Day 3 - 354 miles along the border from Eagle Pass TX to South Padre Island (With an attempt at getting to Starbase Texas on Boca Chica beach but being turned away because SpaceX has closed the roads 'cause they were doing interesting things that day.)
Didn't know these were a thing, researched 'em later after seeing several of 'em flying over the border:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_SystemAfter being turned away 5 miles from Boca Chica headed to our hotel on Padre Island. Mid trip I'd decided to extend the trip by 1 day, with day 4 mostly being a "Lounge around the beach" day, so while they were shuffling all that around I decided to spring for the extra $60 for an ocean view room with a balcony..... KK approved of this...
I'll spare ya'll the endless pics of the fat man and the cute kid frolicking in the ocean, but here's at least one...
Gorgeous sunset.....
Day 4 - 81.4 miles ridden
SpaceX had the day listed as a "Possible" closure day, from 8A to 8P, so we decided heck, let's give it a shot and test our luck...
Woot! Made it!
The reason for the road closure is they were trying to stack the Starship on the Super Heavy Booster for the first time. The black finned thing sticking out of KK's head is Starship, the silver silo thing coming out of my shoulder is the Super Heavy Booster. They managed to complete the stack the next day, making for the tallest rocket ever assembled (Yeah, even taller than the Saturn V!)
It's really amazing how close you can get to the rockets right now, a lot of the space-heads (Groupies that hang out all day watching the site) think that once Starship has a successful orbital flight NASA will get more involved and keep people WAY further away.....
But for now, I took this pic with my phone!
Geeked out for a while longer with some of the other geeks out there, was gonna try to get a selfie in front of Elon Musk's house (A $55,000 house around the corner) but it started raining, and there was a lot of sand on the roads, decided to just git on back to the hotel and the beach..... (Where it wasn't raining
)
Rented a beach chair with an umbrella, and spent the rest of the day sipping Bourbon, smoking cigars, and watching the kiddo play in the surf (Joining in between cigars here and there of course.)
Day 5 - 372 miles ridden, 5 miles walked
South Padre Island to San Antonio with a detour to Corpus Christi/Port Aransas because why not...
I generally avoid Whataburger ever since they sold out to the *(#$)@ Yankees, but when you're riding by the world famous two story Whataburger with a view of the Bay.... well, one makes exceptions...
Our own little 3 minute cruise, the Port Aransas Ferry... I have to wonder at what point the cost of operating/maintaining/manning the ferries as well as the loading personnel, etc, would be equalized by the cost of just building a bridge.....
Got to San Antonio, checked in to cheap hotel near the Alamo and River walk. I'd given KK a talk about the Alamo being a place of reverance, not happy bouncy joking. I think she took my comments a little too seriously and looks half asleep or something...
From there on to the Riverwalk...
And the obligatory Riverwalk boat tour....
Rule #1 of the Riverwalk - NEVER EVER eat Mexican food on the Riverwalk! It's always way over priced and awful..... So we ended up at, of course, an Irish pub... Properly poured Guinness and pretty decent bangers and mash I must say!
Walking back to our hotel we went back by The Alamo, and I told her it's okay to respectfully smile, just don't be jumping around and stuff.....
Day 6 - 311 miles.
Home day. San Antonio to Rowlett.....
Mostly a get on the super slab and drone day. Took SH130, the highest speed limit in the nation at 85. But the cross winds were so horrible I was barely doing 80 through most of it...
Only other interesting stop on the way was a quick drop in at Balcones Diltilling for a few bottles of the distillery only expressions. The one I wanted (Shiner Bock Whiskey) was already sold out, but I did manage to snag some peated rum, which should be interesting...
...and home.... I even went and washed some of the bugs off the 'Wing...
