Day 15 - Austin, TX Day 3

Today the track opened at 8am. We decided that we did not need to get there right when it opened given the previous day’s smaller crowds. We left the hotel around 8am. The morning temps were a bit chilly again at 54F. When we arrived at the track the parking lot was pretty empty and we were able to park up front as on Friday. 

The official name for the race is MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas. It started with the first three Free Practice (FP) sessions that we watched from our seats at Turn 15. Funny thing, we went to our seats from yesterday, but the docent said we were in the wrong section! We were nine sections too far over to the right. The ticket reads T15-6 which means turn15, section 6, not section 15-16. We walked back and found our seats. They were actually even better of a view, more to the left facing the braking zone for turn 15 so we could see the riders head on. We could also see more of the back straight in the far left of the photo below. We picked our seats months ago, so we didn't remember the exact location in the stands. 

This track, unlike Indy and Assen, checked for assigned seats both Friday and Saturday. 

After the three classes had completed their FP3 sessions, we walked over to turn 6 and set up our chairs in the shadow of a crane truck being used as an elevated platform for a TV camera. 

We watched the two qualifying sessions for Moto2 and MotoGP Free Practice 4 and both qualifying sessions. The wind had started to pick up at this point. It was the warmest day in the upper 80s with no cloud cover, so the wind was welcomed for the temps though it made tricky track conditions for the racers. We needed to check in for our track lap at around 4:30pm which was shortly after the last qualifying session for Moto3. We packed up our chairs and watched Moto3 qualifying from our seats at turn 15.

The qualifying sessions were really good. The races tomorrow should be a good show. Andrea Mingo is on pole for Moto3, Cameron Beaubier (an American) in on pole for Moto2, and for MotoGP, Jorge Martin is on pole. The crowds cheered loudly for Cameron. 

After Moto3 qualifying, we made our way back to the bike and figured out where to check in for our track lap. We pre-registered online signing waivers, so we quickly got our wrist tags for the event. Rob convinced them to let us take the trailer on the track! He said since we drove it all the way from Virginia, it can handle this track. They kind of didn't really know what to do about the trailer and Rob said it's the same width of the bike. They looked at each other and said ok, as long as it can make turns. We thought that was funny! Since the bikes would not be lining up until 6pm, we moved the bike near the line-up location and hung out for the next hour and a half.

Around 6pm, they started to line everyone up. We got in line and over the next hour, we would crawl and wind our way through the parking lot traffic. They organized us out onto the main circuit road where we waited again for regular traffic. Many of the guys around us had sport bikes that radiated the heat from the  engine right up at them. They also sit very close to the hot exhaust pipes which also add to their discomfort when sitting still in traffic. They were sweating and burning up sitting there. Rob's Goldwing doesn't have this issue, as the radiators are huge and the fans blows the hot air forward. Around 7pm, we finally got started on our parade lap that was escorted. We entered the track at turn 6. The Garmin GPS promptly told us we were going the wrong way! I guess Garmin doesn’t know that this track is counter-clockwise. Michele got video of the whole lap. Ask her and she'll show it to you!

It was a very leisurely pace that took us about 7 minutes to complete at 30 mph. The MotoGP riders lap this 4.3mile track in about 2’03” at speeds that get over 200 mph! It was really fun going around turns 12-15 where our seats are located. Rob commented at how much tighter some of the turns are than they appear from the seats. The track was also very clean, no debris along the sides. Before this year, this track had a lot of significant dips and bumps due to ground settlement issues below the surface. The riders complained last year that they would not be back unless it was entirely dug up and fixed. The track was improved and resurfaced in a long section. Rob said he didn't notice any bumps from the comfort of his Goldwing! 

As we rode down the front straight past the Grandstands, the lady who would be singing the National Anthem on Sunday was practicing in the middle of the track. We all moved to the right, then started heading up that steep turn 1. Michele was surprised it wasn't nearly as steep going up it as it looked from the Grandstand area. The downhill side of turn 2  was super fun, but would be scary at racing speeds! 

We got back to the hotel area at about 7:30pm. We decided to make a quick stop at the pizza place we ate at on Thursday to order a pizza and salad to go. 

Today was a really long day but so fun. The wait in line for the track lap was worth it and riding the track was the highlight of our day. Tomorrow is race day!

Day 14 - Austin, TX Day 2

The Circuit of the Americas track parking opened at 9am and gates at 9:30am. When we woke temps were mid 40s and 56 when we hit the road. We bundled up in our jacket liners for the ride over. 

