This post covers the rest of my Sunday outside of the basketball game.
College Station, Texas, Jan. 29 — I started out the day by clinching I-610 in light traffic. I had a little snag after exiting I-10 to get back on 610 to reach US 290, but it worked out. It was much easier to shift five lanes over to get to 290 this time.
The north interchange of I-610 with US 59. Flyover ramps ahoy!
Seven hundred and sixty three! The distance back to El Paso on I-10 is about equal to I-80 from the Wyoming/Nebraska line to the Mississippi River.
The US 290/TX 6 corridor to College Station is all four-lane now. The newness of the pavement (and the 2005 map) show this was not the case when we had come down for the Houston Bowl.
I tripped myself up by thinking I could go to Washington-on-the-Brazos before the basketball game. In retrospect I see how foolish this was. Fortunately, I had a cushion of time, so I spun back around and hightailed it to Reed Arena to see the Iowa State women play Texas A&M.
This “unfinished building owned by a gunsmith” was the site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
I had about a half-hour trip back from College Station to Washington-on-the-Brazos and only an hour left for the visitors center and Star of the Republic Museum. I actually got most of it done, except I didn’t get to see the movie or tour Independence Hall. The museum includes the oldest known Lone Star flag. The grounds stayed open after 5 so I got to wander around the fields that used to be the town.
About all that’s left of Washington, Texas, today is the post office.
I returned to College Station for the night to engage in a part of vacation I usually don’t have to worry about: Figuring out how to cram everything and a winter coat back into a suitcase for a plane flight.