Out of the Blue and through 16 lanes of traffic

 Hola Amigos!

We both woke up feeling fine this morning, despite the 3 am sleep interruption by a motorbike in the parking lot. Seriously, who revs a bike engine, in a parking lot at 3 am? I could have throttled him, pardon the pun.

We hit the road early so we could do a bit of bird nerding at Arsansas National Wildlife Refuge on our way through. What a magnificent park, right on the Gulf coast. 

Not going to lie, the fact that you could see the gator tracks throughout the walkway was a bit unnerving. Regardless, I only had to be able to out run Steph. We saw quite a few gators and marvelled at the fact that the ducks, birds, turtles and frogs seemed to hang out in the same spaces. I am sure they make for a tasty meal when they least expect it. 

Cute, right?

The park had several walking trails and then a one way auto loop at the end, with an active Eagle's nest. We could not see them close enough to identify the species and did not think to ask. 

It was a great way to break up the day of driving and gave us a good stretch. Nice to get your steps in, even if you are on the road. 

Uh-oh!

   Our day passed pretty quickly and we decided to aim to go beyond  Houston, since it was Sunday afternoon. We liked the odds of there being less traffic and it turned out to be a good plan. Now when I say less traffic, I have no concept of what to compare it too but I am left to assume it must be way worse during the weekdays. The road system is unlike anything I have driven before. Smack dab through the centre of Houston, on the freeway.  We avoided the toll road, used Waze and of course I had to turn the music off so I could see. LOL! Steph and Dolly waltzed through the traffic without issue. I, on the other hand,  do not understand why the brake pedal on my side does not work. At one point there were 7 lanes of traffic going each way, but alas, I kept my mouth shut and continued to try to operate my brake pedal. 

He survived

We settled in to our hotel and are planning our route for tomorrow. We have about 3500km behind us, by land and I have no idea how many nautical miles it is from Roatan to La Ceiba. We have figured that we are a little more than halfway home. I am missing not having my camera with me, but Steph has been good at sharing his. 

We keep forgetting to take our little Buhos out of the truck when we stop. Today we remembered to bring them along for a photo op by the alligator swamp. I dare say they were the only things the mosquitos did not try to eat. Man, when they say everything is bigger in Texas, they are talking about the mosquitos! Land Sake!

Until tomorrow, 

Gigi