Day 2 - April 20th

Friday morning and all looks pretty good after a full night rest. Time to load up and hit the road.

For the most part, this was a blast (cruise?) down I-10 toward my next stop - Houston, Texas and another bonus location for the Big Money Rally.

The closer I got to Houston, the worse the weather was looking.  Off in the distance, it looked like I might be able to get through without too much difficulty.  What the heck.  If it got too bad, I'd just pull off to a covered location and wait out the storm.  I've got a book and the phone gets the internet, so I'm golden.

First stop in Houston is MPH Cycles.  These guys are one of a hand full of Moto Guzzi dealers who are well known in the Guzzi community as being one of the very good guys.  I've talked to Mike Haven on the phone a few times and have purchased parts from them as well but we'd never met face to face.  So I corrected that shortcoming.  Mike also gave me a couple of tips to help sort out an electrical issue I'm having with my Norge and said to call him when I get home and he'll help me sort it out.  Yeah, these guys are definitely good guys.

I made the run from MPH to The University of St. Thomas in downtown Houston and got my photo.

Left there and started heading back toward the freeway when the wind really kicked up and you could see the sky falling a block away.  I quickly pulled in to a service station/convenience store lot that had covered parking and read for a while.  I managed to not get too wet.

By the way, this is some of the more expensive gas prices I've seen on the trip.  When I left California, Regular Unleaded was running about $4.07.  I've been paying around $3.75 so $3.99 is on the high side.

Once the rain let up, I got back on the road looking for I-10.  Again, I-10 is like any other Interstate so I didn't take any photos.  Some of the ones I did take may be boring to some readers, so why inflict things I find boring on you?

Coming up on Columbus, Texas I was needing gas (this bike seems to have about 160 mile range before reaching for the reserve switch).  Cool find.  I'm a sucker for old gas stations and gas pumps.

A lot of Texas towns have managed to retain a good portion of their original character in the form of the Town Square.  Usually this included the City Hall and Jail with a bunch of shops built around the old center of town.  Columbus is no exception.

Los Angeles just does not have a bunch of old buildings like this, so I had to snap a couple of the Stafford Bank and Opera House which was built in 1886

I followed the signs to the Columbus Historic District and found these neat little (and not so little) places.

And this place which, while not a historic house I found interesting in that it used to be a single house and has been converted to apartments.

I finally pulled myself away from these neat houses and (for me) quaint streets

and headed out US 90 toward San Antonio.

It was getting a bit late, so I thought I might stop in here and get a room for the night, but they couldn't accommodate me, so I continued to San Antonio to spend the night with a friend from the LA Bikers.

One the way through Weimar, Texas, I came across this memorial that I thought was wonderful.

This wall has the names of everyone from Weimar who served in war time from WW II up through the Persian Gulf War, including Seaman First Class Johnnie David Hutchins who was a Medal of Honor Recipient.