Trucks and barbecue.

"I like y'all accent," the woman at the window said to Ali. She gave us the ticket for our order and waved us toward the pickup spot.
"I like your earrings," I wanted to say. They were shaped like Longhorns, the mascot of the University of Texas. But there was a long line of people behind us, waiting for their lunch.

You would have lined up too if you could smell it

Lunch in Beaumont was our second stop that day. Austin was behind us before the sun had crested the horizon. Our Nissan Versa struggled and strained to reach the speed limit of the Texan highways (between 60 and 75 mph) but once it got there it ticked over pretty nicely.

Highway photo

Not that you would know it as the constant flow of trucks and SUVs overtook us, hurrying on their way to wherever Texans are always speeding to get to. Pretty soon the houses melted away into fields and we were out in Texas proper.

That big sky they're always talking about is a real thing; with no hills or features to break the view, the horizon runs in a clear line the whole way around. Every way you look there's clear sky.

An extra lane joined the highway, and another. Support roads and on ramps were tributaries which fed more traffic into our flow. Explorers on a great river, we knew all that water had to be going to an ocean somewhere. The ocean was Houston.

Not enough highways in your life? Come to Houston!

Just yesterday we met a couple from Oklahoma who told us they have to drive through Houston once a year to get to Galveston. They said that it doesn't matter when you go through, what day or night, the traffic is always bad in Houston.

We were in town long enough to stop and buy some comfy clothes from a Sports Authority. Then we threw ourselves back into the current of the traffic, looking for away across and toward our next stop in Beaumont.

And lunch. (Watch out for the autoplay on that link)

Our Versa crunched along the gravel and every person in line turned to watch us approach. This was not, we realised, a regular tourist spot.

The looks were not hostile, just curious, and might have been as much about the car as its occupants. It certainly looked out of place between the Rams and F150s, a pony among the destriers.

We ordered ribs and beef combo and a "big ol' baked potato."

That's the potato on the left.

I'm not going to mess around. It might be, to this day, the best thing I have ever eaten.

We sat on the porch and ate with the glee of hungry people who have been given good food and no rules. We ate with our hands and with our fork. We traded dishes and traded again. Little was said.

Once we were done (not finished; no way would could have eaten that potato) we found the source of the smell. The smoke-house was out back, its aroma democratically spread throughout Beaumont, calling the people for links plus ribs cooked in delicious carcinogens.

God bless America.

In retrospect anywhere we went after that was going to be a disappointment. We crossed the border into Louisiana and were struck by the change in scenery. Louisiana is made of swamps and steel. The highway ran through miles of green punctuated by oil refineries.

At Lake Charles

It was cold in Lake Charles when we stopped for photos. We were cold in the photos.

Me being cold in a photo

With little to keep us there we hurried on to Lafayette. Part of the Acadian region and the center of Cajun Louisiana, Lafayette seemed like a good place to stop over on our elongated trip to New Orleans.

Across the intersection from our hotel was a little bar that we figured was worth a shot. We had our first gumbo, drank delicious beers and met some of the nicest people. The hospitality was what really took us by surprise. The staff were nice, people at the bar struck up conversation. A couple sitting next to us had just returned from New Orleans and gave us a list of things to do while we were in the city.

The gumbo and the bar were fantastic but for me the real take away was discovering that Louisiana has a thriving craft-beer industry. I had expected to switch out of beer-tasting mode when we crossed the state border.

Happy to be wrong.

Keep Austin weird.

On the off-chance that the weather cleared up we went to get some photos of Austin. Our car would be ready for pick-up at midday, so we used the morning to head north and catch some of the tourist must-sees.

Just a few blocks from where we were staying was the Texas capitol building. And, as it happened, a bit of blue sky.

Pretty.

Over the hill - actually a quick deviation, despite everything being bigger in Texas, the hills are not. They are wide, but not tall or steep. Anyway.

Over the hill was the University of Texas. We had a stroll to/through the campus. It is dominated by the stadium, home of the Texas Longhorns.

