A Quick and Busy East Texas Trip

Donna and I just returned home from another trip. We've put about 2,500 miles on our worn out old bodies the past 2 weeks. We used to think nothing of crisscrossing the state, but these days, anything over 8 hours really wears us out. I'm looking forward to some stay-at-home time now.

We needed to visit Donna's home town of Conroe. There were some folks in the area we felt the need to visit. We left on Monday and returned on Thursday. We stayed pretty busy the entire time.

After our 8 hour trip on Monday, we met Donna's brother Bill and his wife Jody for supper at Olive Garden in Conroe. We enjoyed a good meal with them. I always get the Ravioli de Portobello at Olive Garden. I really like that sun-dried tomato sauce in that dish.

We were up early Tuesday to drive over to Lake Livingston for a long visit with Donna's half-sister Anita and her husband Keith. It rained on us from the time we left until we returned to the hotel later that day. After visiting Anita and Keith, we drove west to the small town of Montgomery and visited Donna's cousin Pam. We finished the day with a good salad at Panera Bread. I always get the Thai salad there; that dressing is so good.

On Thursday, we started by visiting the cemetery where Donna's mother and father and other family members rest. You can tell you are getting old when visiting cemeteries becomes a part of your itinerary. We did the same back in May when we visited my hometown. We then visited Donna's Uncle Carl, who lives in an assisted living center. At 93 or so, he is still alert and sharp; in fact, he recently wrote a book about his life. I'll download a copy from Amazon soon. We then visited another cemetery where family members rest. We finished the day with a late lunch at a Tex-Mex restaurant with Donna's brother David and his wife Sharon.

We were pretty worn after 3 long, busy days. We went to bed early Wednesday night and awoke early the next day, ate a light breakfast at the hotel, then took off west. We routed our trip through Killeen so that we could stop at the In and Out Burger restaurant there for lunch. We really enjoy those little burgers.

It's always nice to see family and old places from our past. But for us, it is always so comforting to cross I-35 and head west. The eastern part of the state is just too congested. It is reaching the point where there is no country left there, just house after house and business after business. We start feeling comfortable when we get about 75 or so miles west of I-35. The farther west we go, the better we feel.

It was good to get home. We sat on our patio that evening, enjoying the dry cool of the evening, thankful we were not in the sticky, wet humid area we had just left. So many in our families have never been able to understand why we enjoy living in the west. As we sat on our patio that evening in our quite neighborhood with a nice breeze drifting over us, there was no question in our minds why we have chosen the west to be our home.