Day 20 El Paso TX to San Antonio TX

 July 1, 2024   Mileage   Start:  28497  End:  29046  Total:  Day/Trip  549/6335

A day in the car, 9 a.m. to a little after 6 p.m., including the time change to Central. 80 mph speed limit helps the miles go by faster, though the windy conditions a good part of the way kept you on your toes constantly. A few different landscapes, but mostly long stretches of them, and desert-like. To break up the monotony, and prove to Rita I work hard to include culturally significant stops on the trip, we paid a visit to Paisano Pete.

 




Fort Stockton, Texas bills him as "long the largest metal roadrunner in the world, Pete is now the second largest in the world".  Never get another chance. Plus, we filled up and picked up lunch. Cruised into San Antonio a little after 6 p.m., traffic not as bad as I had feared. We went to dinner at Back Unturned, a craft brewery  downtown about a half-mile from the Riverwalk.. The first is a helles lager, you can read the rest.



Beer was good, flatbread pizza and salad were excellent. As it turns out, so was the story of the brewery and owner, son of immigrants, who went all-in to follow his dream of owning a brewery. 

We drove through the Riverwalk area and past the Alamo, but were too tired to find parking, walk, and fight the crowds. Fortunately, been there, done that, with the kids, 20-ish years ago. Back on the road for another 500-miler tomorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 18 Gila Bend AZ to Organ Pipe and Saguaro to Sunsites AZ

Image
June 29, 2024   Mileage   Start:  27808  End:  28153  Total:  Day/Trip  345/5442 It's Cactus Day! Besides being in the desert, again, we visited Organ Pipe National Monument and Saguaro National Park before stopping for the day. While both contained saguaro, cholla, barrel, and prickly pear cactus, the only organ pipes were in...Organ Pipe. Saguaro also had several varieties of cholla. There were rock formations, but the highlight of these 2 parks were the cacti. First picture is the namesake of the first park - the organ pipe cactus. There are a couple of smaller ones around it, and a few saguaros in the background. One of the 2 new varieties of cholla cactus here. Many signs warning people to stay clear of them and carry tweezers to remove the spines. We just kept our distance, thank you very much. Next shot is a double arch from Organ Pipe, look closely at the top to see the second arch "piggybacked" on the first. A view with saguaros...
Read more

Day 8: Grand Junction CO to Arches (Moab, UT)

Image
 June 19th, 2024   Mileage  Start:  25039   End: 25236     Total: Day/Trip  197/2531 A relatively short hour and 40 minute drive, largely on I-70, then south. Had 10 a.m. reservations (and my Senior Parks Pass), sailed in at 9:48, whisked me right in. Pit stop at the visitors center, then we began the 18 mile drive through the park. There were roadside formations, short hikes to formations, and long hikes to formations. It was 94 degrees in the park. We didn't do any long hikes, but did several in the quarter-half mile range. Cliffs, hoodoos, balanced rocks, arches of course, and just some cool rock formations. Awed, humbled, thankful for such an amazing display of nature and God's handiwork. We agreed it exceeded our expectations. Dinner at Moab Brewery, too hungry to take pictures of the food and so thirsty we finished a few before we remembered to take a picture. We had a filtered wheat, an unfiltered wheat, hazy IPA, English amber, a...
Read more

Day 6 Bartlesville, OK to Evergreen, CO

Image
 June 17, 2024  Mileage  Start: 23953  End: 24632    Total:  Day/Trip  679/1927 A long drive, the longest of our trip. Mostly I-70, but a lot of empty 2-lanes before we got to 70. Blessed once again with clear skies and light traffic (except Denver at 4:30, but I anticipated that). On the road about 9 hours and 40 minutes total. The most memorable parts of the drive: lots of BIG wind farms, plus high winds that caused several areas of restricted visibility due to blowing dust. And farm land, farm land, farm land. And flat rocks. Went to dinner-surprise!- at a craft brewery 5 miles from the hotel, Evergreen Craft Brewery. Small and uncrowded, we got a flight, a NY-style wood-fired pizza, and a salad. All (yes, even the salad) were really good. For those keeping track, bottom to top: Belgian  Blonde, Mexican Amber Ale, Kolsch, and Belgian Golden Strong. We liked them so well we split a 5th 5oz. glass, a Hazy Pale Ale, also good. And we're out o...
Read more