Well, here we go again. With Poinciana once again in our rear-view mirror, we hit the road for a 2 week trip, with Texas in our sights. We had an early start this morning. I opted for hitting the road after the rush hour traffic, but I was out voted by one…not sure how that happens…and we were up at 6 AM and on the road by 7 AM. Despite early morning traffic through the Kissimmee bottleneck, we managed to get to the turnpike in about 50 minutes, and off we went.

Texas…why Texas. Well, the last time we drove through that state we were on our way to Paso Robles in 2012. And in my blog I remember stating that I will never think of Texas the same way again. Despite what many people say, we found it beautiful and interesting. So we decided that we wanted to see more of it. This trip promises to take us into the state by way of Beaumont and then down the coast of the Gulf, to see the beaches and the coastline cities. I never think beachside when I think of Texas. So I am eager to see how it compares to beachside in Florida, on the Atlantic and the Gulf. And now that the national parks are open…they opened this morning…we plan to drive all the way across Texas to the Guadeloupe Mountains NP on the west side and then up to Carlsbad Caverns in NM, which will be the furthest point west before turning back. We hope to include the following cities along the way: Beaumont, Huston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas.  

Today didn't provide us with much to see or to talk about. We drove the Florida Turnpike to I-75 and turned west on I-10 all the way to Pensacola. Since we didn’t think to include the time change in our calculations, we got here early…really early…like 2 PM early, even thought we drove almost 500 miles. Guess we COULD have left later. So we took a swing down along the coast and through Port Pensacola. We saw some really nice homes along the way…stately mansions, many of brick with large white circular pillars, many with water views. And we saw a working harbor. And then we saw a small, but clean, motel room at La Quinta. Tomorrow, Beaumont Texas.

Sorry…no photos today. It was raining. I promise to do better tomorrow, weather permitting.