Everything IS bigger in Texas!

Now where were we… oh yes in San Antonio! We packed up, checked out, got more cookies (last doubletree-sad) and waited for the trolley. Luckily we actually got a trolley, not just a bus running the trolley line, so that was fun!

We went down to the Alamo around 10:30 with super low expectations. Everything we read had people saying how it was so boring and not worth it which was weird because it’s a historic landmark so I would think that you would go into it expecting it to be an old building and not really that exciting. How could it disappoint? So we allowed ourselves about an hour to two for the Alamo. When we got there, we paid for the audio tour and got to it. Before we knew it, Brian looked at his phone and it was 1:00! We were nowhere near done and had no idea it was so late! We ended up being super impressed with everything. It was so cool to be standing on the ground that these men died on fighting for something that they believed in so strongly. We watched a short video and they had a few volunteers telling stories of things that happened. For a real short version, the battle of the Alamo was when Santa Ana (a self proclaimed Mexican dictator) brought about 1500 Mexican troops to re-claim the Alamo which was taken over by the Texans looking for freedom from Mexico. Eventually he had even more men and on the day that they charged The Alamo he had approximately 2500 men! The crazy part is that these 2500 men were fighting about 200 Texans. Obviously they didn’t stand a chance and almost all of the men were killed. But they had such passion for their cause, it really was amazing. Shortly after the battle of The Alamo, Texas did win their freedom obviously and The Alamo was turned into a warehouse. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas eventually bought it back and restored it out of respect to the hundreds of men who died there. This was definitely worth going to and SO much better than we expected!

And of course, again it was BLAZING hot out! So when we left and crossed the street I decided to get a snow cone from the little gangster cart and to prove how far I’ve come, I did not get skeeved when the woman used her hand to round out the top of my snow cone. Okay well I’m lying, I totally got skeeved but shrugged it off and ate it anyway, look at me!! So then we went over to the real Riverwalk, not the shady one we were hanging out at yesterday. I was so sad we didn’t get to do more because it really was so pretty! The river itself was pretty filthy actually, there was a lot of trash in it when you got up close but the walks and the bridges and restaurants were so cute! They have lights hanging from the trees too so it’s probably so pretty at night! There were so many restaurants too, we were so upset we missed out on them last night, but now we know for next time! If anyone’s planning a trip to San Antonio, take the trolley to Crockett or Commerce, NOT Market!!

By now it was a lot later than we were expecting to leave so we hopped in the car, next stop, New Orleans! The navigation said we would get there around 11:30 so we decided to maybe stop in Houston for dinner. My mom helped us get the address of a place that was on Man vs. Food but Brian said he would not be doing a food challenge! We figured Adam goes to some pretty good spots anyway so we headed there. Well, I headed there while Brian took a nap. We never did make it to the Little Bitty Burger Barn…

People were passing me left and right but all of a sudden I had a cop on a motorcycle behind me. Brian woke up asking if I was okay and I told him I thought I was getting pulled over… and I did. While Brian fumbled around looking for the insurance card that we actually didn’t have (awesome idea to not bring insurance on a 7,000 mile trip) the cop decided to pour salt in the wound saying, “don’t you have a smart phone, you can just pull it up on there…” I explained as politely as I could that no we have cheap phones, thinking maybe he will realize we can’t afford cool phones and let me off? Nope! He told me I can fax the insurance to get rid of the $260 offense and he was nice enough to put that I was doing 75 in a 65, even though he had me at 78. He is a moron because either way it’s $200, thanks for the favor buddy! So yes, even the speeding tickets are bigger in TX. But the crazy thing is, had he gotten me doing 22 above the speed limit (hypothetically of course), the ticket would have been $260… I don’t really think that’s in line with the pricing of my ticket. I would think they would take away my car or something, but an extra $60 bucks? That’s nothing! Which leads me to my next rambling rant... Speed limits are really crap if you think about it. They are really just to turn a profit. I asked Brian what the point is and he gave the typical answer, they’re for safety. There’s more people in the cities so they slow it down for the volume of people. Really? How come in Western TX, the speed limit is 80 but in Houston it’s 65? A little more information for you, in Western TX, every few miles there are these signs: Dust storms VERY possible… ZERO visibility possible… Speed limit 80… drive with caution. Seriously, these signs are all over. Houston is a city, clearly there are more people. When there’s a car in front of you going 70, you physically cannot go faster than him, no need for a speed limit to tell you this. There were times on this trip that the speed limit was 65 going down a windy mountain, I went below the speed limit… I think you should be able to use your discretion.

This also leads me to my next road trip tip of the day. Clearly had I been listening to my last tip of the rule of the 9s, I would not be in this situation, but things happen. My next tip is to make sure you are paying attention when you are in unfamiliar areas. When I got pulled over on the LIE, I thought the speed limit was 65, Brian told me that all Long Island roads have a 55 mph limit, now I know. I do not know the crazy TX rules. The not so nice officer told me that about 2 miles back the speed limit dropped to 65 instead of 70, had I known that, I would have been enjoying a nice TX BBQ meal instead of Burger King chicken fries (which were delicious but fast food is just so gross, I feel sick). So when you find yourself in a strange place, take a look around, watch out for all these secret little signs!

And now for the silver lining, Brian took a look at the ticket to see if there was any fine print. I told him, I would just not pay and just never drive in TX again. He said they would put a warrant out for my arrest… that would be kind of cool to be a fugitive, no? He said no. But they take credit card! So thanks to Chase Freedom Rewards, I will be getting 1% back on my little speeding mishap! Thank you Houston for getting me 2 points closer to my next reward! Plus I told Brian, how many people from NY can say they were pulled over in TX, not too many! So I’m a little more interesting, and so is he for marrying into my interestingness… on to NOLA!!