Remember the Alamo - Day 4 - "Houston, We've Had a Problem"

10/11/16, “Houston, We’ve Had a Problem”

George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Texas (IAH)

Despite the ironic title I have assigned to today’s entry, today actually went perfectly fine.  This is, in fact, the triumphant airport entry.  Like every other Day on this trip, it was long and exhausting, but we did everything we set out to do.  All in all, it was a very successful trip, but we are both more than ready to go home.  By the numbers, we visited five National Park Site units, including the World Heritage Site, an additional eight National Historic Landmarks, the State Capitol, and the two most famous buildings in Texas (the Alamo and Mission Control).  We did about 20 hours of driving over four Days to this end, and we are just ready to go home.  I will be returning to Texas in six months, and I will then be able to say, “Texas Complete.”  Until then, I can safely say that I have enjoyed my time in Texas, despite the stress entailed in executing our itinerary, and I will be glad when I have another chance to return.

This is usually the space where I would write a reflective entry, but I don’t have much to reflect on.  It is, I believe, my sixth trip into Texas, and the next one will be the last for quite some time.  It is a huge state, and they have been able to build the roads and support structure to accommodate for such expanses.  “Everything’s bigger in Texas” is not just a saying.  It’s true.  Even the coffee sizes are bigger here.  It is as much of an embodiment of the southwest as is imaginable, and my love affair with the Southwest is no less evident here than it is in other states.

I am close to being able to finally say, “Southwest Complete.”  Other than the annoying fact that I neglected to visit the Capitol when I was in Little Rock, I am two trips away from saying it.  The OK, Texas trip I take in six months will be one of them, and I also need to take one last trip to New Mexico to finish off that state.  That will be the end of it.  Technically, Arizona is considered to be in the West, not the Southwest, and I would probably need a standalone weekend trip to Arizona to finish it off.  Boarding will begin in about five minutes, so I will treat the entirety of today’s activities en route and allow myself a little more time for reflection.  It looks like I’m getting upgraded to first class, so I will actually close now to get my new boarding pass.

Aboard DL 3403, En route IAH-LGA

This plane looks like it’s from the same era as the Apollo Mission Control Center.  Somehow, though, surprisingly, it appears to have WiFi.  For that, I am grateful.  However, no outlets and limited overhead storage.  I’m flying first class on a four-hour flight, though, so I can’t really complain.  I’ll be napping soon in this very comfortable seat, which appears to be the newest part of the plane.  As for today’s events, as I said above, they were harrowing but successful.

After I closed last night, my mother and I headed out for ice cream, through a less busy neighborhood than the area where we were staying.  My mother was freaked out by it, but I kept remarking that Austin seemed to be “the Portland of the South.”  It’s, “Keep Austin Weird” slogan only reinforced that idea, as did the hipster gelato place that seemed better suited to Williamsburg than Austin.  They had exotic flavors and wooden spoons.  I just wanted ice cream.  Not this fancy gelato.

We got back to the hotel, and, in process that was far too stressful, planned our day tomorrow.  Only one thing mattered to me, seeing the inside of Mission Control.  We had no idea how that worked, if it was even possible.  I also wanted to see San Jacinto Battlefield, where the Texans remembered the Alamo and finally won their independence from Mexico.  My mother wanted to stop at the Lost Pines.  I had a schedule that would allow us to do everything and get to the airport in time for a flight, but we would need to be on the road by 8 AM.  That meant we would need to wake up before 7 AM.

We did.  I had no appetite when I woke up, so I got ready while my mother headed out in search of her oatmeal.  To my shock, I learned that, in a first, she had done the buffet breakfast without me.  I was heartbroken.  My appetite had recovered by then, and I would have wanted to do the buffet breakfast as well if she was already taking the time to do it.  We were on the road by 8 AM, and we stopped at a Wendy’s across from the gas station for my breakfast.  From there, it was straight to the Lost Pines, which were completely underwhelming.  It was a National Historic Landmark, so I lit up a Julius Caesar for our ceremonial pictures, and we walked around a bit.

