Day 9 -- to Houston

I'm always a little anxious about packing up after we've stayed somewhere for a few days. The insides of the van and the Teardrop kind of explode into whatever cabin or campsite we stay at, and it's a challenge to make sure we get it all packed up. But we managed to get all our stuff squared away this morning, and then we hit the road for Houston.

On our way out of town, we swung by Acadian Village, in Lafayette, a living history village of original and recreated Acadian homes from the 1800s. (To give you a sense of the distinctly un-quaint sprawl that is Lafayette, Louisiana, I should explain that Acadian Village is behind the Sonic and the CVS, across the street from the giant condominium complex. And, while I'm at it: The Acadian Cultural Center, which we visited yesterday, is across the street from the Fed Ex hangar at the airport. Yuck.)



Anyway, GUESS WHAT WE FOUND IN THE GIFT SHOP!



Who could ever forget how Armand Assante taught the world that it's cool to be a Cajun in the career-making role of Belizaire? This is the face from that photo at Mulate's yesterday. And now you can clearly see why I thought it was Bruce Springsteen.

We drove about four hours to Houston. Holy SHEESH, Texas drivers are freaking scary. Somehow when we crossed the state line, the SUVs got bigger and blacker, and the traffic got faster and closer. It's every car for himself out there. Obviously our white Sienna -- pulling a teardrop trailer, no less -- is at the bottom of the food chain, and even if we're topping 80 mph, we're getting bowled over by Hummers. Driving around Houston was even worse, because there are, like, eight lanes of fast, pushy drivers. And while everything in Texas is super-sized, how is it that the lanes on the highway are 25 percent narrower than in every other state? When I lived in Los Angeles, I never got flustered while driving on the freeway. Today, the traffic rattled me.

Also, I'm here to tell you that there is no shortage of Joe's Crab Shacks, Applebee's restaurants, Staples stores, Targets and Home Depots in Houston. For every mile of superhighway in this city, there is an exit crammed with shopping centers and malls. (P.S.. The miles of Houston superhighway are seemingly infinite.)

We found our hotel, unhitched the trailer, and then got right back in the car in search of a Beck's Prime restaurant, which happens to be on the other side of Houston from where we're staying. So, 45 minutes of freeway driving and twenty white knuckles later, we found it. Beck's Prime is a small hamburger chain that was started by Keith's mom's cousin, Win Campbell, and his partners back in 1984. Keith's parents invested in the start-up, and a sliver of their small slice of ownership was passed along to us. Now Keith's second-cousin, Molly, is president of the company.

The restaurant is lovely, with an incredibly courteous staff and an expansive menu. Out back, there is a beautiful deck surrounding a 400-year-old tree, and that's where we enjoyed our dinner tonight.





Then, it was back to the hotel for laundry, laundry, laundry. Tonight is the last night we'll spend in a hotel for a while; it's camping from here-on-out. Padre Island tomorrow.