NOLA to Houston

Well we dodged a bullet! A tropical cyclone was in the Gulf of Mexico and expected to arrive today or tomorrow; it was moving at around 10 mph. Well the front end of it arrived in the early hours of the morning, it was raining pretty hard but no wind so as you would expect we got just a little wet thanks to the hotels umbrella protecting us a little.

We said our goodbyes to NOLA and headed out. Getting out was pretty easy but the rain was making visibility rather hard so we kept the speed well down but it didn't take long before we were out of it and travelling in nice sunny weather.

We stopped at a truck stop for a coffee and pee and saw this sign on the door which I thought was pretty good; Jude saw the next one in the ladies toilet. We went over to the café and got a tea and coffee and while in there it rained: such is the heat that when we came out our glasses fogged up immediately.

We had to drive over a 18 mile long causeway called the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge and visited the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, visitor centre; it was good and had a little video to tell you about the area and some locally made artefacts: a great stop.

Our first sighting of Houston.

Do you think this will get a WOF in NZ?

Flyovers everywhere!

The rest of the trip was pretty much straight forward on cruise control at 85mph, legal!!!

When we got to Houston we decided to go straight over to the Houston Premium Outlet (city, it was huge) as we had time before we could check in to the hotel.

After buying a pair of shorts and a couple of tops for Judy it was back to the hotel to check in and have dinner before hitting the pit as tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Guess where we are going?

As is always the case this far south in the summer the afternoon breeds thunderstorms; the lightning was spectacular; the rain big but very warm - could've had a shower outside lol!

Today dawned fine and cooler then expected. After a little breakfast we walked across the road to the Space Centre where there was already a large number of buses parked in the carpark; we found out later that there was an international Jehovah Witnesses convention in town and they all were pretty much here which made for a packed and busy visit but we got to see all that we wanted to and headed back to the hotel to pick up the car so we could go out to a shop Judy want to look at.

New HD prototype engine?

Our carriage across to the Saturn 5 rocket and the Astronaut Training Centre

This is the actual 747 but the space shuttle is a mock up.

Look at those horns...

Heat shields individually numbered.

Inside the 747

Shuttles flight controls and instruments.

We found the shopping centre ok and Judy was able to get what she wanted. We found a Starbucks where we got something to eat and a cold drink, well I thought I had asked for one until I received it to find it hot but all good. I then thought it a good idea to go into central Houston for a look; getting into the place was much harder than actually getting around it; as with most big cities over here they have a one way system which is pretty easy to follow. It is a modern city with some older buildings but most had a modern building inside it.

Etching of Neil Armstrong on the moon.

This and the next photo are of the main street; Main Street.

It was 101F in town but we were on a mission to find a Post Office to send some stuff back to Dwane and Nancy. We did find one but it closed at 4.00pm; it was 4.10pm, bugga! The security people did tell us of one that closed at 5 so off we went to find it and with the help of some locals we eventually did; the lovely lady not only helped me but also Judy who needed to use the restroom; we were very grateful. We found our way back to the car ok and after some manoeuvring we even got back to the hotel.