Day 4 – Texas to New Orleans
Kerrville was just west of San Antonio so we decided that would be a good stop for breakfast. I’d heard the San Antonio River-walk was a must see. We got into town pretty early and found a popular breakfast spot, The Guenther House via Yelp! It wasn’t in the immediate downtown area but it was a cute Southern restaurant serving up the traditional biscuits and gravy in the restored home of a milling family from the 1860s . The waiter thought Acacia and I were a bit strange I think when we ordered eggs, sausage, double bacon and no biscuits or toast. The breakfast was decent but nothing to rave about. I’m pretty sure we opted out of eating the one thing that made this place famous. oops!
After breakfast we headed downtown to see the River-walk. It was still very early and restaurants and shops along the river were just starting to open. We probably didn’t get a real taste of it since it wasn’t very busy yet but it was easy to tell that this would be a favorite spot if you lived in San Antonio.
We drove on from San Antonio all the way through Houston taking turns driving in about 4 hour stints. At this point we didn’t have any other stops on the list aside from New Orleans and we were hoping to make up some time so we’d have more time when we got there. We started to get hungry around Beaumont, Texas and without many choices showing up on Yelp! we ended up at Broussard’s Hot Links, a small little walk-up BBQ joint. This was another place where it was pretty obvious Acacia and I were from different parts. If it wasn’t the packed full car and CA plates it was our appearance. Dressed in our comfy road tripping spandex pants, our Caucasian-ness, our lack of a southern drawl and probably also that we were the only people there weighing in less than 250lbs. In fact, we could feel ourselves being stared at while in line. Then some of the sweet ladies waiting for their food started talking about us loud enough for Acacia to hear. According to them you’re not supposed to wear yoga pants in public. When Acacia let them know she could hear they tried to pretend they were giving us compliments. We really had some fans! It definitely gave me a taste of how uncomfortable it must be for minorities when they’re in a crowd of the majority. But, it was an experience AND the hot links were damn good! However, they were filled with so much raw garlic that the next few hours of driving involved rolling down the window multiple times and apologizing to each other for the god awful smell we were belching up.
We pressed on into the night and finally arrived at our Motel 6 New Orleans. It wasn’t really in the best part of town but we were on a budget. Acacia had been in touch with some of her friends that were also in town that weekend, so after checking in and freshening up we called a cab and headed out to meet up with them. It took a matter of a few minutes to know that I really liked this city. We had some time to kill before meeting up so we ducked in a bar and were treated to some wonderful bluesy live music. After a few songs and a drink we headed back out and stumbled upon a nice little art fair with all sorts of impressive handcrafts. Finally we headed over to the bar where we met up with Acacia’s friends. We had a few drinks there and some nice conversation and then it was time for a late dinner and we were both very ready for bed. We wanted to try some Cajun food and found a little place at the end of the street. The food was decent but I knew we’d find something better the next day.
you have a gift in writing. loved the love between you and Acacia.
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