Crawfish--not crawdads--and the Alamo!

We made it safely without any further mechanical trouble to Adkins, TX, and had a great visit with the Madrid family. Yesterday, we went into San Antonio to see the Alamo and later walked along the River Walk, enjoying the cooler temperatures and sights.



On the River Walk

On Friday we drove 197 miles from Adkins, TX to Sugar Land, TX. It was a lot of driving, but we wanted to reach Peggy's sister's before the holiday traffic picked up. We stopped in Gonzales, TX for breakfast at a small local café. Just about the time we finished eating, Joe the Barber stopped by our table to visit and ask about the car—we also talked a bit about California and other travels. As he left, Erwin, a long time Gonzales resident, sat down and reminisced about his coupe that he had had “many, many years ago.” I am just amazed at the friendliness of the people we have met, and how they stop and introduce themselves—not just the nod, or “hi” you would typically get in California. I guess in these smaller towns it is easy to recognize the visitors. We drove another hour or so, and then stopped in Eagle Lake, just to stretch our legs. We met an older couple there who own the local furniture store and visited for awhile on the sidewalk, talking about the car, our trip, and the community. Eagle Lake is a big rice growing community similar to the Sacramento rice community, as well as a big goose hunting region. Driving along the road, it felt an awful lot like driving down the levy roads south and west of West Sacramento.

On Saturday we drove down to Galveston to the Hidalgo beach house for a crawfish and crab boil, and deep fried catfish. This area is still showing some signs of Hurricane Ike damage from last fall, but there are some neat, neat, houses. These critters we were going to eat? We did learn that in the south, they are called crawfish—not crawdads. This was as fun to watch as it was good to eat! They heated this huge pot of water with seasonings, a bulb of garlic, a bunch of onions, then dumped in a bunch of crawfish, along with potatoes and corn on the cob. The tables were covered with newspaper, and the crawfish were dumped on the table tops. After lessons on how we were supposed to eat these critters, everyone just dug in! After two batches of crawfish were cooked, the crab were cooked. Delicious!