Day 28 & 29 - Houston, Texas

Day 28 (23 July). We traveled across the Piney Woods region of Texas late morning for the drive to the fourth largest city in the USA - Houston, Texas. We used state roads for a period of time before joining the interstate and having to endure lunatic car and truck drivers who seemed intent upon raising our stress levels by demonstrating their complete lack of ability to read the flow of traffic. When we were 50 miles north of this next stop it already looked like we had arrived. The urban sprawl of the Gulf Coast region of Texas where Houston is located just went on and on. We were delighted when our temperamental Garmin GPS (whose warranty expired about six months ago) determined that to reach South Houston (where we were staying and the Space Centre) we would be better served driving straight through the CBD rather than taking an outer ring road loop. Having spent the past few days driving on state highways in the Texas countryside, it was a real adjustment to suddenly be battling the onslaught of 8-10 lane major city traffic on a Friday afternoon. There wasn't too much cursing, and when it was it was directed at 'Leigh' the Australian Garmin voice - who as an inanimate object couldn't care less what we said, but it made us feel better. Then again, if there was a muck-up he had this condescending tone when he announced "Recalculating" as though it was clearly our ridiculous fault for not following his instructions. We reached the hotel late afternoon and had a nice quiet evening catching up on emails, updating the blog and getting information from the internet.

It was interesting to see Tropical Depression Bonnie currently off Florida and heading into the Gulf of Mexico featuring prominently in the news. A quick check of the weather forecast for the next 10 days where we are traveling around the Gulf and in Orlando showed thunderstorms and rain every day. It gave us something to really think about regarding our decision to stay in campgrounds in the next few days. It has been hot in Houston and we have really noticed the higher humidity. One of the last things that we need as we head toward Orlando is a wet canvas tent in the back of the car for over a week whilst we stay in the resort at Walt Disney World. Not only will the car and tent smell pretty bad, but the damage to the tent from mould would not be worth the overall effort. We have decided that while we currently have a dry tent we will cancel the wet campgrounds and stay in hotels.

Day 29 (24 July). We had a slow start to the day with Matthew and Chloe sleeping until late morning. The kids have been busy and they needed that extra rest. We went to Johnson Space Center Houston about mid-day and spent the next few hours wandering around. We have been spoilt in DC with the Air & Space Museums at both the National Mall and Dulles Airport, which are both outstanding, as well as seeing the additional space elements at the US Air Force Museum at Dayton Ohio. The Space Center Houston was just okay. If you have a few spare hours in Houston you could probably find something better (and cheaper) to do.

We had the opportunity to catch up with US friends (Bob and Brenda Swisher) and their family. Their daughter Katie prepared a delightful and tasty meal and it was great to catch up and get a local's perspective of Houston.

Next stop - overnight in New Orleans, Louisiana