Yeeeeeee-haaaaaaaw!

Wednesday 26th July 2006. Houston, Texas, USA.

Howdee pardners, this here's yer ol' buddy Coz with his latest rootin-tootin' update from the great state of Texas. Ok, no-one I've met in Texas actually talks like that but since y'all expected it I had to put that in for ya. My last update saw yours truly rather glum in Asheville, since then I've been a week in Memphis (Tennessee) and now several days in Houston (Texas). Memphis was a pretty decent place, I was staying in a really nice hotel that was dirt cheap and I got to see quite a few interesting places too. The Civil Rights Museum is built inside the motel where Martin Luther King was shot and the pictures and exhibits are a powerful testimomy of man's inhumanity to his fellow man. A particularly poignant part of the museum is the preserved room (#306) that MLK stayed in before he was shot (right outside the room). Of course, it seemed that only 1% of Memphis tourists were visiting the Civil Rights Museum - the other 99% were visiting the home of the king. When I got to Graceland I was greeted by a massive queue, it turns out that was just the queue for the bus for people who already had tickets - the queue for tickets was twice as long! It was at that point that a little voice inside my head questioned why I was there - I'm certainly no Elvis fan! So, I crossed the road to the famous gates and peered over the Graceland wall at the grounds and house along with some Elvis fans from below the poverty line! Then I left and headed back to downtown to do something I really wanted to do instead. The boat (a kind of fake paddle-steamer) trip on the Mississippi river was very interesting and you got a very good sense of the history behind it. It only covered ten of the 2300 miles total length of the Mississippi but it still took a couple of hours! Memphis was also extremely HOT - every day the temperature rose to a range around 98-102*F and the high humidity made it feel even hotter. There was no cloud cover to block the intense sunshine so plenty of respect had to be given to the conditions.

I arrived in Houston last Friday and have been staying with my good friends Tony and Fabiola. Tony is one of my three Texan internet buddies who I'd never actually met in person before, so meeting-up with him, Carl and Keith has been great fun. I certainly could get used to the Texan hospitality too - I've got a nice place to stay in, free internet and the food is fantastic too! They even took me to a swanky Mexican restaurant to celebrate my birthday last Tuesday and the Mexican band there played 'happy birthday to Colin' in Spanish! I know I'm sounding like a major-league Moocher but... uhhh... I suppose I am! While I've been in Houston I've had a chance to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center and see mission control and the mighty Saturn 5 rocket there. I've also taken a ride down to Galveston and seen the Gulf of Mexico. I also got to go to the shooting range with my buddy Tony and fire a .357 Magnum and a couple of other guns. Once they pointed me in the direction of the targets and the police left I didn't do too badly! You can admire my 1st effort at 45-feet with the Magnum in the gallery. So, a special thanks to my pals here in Houston - they've made my stay here very special indeed and I've had a great time with them, but now I face the difficult transistion back to travelling alone. Next stop is Flagstaff in Arizona, it's not far to the Grand Canyon and other amazing sights so hopefully that'll take my mind off missing my friends. Until next time, adios mi amigos!