formal campus tour. No matter. Suffice to say the admissions office was happy to accommodate us.
Then it’s time to see the family members. After relaxing and talking for a while, Geodad asks what we’d like for supper: Mexican food at El Ranchito or chicken-fried steak at The Grain Bin.
Choice for us was easy and it was north on 123, just past Geronimo. So my scorecard now reads:
BBQ
Tex-Mex
Chicken-fried steak
Time to now truly relax! No more hotels for the remainder of our journey….
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