Usually Fridays are much less crowded at the track since it is just all practice sessions. We got in our lot D just fine and front parking spots were open. Rob noticed a 1987 Honda Hurricane parked next to us. He had this same bike as his first bike, but his had the 1988 bodywork. It is a rare-ish bike now. 

We got through the gates just fine using the mobile ticketing system. In the Grand Plaza everyone is greeted by this huge metal monster in a pond that breathes fire. They were changing out his propane when we arrived.

We found our grandstand, turn 15, and walked up to our seats. Michele was happy that the seats were plastic seats, not metal bleachers. They had backs to them and were more comfortable than bleacher style seats. Our seats are in a really good section to see the action. We can see everything from the back straight coming into turn 12 all through the entrance of turn 16, plus a few other areas in the distance up the hill. The scoreboard and a big screen were also in front of us. 

We watched MotoGP and Moto3 first practice sessions. After the MotoGP session, Michele walked back out to the bike because Rob forgot his earplugs. It is very loud when the bikes are on the track! While she walked back, a stunt biker was doing big aerials on his stunt bike. 

After the morning sessions, we walked around to the other side of the track and got lunch. It's a bit of a hike to get over there, across two pedestrian bridges over the track. Then we hiked up the hill over to see steep turns 1 and 2, and then to turns 3-5 in the serpentine section. A few riders got a bit squirrely coming out of the steep downhill. At the end of the day we sat at turns 17-18. There were MotoAmerica practices, but we were too tired to stay for those, and the sun had been on us all day. Rob was the photographer today and took 1,500 photos.

We thought it was really funny that a fan brought his Lamborghini with his camper. We're pretty sure he didn't pull the camper behind it. The RV site is at the back of the track facing a long straight track section between turns 2 and 3. 

View of the approach up the steep hill looking on the front straight. The main grandstands are the white building at the far left. The hill doesn't look as steep in this view. The distinctive observation tower is to the right.

After turn 1 (a hairpin left turn), they head down the hill into turn 2 (a long and fast right hander).

Tomorrow is a long day of more practice sessions, then qualifying in the afternoon. We finish with our parade lap starting at 6:30pm. 

Day 13 - Austin, TX Day 1

Today we had just three objectives: go to the track to check the route for the weekend, pick up our parade lap tickets and do laundry. We had breakfast around 8:30. Our hotel, the Fairfield Inn, has a really good free breakfast. We got out the door around 9:45. 

We picked a route to the track that avoided the toll roads. The route was pretty straight forward and only took about 25 minutes. When we arrived at the track we were not entirely sure where we needed to pick up the tickets. The track map was not so helpful. We made an assumption that the front entrance of the grandstands would be the place to start. We saw a door to the main office, but the only folks around were busy setting up booths and had no idea where the ticket office might be. After wandering around the grand stand area for 30 minutes and getting frustrated, Michele left a voicemail with the sales guy that she spoke with last week to buy the parade lap tickets. He called her back after about 5 minutes and said the ticket booth is open between parking lots B and D. We hopped back on the bike, rode over to lot D and found the ticket booth. We got our parking passes and confirmed the correct lot where we would be parking for the weekend, which is lot D, upgraded with our parade lap ticket. As a side note, while wandering around, Michele peeked inside the track and could not believe how steep turn one is!  On TV it looks much flatter. 

With tickets in hand, we made our way over to the laundromat called the Washateria just a few miles from our hotel. It had good reviews for being clean and a newer facility. On the way, we stopped at a Subway and got lunch since we would be awhile at the laundromat. Michele went inside to order and a man in line asked about our Goldwing. He said he has a “hot rod yellow” Goldwing. He went in the showroom, got one look at it and signed the papers on the spot. 

Off to the laundromat. Michele forgot to bring a roll of quarters on this trip so she quickly learned how heavy $20 in quarters is. There were plenty of available machines of various load sizes and we filled up two. We went back outside and Rob suggested we move the bike since we were downwind from a guy smoking in his SUV. He moved the bike upwind at the other end of the parking lot row. We set up our camping table and tried out our new lightweight REI chairs (comfy!). Rob noticed that there was shade at the side of the building. We moved everything once again since we had another 30 mins left on the dryers. Here’s our fancy setup at the side of the convenience store!

Today Michele wanted to visit Lake Travis recommended by Ange and Dan, but we just didn’t have enough time. We will keep it on the list for the next trip. 

