Monday, October 5, 2015

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

MY VIEW IN LONGVIEW WASHINGTON

As I write this blog, I’m sitting next to a series of picture windows overlooking a tributary that dumps into the Columbia River in Longview, Washington. To my right I can almost throw a rock to the Oregon border. The foothills surrounding this area, and the sunny October sky, are enough to make an outdoors person want to go take a hike or a bike ride. To say this area is beautiful might be an understatement. But I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. I left the southeast coast of Texas just nine days ago. My wife and I packed everything we own into a ten by fifteen storage unit and took off in search of adventure out on the open road (and many back roads, I’m sure). So how did we get to Washington? And what did we see along the way? Where will we go next? I’ll try to answer those questions as we go along. If you’d like, travel along with us through this blog. I’ll try to offer thorough descriptions, travel advice for when you decide to experience some of these places and I’ll include as many photos as necessary for you to get a feel for what we’re seeing.
Find you a seat close to a window and buckle up!

TEXAS:
I’ve lived in Texas most of my adult life, as has my wife. Anyone who has experienced driving across the state east to west or north to south knows how Massive this state is. If you’re going through Texas you better pack a lunch, and dinner, and maybe a midnight snack-just to be safe. Here’s an example: El Paso, TX is closer to Needles, California than it is to Dallas. Going East out of Houston, you can cross three states and be halfway through Florida before you would reach El Paso going west. You could visit TEN northeastern states in the distance it takes to go from Houston to Amarillo, TX (600 miles!)
There are lots of things to see and do in Texas, but on our journey from Beaumont to Oklahoma—by way of Hwy 287 that cuts diagonal across the state—things turned out to be fairly uneventful. We prefer the scenery of west Austin, Fredericksburg and the hill country. A trip to Big Bend, TX will be on our travel list at a later time.
A few more quick notes about Texas:
Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885.
More species of bats live in Texas than any other part of the United States.

 THE BATS FLYING AT DUSK IN AUSTIN

1 comment:

Jessica Ferguson said...

Can't wait to read more, James! Hope ya'll have the time of your life traveling around, meeting new people and writing! Be safe and creative!