Arrived in Texas. It is huge. Impressive land area, over 800 miles from the eastern state line to the far western line in El Paso. Beaumont was the first large city we hit. In 1901 one of the first great Texas oil well blew here. Currently, this area has one of the largest concentrations of petroleum refineries in the nation. You can see these oil pumps drilling all over the landscape.
We spent most of our afternoon down on the Gulf coast. This is another area that was badly hit by hurricanes...this time it was Ike in 2008. Significant damage was inflicted along the eastern coast from Galveston up to Houston. As you can see in the picture of the gulf shore line, the road is still torn up. Yes, that is the road we were driving on. There is some new housing construction just beginning to renew the area. These new homes are being built with concrete reinforced pillars and the homes appear to be higher off the ground. At the present time, much of the coast here is still empty but with evidence of former buildings here in the past.
Texas is diverse enough that it should appeal to all kinds of people. They have mountains, white sandy beaches, deserts with tumbleweeds, plains with real cowboys, and history in old abandoned forts, old missions and battlefields. We hope to see it all! We definitely will try some Texan chili. It is said to "blow holes in the toes of your socks".
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