Day Five

I only saw four churches today, but I did cover a lot of ground.  Did I mention that Texas is large.  I started out in Corpus Christi, Texas.  It was a nice drive down to the church along the coast.  The church was nice, but I was attacked by an angry starling outside in the parking lot.  I don't think birds like me - that is by far not the strangest thing that happened today.

From there I went south down 77 towards Brownsville.  77 is very straight and there is nothing around in any direction.  Let me first say that since I got my license I have been pulled over four times - all for silly reasons (like suspicion of going toilet papering!).  So far on this trip - twice.  Unknown to me it is illegal to mount your GPS to the windshield in Texas.  The nice officer pulled me over and asked me a bunch of questions.  I think my story of driving from Ohio to the Mexican border sounded a bit fishy so I had to stand by the cruiser while he searched the car.  He let me off with a warning, but I still do not think that he bought my story.
If you ever get a chance to visit Brownsville - don't.  You know how you hear about those dirty little border towns that are all run down and full of crime - well - that's Brownsville.  I was shocked that my car still had all four tires when I got back from the cathedral.  The church was nice though.  There were dozens of people in and out while I was there.  The Mexican culture appreciates their cathedrals more.

Immaculate Conception Cathedral

Next I followed the Rio Grande River over to San Juan, Texas to a rather ugly modern church with a really long name -  Basilica Of The National Shrine Of Our Lady Of San Juan Del Valle -

The last church of the day was further up the Rio Grande in Laredo.  The Cathedral Of St. Augustine sits on a little square in the old part of the city.  It was tricky talking my way in because everyone in the office spoke Spanish and my Spanish is very very rusty.  I was forced to rely on hand gesturing like I was taking pictures, but it all worked out.  While in Laredo I saw one of the coolest things in the history of ever!  While I was taking pictures of the cross on top of the steeple a large hawk landed on it and proceeded to eat a rather large fish that it was holding.  I took several pictures and some video.  I was much more excited than the other people in the square who were quite indifferent.  I guess they did not realize that it was awesome.  You know - one of reasons that Cortez was able to conquer the Aztecs was when he landed the people saw an eagle on a cactus eating a serpent (the modern day symbol of Mexico) and took it as a sign that Cortes was Quetzalcotl, their god.  I am not saying that Quetzalcotl has returned to Mexico, but you would think that the people in the square that is a half of a mile from Mexico would take their bird signs a bit ore seriously.  I still think it was cool.

On the way out of Laredo I had to stop at a Homeland Security checkpoint.  The guy in the truck in front of me was taken out of the vehicle, handcuffed, and escorted inside after the drug dog started barking at the bed of his truck.  I said it was a strange day.  529 more miles, 4 more churches, 3 more deer, several large raptors that I am going to have to research and identify (the looked like a mix between an eagle and a toucan!), and I saw Mexico for the first time.  Today I was 1472 miles away from the Rec Center.  I am off to San Antonio tomorrow to take some pictures of four missions churches from the 1720s.  I am also trying to fit some of the painted churches into my schedule.  Good night.

Day Four

Finally stopped for the night at a very luxurios Super 8 Motel just north of Corpus Christi Texas.  The day started in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  It got down into the low 40s last night - if I wanted that I could have stayed home.  Anyway - the Cathedral complex in Lake Charles was quite impressive.  I got there about two hours before mass, because I am weird that way, and managed to convince someone to let me in to take pictures.  They are always reluctant at first, I don't make agreat first impression, but eventually they always come around.

Immaculate Conception Cathedral

From there I moved on to Beaumont, Texas.  On the entire trip, Texas is the only state that I am going to for the first time so I was pretty excited.  You don't realise how large Texas is until you experience it.  They are quick to brag about it though.  For example as soon as I entered the state a sign showed the distance to El Paso in west Texas - a quick 877 miles!  That is roughly the distance between Cleveland and Jacksonville, Florida.  It is going to be a long drive through Texas.  Beaumont was another nice complex that I got in early thanks to my Midwestern charm.

St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica

I also take lots of photos inside, but they take forever to load and I am lazy.  Here are some samples from Beaumont:

From Beaumont over to Houston for mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart which was built in 2008 and is kinda boring.  I did run into horrible traffic despite being noon on a Sunday so that was fun.

Next I wandered south to Galveston.  I was looking forward to this stop because there are not alot of oceans in central Ohio.  Even though it is technically the Gulf of Mexico I am calling it an ocean and it is my blog so that's final.  It was weird driving to an island.  The beach was great.  I love the sound of the water.  One of my favorite quotes (I believe I read it in a Matthew Kelly book) is "It is impossible to be an atheist if you grow up near the water, concrete and steel produce atheists not moving water."  Unfortunately the Cathedral in Galveston never rocovered from the hurricane a few years back and is now closed.  I only took pictures from the outside, but the beach made up for it.