Team colour - baby-pooh brown.

Another $1 each and we were heading out to the airport to get our car. It came with a GPS unit and we plugged in a street in South Congress and she decided to take us into the back streets of Austin down a series of dirt roads in the opposite direction to where we wanted to be.

A few more false starts and we were on our way to SoCo where we wanted to find lunch. The first thing which took our fancy was Guero's Taco Bar and, five minutes later, they had a table for us and, ten minutes after that, some tamales and some tacos.

We had a pretty good time.

We did not feel like we had eaten a lot of food but it hit the stomach like a rock. With this weight of Mexican food lying inside we had to go for a walk along South Congress. A day before, the gentleman at the tourist center had told us that SoCo was the what people referred to when they said 'keep Austin weird.' It was an entertaining walk.

I have a lot more photos of signs.

Before we set out we made an agreement; if we walked the whole of South Congress, we got a cupcake from the trailer we passed on our way down.

You would stop too.

We got six. They sold a sampler pack with a miniature version of every type of cupcake. 'Great for indecisive people,' the cupcake guy told us.

With our tiny cupcakes in hand we dropped our car back at the hotel for the night.

We would soon learn that in Texas, this was a very small car.

There was still plenty of time left in the afternoon. We went running along the Colorado (in the opposite direction to the previous day) in the hope there would be some nice photo opportunities. It stayed overcast but otherwise it was perfect weather for running. And there were a lot of bridges to cross (and take photos from).

Even in the middle of the day the water was so still.

The path along the river was great for running - flat and straight, wide enough to let people pass so everyone could go at their own pace. We crossed to run on both sides.

Back toward downtown.

The run served another purpose; we wanted to have dinner on sixth before we left. Running had added an edge to our appetite and we set off for the hotel to get ready.

'Twinkle twinkle lonestar.' Ah, corporate art.

The "Gotham Building," as Ali called it, had been a feature of our trip and we needed a photo before we went.

Every city has one.

Dinner was at the Chupacabra Cantina where we had great jalapeño poppers (stuffed with pulled pork!) and the best beer I have had this trip.

Yeah they were fried.

Outside we took our last walk through down-town in Austin. A cool town, easy to chill out, a great way to relax for a few days. We packed before we went to bed so we could get away early and take our time driving to Louisiana.

Lights along the street

History is funk.

The best part of Pittsburgh was leaving.  I don't say that to sound rude; I don't know that much about the place and we didn't stay long.  We left at dawn, and as we headed north we were able to watch the mist burning off in the valleys beneath us.

The view leaving Pittsburgh.

We made for Michigan, our destination for the day being the Ford Museum in Detroit, and a night in Ann Arbor.

The club disembarks for breakfast.

My skepticism regarding the great lakes ("Really, how great could the be?") was completely abolished when we reached the banks of Lake Erie.  It goes on forever.  I have seen smaller seas.

A lighthouse on Lake Erie.

The coast of Lake Erie

I was also skeptical about the Ford Museum, but it was on the Talk's must-see list, so we drove to the outskirts of Detroit.  I am glad he won on this, because the museum was very much worth our time.

Regan's Lincoln

Kennedy's Lincoln

Eisenhower's Lincoln

Franklin Roosevelt's Lincoln

Teddy Roosevelt's carriage.

Bugatti

The name of the museum is quite deceptive, as it is not dedicated to the life and times of Henry Ford.  He founded the museum, and named it for Thomas Edison.  The name was changed after Ford's death.

Canadian snow plow.

It's a museum dedicated to American spirit and ingenuity.  There was a fascinating section on the American war of independence and the civil rights movement.

A massive train.

I spent the most time in the aerospace section, reading about the pioneers of flight.

The recreated Wright brothers plane, with original canvas.

We were all enchanted by Ann Arbor.  It was our first college town of the trip, and it got us hooked.  Everyone was so friendly, Ann Arbor itself is beautiful.  The concept of a whole town built around a university campus was completely foreign to us, but once we had seen it it made total sense.

I think we will seek them out as we continue to travel.