{"id":1196,"date":"2012-02-07T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T18:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/?p=1196"},"modified":"2012-02-05T13:40:39","modified_gmt":"2012-02-05T19:40:39","slug":"texas-day-6-slowing-down-and-speeding-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/2012\/02\/texas-day-6-slowing-down-and-speeding-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Day 6: Slowing down and speeding up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston, Texas, Jan. 28 \u2014 <\/strong>With some time on my hands, I had the chance to visit one San Antonio attraction I hadn’t done earlier in the week, the Tower of the Americas. Ironically for me, I was there too early and had to wait until it opened. After it did, I spent time looking at the history displays at the top and the skyline outside, although it was too windy to be in the outer portion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nTower of the Americas<\/em><\/p>\n

But as I headed north, the GPS’s frontage road issues bit me again. I spent 15 minutes getting on and off TX Loop 1604 before finally arriving for a dinner meeting \u2014 only to find that plan needed its own audible. Texas Roadhouse in Texas? How meta.<\/p>\n

Going north, the sprawl never really stopped. It was at least three lanes one way the whole way to Austin. I filled up in San Marcos, then made my way right past the hotel I stayed at my first two nights and right back southward on US 183 toward I-10. While this may seem counterintuitive, it accomplished my major goal: I have now traveled all of I-35 in Texas and have it continuously from its south end to Wyoming, Minnesota, excluding both I-35E routes. (Des Moines to Austin, excluding that portion not part of the Kansas Turnpike, was almost entirely covered in one shot with the Houston Bowl trip.)<\/p>\n

On US 183, there is construction to build a freeway and bypass of Lockhart<\/a>. Traffic is currently on what will become the frontage roads. This confused the GPS at times, showing me “off” but running parallel to 183. I don’t know if this should count as traveling the route or not.<\/p>\n

Southeast of Luling, US 90 splits off from US 183 just before I-10, something that is not shown on AAA or RMcN maps, probably because it’s so close it IS the frontage road. At the interchange is a truck stop called “Buc-ee’s,” which has a beaver mascot and (in)appropriate merchandise sold inside.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n On to Houston!<\/em><\/p>\n

As I got onto I-10, I saw the “Speed Limit 75” signs that had been put up less than 24 hours earlier<\/a> \u2014 and was promptly tailgated by four drivers in succession for doing precisely that.<\/p>\n

Colorado County crossed my 40% threshold for the entire country.<\/p>\n

At Exit 735, there were four things of note: I-10 becomes six lanes here; the speed limit drops to 65; there is a ghost ramp in the median; and the rest area that was supposed to be three miles back doesn’t exist.<\/p>\n

I pulled off at the last exit before the sprawl really hit to inquire into a hotel and was told that a room would be held for me for a few hours. With darkness setting in, I decided going straight there was the best thing to do. I-10 rapidly expanded in lanes and traffic (this is Saturday at 6, mind you), but I made the exits to the hotel safely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Houston, Texas, Jan. 28 \u2014 With some time on my hands, I had the chance to visit one San Antonio attraction I hadn’t done earlier in the week, the Tower of the Americas. Ironically for me, I was there too … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trip-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1205,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196\/revisions\/1205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}