With all that done, it was after 2pm, so we just relaxed back at the hotel and watched movies on TV until dinner. We walked over to Double Dave’s for pizza. Their garden salad was really good also. Texas is in the 5% range for covid infection rates so that is a big improvement over the past month. We are surprised that more people wear masks in Texas than they did in either Alabama or Louisiana. After dinner, Rob watched pre-race interviews by the MotoGP racers on TV. 

We have a busy three days ahead at the track with practice sessions, qualifying, our parade lap on Saturday, and the races on Sunday. MotoGP has three classes of racing, and there are support races this weekend with MotoAmerica and North American Talent Cup races, so the schedule is packed all day long. We usually walk around the track, visit vendor booths, and take pictures from different track sections. There will be more pictures tomorrow. 

Day 12 - San Antonio to Austin, TX

Our route today was all about the journey, taking us through parts of the Texas Hill Country. Our mileage was 370 miles, ultimately bringing us into Austin. After yesterday's scorching temps, we dressed for the predicted 78 high temps for the day. Once we hit the road before 8:30am, we quickly realized that the very gusty winds were quite cold out of the north. We began the day on I10 in rush hour traffic, but it was moving. We turned off to TX-16 West and traffic was much more sparse. The scenery started to change to scrubby trees on the outer suburbs of the city. 

After 30 more minutes, we were both cold and also needed to fuel up the bike. We stopped at a gas station that was also a market and taxidermy business. It was much nicer than it sounds, and clean. Michele put on a fleece and her windproof jacket liner. Rob stayed with what he had on. A decision he would regret as the temps never warmed up. We would both have been better off with jeans instead of shorts under our riding pants, and possibly the heated jacket. We didn't realize that we ride a majority of the day above 1,500 feet maxing out at 2,300 feet, all while the wind was super gusty. Despite being a bit chilly at times, the scenery was amazing! 

We were not expecting so many curvy roads and low mountains. After so much highway driving on this trip, it was a nice change to have some twisty roads. 

This is the Guadalupe River that we crossed over and rode parallel to for awhile. In places it was emerald green in color. 

During our ride we had to stop for some construction work. While waiting on the pilot truck to escort us, of group of 7 motorcyclists caught up with us.

As soon as we got through the construction, Rob pulled to the right side of the road and waved the on by. We didn't want to hold them up on their ride.

We came across this field of flowers. We believe they were blue bonnets. Looking it up later, we think it is part of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center. It looks like a neat place to visit if we come back.  

At Noon we stopped for lunch at Rio Ranch Cafe in Kerrville. It was definitely a local favorite as the parking lot was busy as was inside. As we pulled up, Michele noticed a SUV pulled up in front of another taxidermy business that was across the parking lot. On a platform in front of the grille was a gigantic turkey! We assume they were having it stuffed. Inside, we found a table and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with sauteed mushrooms and melted Swiss, and the tomatoes and lettuce were fresh. Service was quick and attentive. We would definitely eat there again. After lunch a man asked if we rode the bike from Virginia. His son lives in Norfolk. He invited us to visit the saloon he owns “on the highway” but we forgot the name and didn’t know which highway he meant. 

Rob put on his windproof liner after lunch as the temps were still below 70F. A little before 1pm, we were back on the road, continuing along the Hill Country Trail. 

We found Utopia on today's ride.

We also saw the Bandera county court house.

We saw quite a few wineries around Fredricksburg. The number of wineries reminded us of all the wineries that have been growing in Northern VA. Looks like Texas is trying to put their mark on the winery business also. There were also a few impressive breweries and a vodka distillery.

Michele likes looking at the names of the ranch gates. The ones so far on the trip she's liked best are Broken Horn Ranch and Two Toes Ranch. Rob asked what happened to the other eight toes? 

Today we saw a new animal of the trip - buffalo! 

We also saw a Stonehenge like structure.

About 45 minutes from our hotel, traffic really started picking up as we approached Austin. We pulled into our hotel in Buda, Tx (pronounced Byooda according to Rob’s coworkers) at about 3:30pm. We checked in and rested a bit before walking over to the Cracker Barrel for dinner. Michele saw a billboard for chicken and dumplins’ at the beginning of the trip and it’s been on her mind ever since. She ordered the Wednesday special instead, baked chicken and cheesy broccoli. 

Tomorrow we will do errands and maybe a little sightseeing. 

