USA Roadtrip Day 2……..Mobile, Ala to Gonzales,TX

A bit of gong show this morning as we woke very early to a thunder and lightning show, the plan being to start driving as soon as we could finish breakfast….small problem was that the time had changed in Tallahassee yesterday and hence we were an hour early…haha the joke is on us !!

Today will be another long day…

….anyways we left at 7:22 with rain accompanying us for the next few hours….By early afternoon we reached Beaumont and the Lone Star State…

…here on the I10 we encountered the worst roads ……spending some $$$$ on infrastructure is not an option….the highways in Cuba were superior and that is not a high bar!! There is no doubt you are in oil country as we passed some very extensive petrochemical complexes and the stench in the air was proof positive…..

..overall a decent drive with no problems getting through Houston which we thought could be tough as it was the end of the long weekend. No incidents, although the drivers in considerable part are about as stupid as god can make them….the concept of slower traffic to the right and the danger of passing on the right is simply a bridge too far for these simple folks!!!.

In any event we ground out the mileage and in the end we again posted 595 miles (958 kms) in roughly 10 hours, all stops included. We arrived In Gonzales at 17:00 checking into a Microtel >>> pretty nice for USD 69.

Gonzales is sort of nowhere about 15 minutes off the I10 ….with ranching and the oil and gas industry being the mainstays of the local economy. It does though have historical significance….in 1831, Mexican authorities gave the settlers of Gonzales a small cannon to help protect them from frequent Comanche raids. Over the next four years, the political situation in Mexico deteriorated, and in 1835 several states revolted. As the unrest spread, Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea, the commander of all Mexican troops in Texas, felt it unwise to leave the residents of Gonzales with a weapon and requested the return of the cannon. The Texans refused and taunted the Mexicans to: “Come and Take It”, which led to hostilities. As a consequence, although the skirmish had little military significance, it marked a clear break between the colonists and the Mexican government and is considered to have been the start of the Texas Revolution:

After all the driving we wanted to eat and what better place than the Cow Palace (said palace being part of the local cattle auction center)…

…but it was not to be >>> closed due to Memorial Day……and this was some of what we missed (maybe):

……as it turned so too were most of the other recommended joints in town. So onwards to the local supermarket for some sandwich fixings…….interesting spot >> VERY local and the cowboy boots tromping around the store had  real manure sticking to them…..some tough looking hombres along with guys who looked like the original Marlboro man……not sure how this deportation gig will work here ????? but then Trump seems to be the man here…

Well that was the excitement for the day…