July 16-18, 2001: Travel Page 3

Following the shuttle launch, I stayed in Florida for a couple of days watching the shuttle dock to the International Space Station and got ready to make my habitually compressed cross country drive back to San Diego.  Since the best time to make good time is when other drivers are sleeping, I started out from Cocoa, Florida, around midnight Eastern time on the 16th.

On this first day of driving, I had decided to try to get to the Houston, Texas, area; one of the things I did to keep myself amused was to take pictures on the road: 

Getting ready to leave -- gas at the Amoco station by the Cocoa Ramada (I-95, Exit 76)	the Pensacola, Florida area	approaching Mobile, Alabama

I-10 West in Lake Charles, Louisiana	Last gas stop off I-10 West in West Louisiana

I pulled off Interstate 10 in Baytown, Texas, which is a little east of the Houston Loop, to get some sleep before shoving off again overnight.  Early the next morning, the 17th, I started the long drive across Texas on Interstate 10 West, through Houston and San Antonio, on through El Paso.  From there, the rest of the drive took me through southern New Mexico and Arizona, where I hit Interstate 8 just north of Tucson. 

Starting the second day in Baytown, Texas	Dawn in the middle of Texas -- mostly, it looks like this	approaching a bit of monsoon moisture in New Mexico

More rain -- a bit west of where Interstate 8 peels off from Interstate 10

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way my windshield took a fatal hit from road debris.  I didn't notice a crack until I was almost home -- at my last gas stop in Yuma (the curvy line among the bug kill below).  

By the time I got home, the crack had grown too long to repair and subsequently the whole windshield was replaced...

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Last Revised: 11 December 2001
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