St. Mary Cathedral Basilica

My last stop was back inland at Our Lady Of Victory Cathedral in Victoria, Texas.

So that brings the totals to: 1742 miles, 6 states, 13 Diocese, 13 Cathedrals/Basilicas/Churches, numerous deer, birds of all types (took some good pics of a pelican today), a turtle, thousands of cattle (apparently beef is popular in Texas) and I almost ran over a rabbit and then a raccoon in the span of about two minutes (both survived).

Day Three

Spent the night in Natchez, Mississippi.  In the morning I walked down to the Mississippi River.  I could see the remains of the Mardi Gras festivities along the way - beads still hanging from trees, trash in the streets, parade floats along the side streets.  The river was impressive - the Mississippi is one of those things that you just have to stand beside to appreciate.  I shot some video, but it is just not the same.

C.J. wanted pictures of animals and so far this is the best that I can do.  I am no Jack Hanna, but I am pretty sure it is a bird.

Then I went back up the hill for 8 AM Mass at St. Mary Basilica in Natchez, Mississippi.

From Natchez I was off to Louisiana, but unfortunately mother nature thought that I was done taking pictures today.  It poured for the rest of the day.  The entire region was under tornado and flood warning.  I am not normally nervous about flooding, but in Louisiana their floods have alligators in them.  The rest of the day it was a struggle to keep the camera dry.  To add to the problems the entire downtown area of Baton Rouge was closed for a Mardi Gras parade.  I was forced to skip Baton Rouge and head to Thibodaux, Louisiana which if nothing else is fun to say.  I had to pull over twice due to rain and seriously considered building an ark, but I made it.

From there over to Houma, Louisiana and St. Francis DeSales Cathedral.

It was really pouring there and I had a difficult time getting an outside shot - which was too bad because it was an impressive complex.  My last stop was in Lafayette - home of the Ragin Cajuns.  The rain fought me there too, but let up enough that I could take some shots of the above ground cemetary behind the church.  I like cemetaries, which is weird, and above ground graves are somehow creepy and beautiful at the same time.  The graveyards were one of my favorite parts of Paris and Louisiana graveyards have that same feel to them - must be a French thing.

Cathedral of St. John The Evangelist

Despite the weather it was a productive day.  Two states - Mississippi and Louisiana.  Crossed the Mississippi five seperate times on very large, very high bridges during a storm which was pretty cool.  331 more miles today.  So far we have 5 states, 1272 miles, 5 Cathedrals, 1 Co-Cathedral, 1 Pro-Cathedral, 1 Basilica.  Hopefully Mass in Lake Charles tomorrow then off to Texas and hopefully some better weather.  I am going to go find a place to park and sleep in my car - don't tell my mom it makes her nervous.

Day Two

Finally have a chance to sit down and try this whole blog thingy.  I left Columbus after my examines on Thursday.  First I picked up my car from the airport.  If you ever consider renting a car from Budget at the airport - don't.  Horrible customer service - but hey I am on vacation so I will let it go.  Left Columbus around three.  Almost hit a deer in Kentucky - a nice 8 point buck - would have looked good on my wall.  I got pulled over in Tennessee for running a red light - I am certain that it was yellow but I am not good with colors. I got off with a warning - I am pretty charming.  No photos the first day.  Saw three states (Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee), two major rivers (Ohio and Kentucky), 11 deer, and three hawks.

Day two started early in Nashville.  8 AM mass at the Cathedral of the Incarnation.

Nowhere to park in Nashville so I had to walk to St. Mary's - 2.1 miles one way.  My GPS says that I walk an average of 2.7 mph.  Nice walk - Nashville is kinda hilly and I am kinda fat so it was a haul.

While I was downtown in Nashville I stumbled upon a statue of Andrew Jackson at the statehouse.  He is my second favorite president so I ran up the steps Rocky Balboa style and took some pictures.

I left Nashville and wandered over to Memphis - the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

From Memphis I went down to Jackson, Mississippi where they kept the Cathedral open late for me so I could take pictures - those Catholics are good people!

From Jackson I went over to Natchez, Mississippi and got a crappy little hotel room.  Today I drove 570 miles, visited three states (Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana), five rivers (Tennessee, Cumberland, Buffalo, Talahatchie, Mississippi), three deer, and 2 more hawks.

Well I should get some sleep - I am off to Louisiana tomorrow.