Day 11 - Houston to San Antonio, TX

Today’s ride was relatively short at about 245 miles so we did not need all day. We decided to head out a bit earlier than planned since the temps were forecasted to be in the mid-90s in San Antonio. The bike cover was fairly dry from the previous day’s rain so Rob only needed to dry off the trailer and clean the bike’s windshield. We were rolling out of the hotel parking lot at 8:23am (Michele remembered the departure time exactly).

The temperature was around 70F and there was a low marine layer of clouds. The clouds kept the temperature down and did not lift until we stopped for lunch. We traveled around the south western edge of Houston making our way to I69 then to Alt US90. We decided to stick to the highway today as they tend to be less busy than the Interstate and are just about as fast.

We saw lots of cattle today. White ones, black ones, and some with big horns. Most of the route took us through rural farms and farming communities. Crops had just been planted for corn and many fields were freshly tilled. We rode through occasional pungent aromas of fertilizer. 

We saw this cool car today.

And how about this house’s design?

We were constantly passing trucks pulling what looked like grain trailers. We saw this fun looking park in Sheridan, TX. We bet Annabelle and Amelia would love sliding down those big water slides.

We continued on Alt US90 into Hallettsville for our planned lunch stop. We rode 150 miles non-stop making good time with little to no traffic. It was about 11am and when we pulled up next to the restaurant, it was clearly no longer in business. 

We did a quick search on the GPS and found a Subway about 10 miles further along Alt US90 in Shiner (the cleanest small city in Texas, or so the town claims). 

Before we got to Shiner, we made a stop at the Statue of Liberty, a bit smaller than her sister in NYC.  We thought everything in Texas was bigger?

We made it to the Subway at about 11:30 and had our lunch. The town looked like an old western town. Many buildings are vacant. It was pretty clean there, though. 

After lunch, we topped off the Wing with gas. While at the gas station the below truck pulling a trailer full of cows turned the corner. As it passed by, one of the cows belted out a very loud “Mooooooo”. It was loud enough that we both clearly heard it even with our ear plugs in!

Back on the road, our final destination was only about 90 minutes away from Shiner. We saw this interesting sign….we don’t have any Wild Hogs now to sell, but if we do… 

We successfully navigated the I10 to I410 to I35 exchanges, which was a concrete jungle of overpasses, and made it to the hotel in San Antonio right at 2pm. 

At 3:45pm we walked one mile through two shopping areas from our hotel to the Flying Saucer restaurant and pub. We met up with about 10 of Rob’s former LMI co-workers and a few spouses from the San Antonio office. For many of them it was the first social event they had attended since Covid-19. We chatted, ate good food, and had a fun time getting to know each other. The pub puts people’s names on gold plates when they complete 200 unique beers. One of the coworkers had a plate! 

We got back to our hotel room at 9pm. Tomorrow we take a ride through part of Texas hill country on our way to Austin.

Day 10 - Space Center Houston

Continuing one of our trip themes of space, we were super excited to get over to the Space Center Houston today. The hotel had cleared out from the weekend and the breakfast area had more food options. We were out the door and on the bike at 9:30am. We fueled up the bike and got to the Space Center right at 10am when they opened. It is just a few miles from our hotel on the same NASA Road 1. 

Rob learned that the center has an app whereby you can reserve a spot for the tram tours that take you to the working campus of Johnson Space Center. In the parking lot the bluetooth becomes available and we could view the two tour options: Mission Control tour and Astronaut Training Facility/Rocket Park. We chose Mission Control first. The app has a countdown on how long the virtual wait is until you need to get on the tram, so we walked around and started looking at a few exhibits. 

We got partway through the Shuttle Independence/747 exhibit outside, this is the underside of it. It is a full scale shuttle replica and the first operating shuttle carrier. Inside we learned how the idea came to be to carry the shuttle on a modified 747. It started with a smart guy, radio controlled model airplanes and a lot of trial and error. 

By then it was getting close to time to walk back to the tram area. The tour took us to the Johnson Space Center campus. It is a huge, gated and secured area with dozens of buildings. It has its own streets and traffic lights.

We went to the Mission Control building that has interesting architecture on the facade. After a 87-step walk up a few floors, we were guided into the original Mission control viewing room. The picture below lists all of the missions overseen from this Mission Operations Control Room. It was in operation up until 1992.