From there, it was straight to the San Jacinto Battlegrounds.  At the battlegrounds, there was also the USS Texas, a battleship that saw service in both World Wars.  Both the battlegrounds and the battleship were National Historic Landmarks.  I lit up my Toscano, and we took our ceremonial picture at the battleship before heading to the view of the battlegrounds for a ceremonial picture there.  They had a huge monument, so we drove further up to the monument and walked around inside there.

Next stop was the Johnson Space Center, home of Mission Control.  We learned that the only way to see Mission Control was by a 90-minute tram tour, but we had budgeted for that.  We got our tickets, and I had just enough time to grab lunch before the next tour.  Figuring that it would be the food that an astronaut returning from space would want the most, I opted for a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a Dr. Pepper.  I scarfed it down before meeting my mother back in the line for the tram.

That’s when the rain started.  I was sitting on the outermost seat of the tram, so I got soaked.  I didn’t care.  I just cared about one thing at this point.  Seeing Mission Control and getting to the airport.  Mission Control was, in fact, the first stop on the tram, and they took us to the viewing gallery, where we could see all the instruments.  It was in its original condition, even down to the seatback ashtrays.  I could literally feel the history.  This was it.  “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”  This was Houston!  They did a little talk, and then we headed back down.  I knew this would be my one chance to finish my Toscano, so I lit it up, took my ceremonial picture with the exterior of the building, and smoked it until they had told me I had to get on board the tram.  It was pouring out, which did not add to the experience.

Across the street was the Space Environment Simulator Lab, another National Historic Landmark, but I couldn’t really get a proper picture with it.  Then we went to the space vehicle mockup facility, where they had mockups of all the different space vehicles.  That was really fun to see.  This was where the astronauts would train on the vehicles.  The last stop was the house that contained the Saturn V rocket, the same rocket used for the Apollo Mission that first brought man to the moon.  That was impressive.

From there, it was back to the VC, and we went right to the gift shop.  I got a few souvenirs, and the only thing left to see was the Kennedy Podium, where JFK first said that we choose to go to the moon.  We headed to the car and went straight to the airport, only stopping for gas.  We did our analysis of the trip and both concluded that, while we did enjoy some of the sites we saw, it was a very sparse and underwhelming trip.  We had, quite simply, chosen a boring location for a four-day trip, whose length was necessitated by the distance between all the sites.  We also agreed that we were scraping at the bottom of the barrel with some of the sites, such as Austin and the Lost Pines.  I was glad to have gotten that much close to “Texas Complete,” and we enjoyed our time together, along with two great dinners.

We dropped off the car and headed to the terminal, stopping at build your own pizza place, which had completely customizable options and a long line.  We were both very happy with our third dinner of the trip, my mother since she was able to get exactly what she wanted, me because I was able to get unlimited meats and cheese, along with mushrooms and onions, on mine.  We took our pizzas to the bar, where my mother got a glass of wine while I scarfed down half of my pie.  I would save the other half for the flight.

I headed to the gate, where I learned that two first class seats where available and that I was number two on the list.  Score!  I sat down at the viewing window, where I proceeded to write my earlier entry, closing it when it was time to get my first class ticket.  That’s when things got interesting.  One of the two seats (as in the physical seat) was broken, so I was out of luck, but she said I could have a two-seater Economy Comfort to myself.  I asked if she could just put me and my mother in those two seats.  She did.  It was a tiny plane, so we were glad to have that extra legroom.  I finished my pizza while we were at the gate and then washed my hands.

When I got back, I was told that they now had a seat in first class for me.  Reader, think how big of a boon this was for both of us.  My mother now got the Economy Comfort two-seater to herself, and I had a first class seat for the four-hour flight.  It worked out quite well.  When we were airborne, I ordered a coffee and a bourbon and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can relax for the rest of the flight.  I will also close out this trip.  Next stop: The Borderlands with Roberto, which are actually rather close to where we went this trip.