I had about 6.5 hours sleep last which is the most I have achieved I one sitting since I arrived in country. For some reason the old body clock needed some new batteries but it seems to be set to US time now (I hope!). Anyway today was the last day of the Labor Day Weekend so there were still crowds of people in town. I ate a liesurely breakfast (pronounces leeesurely round these parts) checked out of the Hotel and with low expectations headed for the entrance to The Alamo to see if I could avoid the wait. I was pleasantly surprised and got in within ten minutes with most of the delays being due to the photographer who hit you up for a pic on the way in in the hope that you'll buy it.
The site itself is free and staffed by an excellent cast of volunteers who are on hand to explain everything and answer any questions. It gets 2,500,000 visitors a year (I think most of them were there yesterday) and is considered to be the most popular tourist spot in the country. The story goes something like this. Texas, along with a number of other states (including all of California, Utah and Nevada and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming) were all originally part of Mexico. Texas was vastly underpopulated so in an effort to encourage growth the Mexican Government offered land for cents an acre and allowed US citizens to move there with a few conditions, one of which was that all new settlers had to convert to Catholicism. Within a short space of time the Mexicans were outnumbered 10 to 1 and the Americans started to assert themselves. When the Mexicans tried to regain control militarily the infamous Alamo siege took place.
From February 23rd to March 6th 1836 the Mexicans laid siege to The Alamo. Interestingly it was originally a Catholic mission that was set up to educate the Native Americans that the Spanish had converted to Catholicism. It was established in 1718 and moved to its current location in 1724. For twelve days the Mexicans lay seige to the fort and on the thirteenth day the killed all but a few women and children, a slave and one man who claimed to be a prisoner. They followed this up in a place called Goliad where on 27th March of the same year they slaughtered over 400 prisoners. This incensed the Texans and other Americans which lead to a large number of men joining the Texan Army. On 20th & 21st April the Texans engaged the Mexican Army and routed them. The cry heard to go up as they trouced the Mexicans - "Remember the Alamo".
After a diverting 90 minutes I decided it was time to head out to Houston and check out the Space Center. Well it just didn't work out that way. Valet parking is a big thing here, many restaurants have it and it is included in some hotels bills and an extra in others. The point is that many hotels don't have car parking either you get it valeted and pay the price or you have the hassle of finding nearby parking. I sucked it up and paid the price. Being a long weekend and the hotel having a late check out policy I didn't retrieve the car until 11.30am. I was going to have to push it if I was going to make Houston without a problem. I mean they drive like they're on cocaine so I thought "no problem". Let me tell you how it went.
I pulled the Chevy out of the hotel carpark and got on to Interstate 10. I crossed out of the San Antonio City Limits then the Austin Count Line and stopped for gas at a Buc-ee's. $34.00 saw the tank full so I pushed on to Houston. I had ZZ Top playing on the radio as we crossed from Guadalupe into La Grange. The only trouble being..... Has anyone been on Newcastle to Sydney motorway on a Monday afternoon of the long weekend? Well it was just like that. We did 120 kilometres in 3 hours. It took a little over 5 hours to get here and I didn't stand a hope in Hades on making the Space Center in a timely manner. So here I am at The Holiday Inn Webster, 2 miles up the road to the Space Center. It was raining when I arrived (you should try driving American highways in the rain, especially when there are Americans on the road) so there was no point having a diverting few hours downtown looking at stuff. I decided to make the most of it and am sitting at a desk in a very nice hotel, having got quite a good deal, my washing's in the dryer and I am about to eat a hotel dinner. Ah the life of a traveller.
After a diverting 90 minutes I decided it was time to head out to Houston and check out the Space Center. Well it just didn't work out that way. Valet parking is a big thing here, many restaurants have it and it is included in some hotels bills and an extra in others. The point is that many hotels don't have car parking either you get it valeted and pay the price or you have the hassle of finding nearby parking. I sucked it up and paid the price. Being a long weekend and the hotel having a late check out policy I didn't retrieve the car until 11.30am. I was going to have to push it if I was going to make Houston without a problem. I mean they drive like they're on cocaine so I thought "no problem". Let me tell you how it went.
I pulled the Chevy out of the hotel carpark and got on to Interstate 10. I crossed out of the San Antonio City Limits then the Austin Count Line and stopped for gas at a Buc-ee's. $34.00 saw the tank full so I pushed on to Houston. I had ZZ Top playing on the radio as we crossed from Guadalupe into La Grange. The only trouble being..... Has anyone been on Newcastle to Sydney motorway on a Monday afternoon of the long weekend? Well it was just like that. We did 120 kilometres in 3 hours. It took a little over 5 hours to get here and I didn't stand a hope in Hades on making the Space Center in a timely manner. So here I am at The Holiday Inn Webster, 2 miles up the road to the Space Center. It was raining when I arrived (you should try driving American highways in the rain, especially when there are Americans on the road) so there was no point having a diverting few hours downtown looking at stuff. I decided to make the most of it and am sitting at a desk in a very nice hotel, having got quite a good deal, my washing's in the dryer and I am about to eat a hotel dinner. Ah the life of a traveller.
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