Got up about 4:15 a.m. in the motel. The rain had finally stopped, and the morning was crisp. Got all our gear loaded up, and off we went, up onto the I-40 East towards Amarillo. It was pretty dark, and being somewhat unfamiliar with the routing, we missed seeing the Cadillac Ranch. Darn! I had wanted Sherri to see the oldCadillacs planted nose down/tails up, covered with grafitti.

Outside of Amarillo, we got onto US Hwy 287 which we basically followed almost all day. Good road, angling down towards the Fort Worth/Dallas metto area. Very agricultural, red soil, wheat growing. Stopped at the Donley County Rest Area. As we pulled into the parking lot, we spotted a sign saying "Watch for Rattlesnakes! Very nice and modern, clean, wonderful photo and artifact displays. Enjoyed two of the displays in particular. One was an artistic arrangement of various suitcases. Particularly enjoyed the Samsonite luggage with which I grew up. The display about Charles Goodknight who invented the chuckwagon was very interesting too. The cook was second in command after the wagon master.

Passed through many towns in many counties. Texas has 254 counties!!! That's in contrast to 3 in Delaware, and 4 in Hawaii. Like to watch for the mascot names of the high school teams. The town of Memphis ' high school has the nickname "Home of the Fighting Cyclones."

Passed another nice rest area in Hardeman. Texas calls it a "Safety Rest Area."

Got into Wichita Falls at 10:45 a.m. Bought gas - 20 gallons. The fully loaded support van got 25 mpg, which we thought was great all things considered.

Between Waxahatchie and Ennis there were seas of sunflowers. Sherri explained how sunflowers are phototrophic, turning following the direction of the sun.

From about 2:00 p.m. on we had one series of heavy rainfalls after another. By then, Sherri was driving, and I was navigating, I have only seen rain like that twice before; that was in Gettysburg SD and St. Cloud MN during the "Plains to Lakes" ride in 2011. I think we ended up pulling off the road six times and waiting out the torrents of rain. At times there was hail as well, and also bolts of lightning. It was really scarry. We prayed out loud a number of times, praying for safety in the storm. The verse from the Bible I Peter 5:7 "Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you" comforted us all.

There were muddy impromptu creeks flowing down the center median. Saw a couple of cars which had had accidents. One was flipped over on its roof.

Finally got to the outskirts of Houston. Decided to follow the outer beltway around Houston, but it was still pouring rain. Drove on the frontage road next to the controlled access tollway which required an "EZ Pass. Finally, we had to get up onto the tollway to cross over the ship channel into Houston. Had to pay $2 and then $1.75 before we finally exited to get on the I-45 South to Galveston. It was still raining quite hard, and so we pulled into a McDonalds for dinner. We were on the verge of abandoning getting to Galveston and just renting a room in a motel, and finishing the drive in the morning. The rain lightened up enough to continue, but the lightning bolts were still very scarry. We had been given lots of opinions on how long it was going to take to get to Galveston from Houston. Had heard 2 - 2 1/2 hours, and it barely took an hour even with the rain.

Arrived at the Moody Methodist Church at about 9:00 p.m. Gary and Devon from Ohio were already there, so they showed us around. So good to be in from the rain, in a dry safe place. Sherri did a wonderful job of driving.I felt a peace since we were covered with prayer.

The church facility is huge, modern, funded by an early benefactor with the last name of Moody (no relative of Dwight L. Moody). A huge gym, youth area, lobby ... very welcoming. We five are sleeping on the floor with thermarest pads underneath each of us.

It was a very long day, both time-wise and distance-wise. We drove 728 miles across Texas. The total trip distance from GJ to Galveston was 1285 miles. Whew!

Tired but happy to be on the Gulf Coast!

With love from Galveston Island,
Marie