Someone once asked me jokingly, “What’s the best thing coming out of Texas?” I was stumped. Then he finished the joke, “The I-10.” Texas isn’t really that bad. It has lots to offer, including great beaches, good surf, and pleasant weather.
I’m back in 90 degree weather, lying on the beach, and playing in the Gulf of Mexico here on South Padre Island at the southern tip of the great state of Texas. It’s been such a hard-knock trip so far, paddling new rivers everyday and driving across the United States that we decided to take some R&R on the beaches of southern Texas. Actually, it hasn’t been that hard but I’m just trying to present my current position with a little sympathy for all of you stuck up in the snowy north.
Since we departed the tiny town of Davidson, Quebec, at the end of September, we’ve traveled across the United States and finished the American content our road trip. For the past three weeks we drove from Quebec and Ontario through NewYork, Pennsylvannia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippii, Louisiana, and Texas. Along the way we paddled the Youghiogheney, Gauley, Nantahala, New, and Ocoee Rivers as well as some big wave ocean paddling in the Gulf of Mexico, just off Mustang Island. We cross the border to Mexico on Friday through a town called McAllen into Reynoso and continue the Mexican portion of our road trip with our final destination being the small town of Jalcomulco in the state Veracruz.
The trip has been amazing so far. My skills have improved substantially in all whitewater disciplines and my cultural hoizons have been broadened by interacting with locals in many small American towns. No, really, I’m not joking about that. Traveling through the Appalachians is all about experiencing part of the United States that no one really knows about. Its quite interesting and very beautiful. The trip is only going to get better. The weather is now amazing, my tan is very well developed, and we still have so much more paddling to do.
