Thursday, July 2, 2015

2015 Road Trip, Day 11: Eastward Ho!

 Last spring, Luke wrote a piece for his series about the Alamo.  Today, we got to see the Alamo in person, and take a guided tour.


What most people associate with the iconic "Alamo" wasn't there during the battle!  It was the US Army who added the capstone.

Davy Crockett lost his seat in Congress because he refused to support the Native American relocation plan.  When he was voted out, he told everyone, "You can go to hell...I'm going to Texas!"


William Barret Travis was in command of the Alamo during the siege by Santa Anna.  He actually was the co-commander with James Bowie, but had sole command when Bowie was stricken with pneumonia days before.


This is a later "model" of the Alamo, during the American years. The doors and windows are square, and there is a truss system for the roof.  During the mission and Mexican eras, there was no roof.


We found out that one Richard Stockton of New Jersey fought in the Alamo. That name is familiar because his great-uncle represented NJ in the Continental Congress.  "His grandfather's brother" wasn't making sense, so we added visuals.

"Alamo Richard Stockton" family is in front of Matthew. Celia's other hand is holding "Declaration of Independence Richard Stockton."

It started to rain, so Luke ran back the two blocks to the car to retrieve umbrellas.



According to Neal, no Falciani vacation is complete without a picture of feet.  I let Jude hold my camera for a few minutes, and he got a good shot of his.  Feet photo - check!

After the Alamo, we turned east and started making our way back home.  Checking the odometer, we were 2500 miles from home, as the Falciani squirrels skitter. (As the crow flies, it's only about 1700).

Our Dallas friends recommended we stop at Buc-ee's while we were in Texas. We were amused by the road signs - they reminded us of the Pedro/South of the Border billboards in South Carolina, but with better puns.



Buckee's hard to describe.  It's like a convenience store meets deli meets hot bar meets gift shop meets...I don't know.  Let's just say these Yankees were a bit taken aback when we saw buckets of stuff in. the. doorway. that was guaranteed to "float" any debris from cleaning birds.  We knew we weren't anywhere near home then!


I couldn't resist this can of Coke!

The boys found an interesting lunch.  They had a sausage taco on a stick.  It was weird looking, but it was really good!




Back out along the road, Luke was taking pictures again.  Of course, we saw some cows -- this is Texas, known for cattle ranches.  And yes, we have cows in New Jersey.


But I can't say we've ever had one looking in our car window.



Eventually we got to Katy, and knew we were close. We have friends in Katy we can't wait to catch up with.


 I think we'll skip here, but the concept was interesting!


I think Houston roads beat DC for "longest rush hour."


DC's roads at least take a mid-day break!

Remember yesterday's "Chikin tastee, cows not" roadsign?  Celia likes this one better.


Chicken looks OK for her to eat, and beef was one of her biggest fails - including a hospital stay.  Chicken always, beef never!

Our hotel is on the "far side" of Houston from San Antonio, so we headed a little south.  I now have the chorus of Glen Campbell's "Galveston" singing in my head...


Luke did get a great shot of Houston, though.


Houston, the Falcianis have landed.

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