I'm in Houston! Arrived around 5:30. It took longer than I was hoping, but I guess I couldn't expect every day to be easy peasy. I am so glad to be done with that drive. At least for a few days.
The day wasn't all bad though. This morning I had a lovely breakfast at Croissant D'Or, which turns out to be a great little bakery/coffee shop where most of the customers seemed to be locals. Always a good sign. The person in front of me in line knew the waitress' name and introduced his companion to her! After breakfast I walked around the French Quarter awhile. I saw the building my friend David painted in this picture. At 9 Central Grocery opened and I bought a muffuletta, which I took with me and had for lunch and dinner. (It was a big sandwich!) Saving the sandwich only made it better, as the olive oil had more time to soak into the bread. My only complaint about the muffuletta was that I'm not fond of green olive. But I'm well aware that green olive is a key ingredient of a muffuletta, so this is a matter of personal preference, not a problem with the sandwich. At least the olives came in big, easy-to-pick-out chunks.
Also, according to at least one witness (scroll down for the comment) I drive like a maniac. And here I thought I was driving cautiously! I made a point of not driving faster than the flow of traffic, and often slower. When the speed limit is 55, I drive 65. When it's 65, I drive 70. And when it's 70, I drive ... 70. My car has been shaking, kind of a shimmy, if I get much over 70, so I was trying not to. I think that's why I went so much faster than the Yahoo estimate on Monday, then yesterday it was about on target, then today I was slower than the estimate. Because the speed limits go up as you head west, so the estimate is based on a higher speed.
The hotel is more expensive than last time, but it looks like they renovated. The room is big and nice inside. It has a fridge and a microwave! Good thing too, because I have a cooler full of food.
This evening I went to the welcome dinner for out-of-towners. I only recognized a couple of people, but I hung out with a great bunch of folks from the west coast. Including the Bra Ball lady! Also Joanne from Seattle, and their respective husbands, and also a nice woman whose name I forget, who said she was thinking about moving from Seattle to North Carolina. Speaking of North Carolina, the big news is there's an artcar here from Asheville! It's an awesome old ambulance covered with neat paintings. The driver seems like a fun guy too. He said he had just come from an event in Florida, which I heard was really good. I wish I could have gone but I didn't think I could manage it right before Houston. I hope we see him at Mt. Dora later in the summer.
Well I could write tons more but I'm exhausted. I left the event early and now I'm going to go to sleep. Tomorrow I don't have to do anything until after noon! Yay!
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