After a few days in Austin, we headed out towards Houston, TX. We have been here for about 3 days, and we have done a lot! The first day, we spent here, we ran into a little bit of trouble. We realized that one of our tires was leaking air, but after a quick stop at Wingfoot commercial tires (which by the way hooked us up) we were off and ready. We headed straight for Galveston, a beach town on the Gulf of Mexico. We were all pretty excited being that it would be our first time swimming in anything west of the Pacific, and to our surprise, the beaches here are much different than what we west coast kids are used to. As we drove along the strand, we saw that every strip of sand was covered in this brown seaweed and the water was very murky. We didn’t want this to discourage us from our first chance at the Gulf so we decided to stop on the side of the road and head out into the brown water. We threw the 89 Camry in Park and all opened our doors at the same time with much excitement. As soon as we got the first whiff of the hot humid air, we immediately all yelled OHHHHHHH! It was quite possibly the worst smelling place on this earth. We don’t want to know what was rotting in the seaweed that covered the beach, so After about 17 seconds of laughing and sitting with the doors open, we shut our doors and continued on our drive along the main drag in Galveston. We took a free ferry across the water to a peninsula that had some nicer beaches that didn’t stink as much and had a fun first experience in the Gulf of Mexico. Later that evening, we also had another first. Our first stay at an R.V. park. It was amazing to have running water, a free hot shower, and access to laundry, shuffle boards, air hockey, and a pool table.

The next day, we went to the Space Center at NASA and the Sam Houston Race Tracks. I don’t know if ya’ll know this, but working at NASA is my dream so I was loving everything about our trip over there. They let us see historic Mission Control where all the missions to space were monitored until 1996. We also got to see the Saturn V rocket which was unbelievable. It was longer than a football field with half of its length dedicated to an engine, well 5 huge engines, that propels the rocket for the first 2.5 min of flight and then is discarded into the Atlantic Ocean. That is an expensive hunk of metal that is just tossed into the Atlantic. Basically, the Space Center was awesome; they even let us touch a peice of moon rock, so now, eBUS live has officially been to the moon and back. After we spent many hours at the Space Center, we headed off to the Race Tracks. We had an awesome time betting on horses and being a part of the atmosphere of the races. Following the race, there was a Jason Aldean concert in the infield of the race track. Stephen and Lieu bought tickets to go inside, but Carson and I sat outside and enjoyed the concert from further away. I only knew a few of his songs, but it was still fun to be a part of another country concert in Texas.

Today we meet some of Carson’s mom’s friends, Annette and Larry, for lunch. I guess they had not seen Carson since he was about 5, so I am sure it was fun for them to reunite again. They were very nice people and gave us a lot of advice about how to avoid storms. They also paid for lunch, so if you’re reading this Annette and Larry, thanks again! After we meet up for lunch, we went to the Water Wall and the Beer Can House which were both near the restaurant. The Water Wall was nice, Lieu even climbed it which was quite a spectacle. The Beer Can House was interesting, but a little overrated. Stephen really enjoyed it though, so I guess it was all worth it. We are now back at the bus, doing a little work before we head off to Louisiana this evening. The pictures are updated of all our fun activities in Houston, so check them out!

-Ashley