In front of us were all the old control panels used for the first flight to the Moon and other historic missions. Our guide told us we'd watch a short film. Then, dramatically, the lights dimmed and the entire control room lit up, screens and monitors had charts and numbers on them. We were transported back to the exact moment when Mission Control was landing the astronauts on the Moon. NASA combined actual footage and recordings, plus notebooks and even original cigarette butts to recreate the event authentically. It all happened before computers, amazing. In the below picture, on the far right screen, you can see the TV image of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon. Notice the ash tray and cigarette butts on the lower left of the picture below.

After that, we got back on the tram and headed back. We caught a sighting of the resident alligator, Meco, named for the acronym of "Main Engine Cut Off". Those NASA people are so funny.

By then Michele was ready for lunch so we ordered through an efficient ordering system. Through an ordering station monitor, you pick a food vendor in the food court area, scan any drinks or chips items, then pay for it all self-service. We went over to the salad area that displayed our order number on a monitor above, and the lady then customized Michele's salad. About when we finished lunch, we got in the virtual waiting line for the second tram tour to visit the training center and the Saturn V exhibit. We had about 30 minutes to wait so we went back to the Shuttle area and walked up and through it. It was really cool to see inside a Shuttle cockpit. 

After that we walked over to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Our tram was boarding so we hustled back to the tram area and discovered we were the last two people on our tram, and that all the rest of the tram tours were sold out for the day. So glad we reserved our spot when we did. This time our tram took us first to the Training Center. What an amazing place! So much is happening in this working building. They have many "low fidelity" modules of the ISS to help astronauts learn various procedures. Below are the Russian modules including a "high fidelity" Russian Soyuz capsule (grey sphere). 

The U.S. modules.

Along with full scale sections of the International Space Station, new capsules are being designed and tested for future manned flights. Below is a prototype of a potential Mars habitat (left side). Called the Alpaca, because the center airlock looks like a face, it has two tall solar arrays. A "low fidelity" Shuttle is also visible.

Below is the Orion capsule. This will eventually be flown atop the SLS and take astronauts back to the Moon and possibly to Mars.

Nicknamed the Gateway the below module will be placed in orbit around the Moon and be used as a connecting point for travel from the Earth to the lunar surface or possibly Mars. Astronauts would fly via the Orion capsule from Earth to the Gateway and then from the Gateway, they would catch a connecting flight on a different piece of hardware to the lunar surface or Mars. Hopefully the layover is not too long. 

 

There's an entire robotics section that was really cool. Robots are expected to play an important role in a human mission to Mars.

 

 

Back on the tram, we rode over to the Saturn V building. This is a heavily restored and more complete version of the same rocket we saw in Huntsville. Back in 2000, they built a climate controlled building around the rocket and restored it. The rocket had been sitting outside in the elements for 30 years and was degrading badly so the project was undertaken to preserve this important piece of the U.S. space program. It is one of three complete Saturn V rockets in existence and the only one restored to flight certified status. The detail you can see on this rocket is much greater than the one at Huntsville. There were 21 Saturn V's built but only 17 were launched to the moon. Number 18 was used to lift Skylab into orbit leaving 19-21 unused on earth and now available for all of us to see. We didn't have too long inside, but were able to see it from every angle.

 

Then we headed back to the main museum. With the tram tours done, we could more leisurely see all the exhibits. We saw the Starship Gallery with Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules. Michele touched a real Moon rock. We walked through the International Space Station Gallery and learned about its predecessor, SkyLab. There was a mannequin rotating in a crouched position to mimic weightlessness. For a second or two it looked real as we entered! You can see him in the upper left of the below picture. Skylab incidentally was built from a hollowed out shell of the 3rd stage of the Saturn V rocket. Since the program was cut short at 17 lunar missions, it was an inexpensive way to conduct more science in microgravity.

We walked through Mission Mars and learned about its atmosphere and planned missions for the future. Michele touched a real Mars rock. It felt the same as the Moon rock.

We learned about the evolution of materials to protect the astronauts from space debris. Even items that appear harmless can be extremely damaging when hurled at 15,000mph. Look what this tic-tac size plastic pellet did to a 4in thick block of aluminum! Space debris is no joke!

The center had all kinds of neat exhibits hanging from the ceiling. Here is the Lunar Lander.

Here's a Shuttle flight suit that was on display.

We saw the astronauts gallery which has a picture of every mission beginning with Alan Shepherd all the way up to the latest ISS expedition, on a huge wall. It's really impressive. Michele read Scott Kelley's book a few years ago and really liked it, so she looked for him in the photos. We finished up going through the inventions area and got a few surprises. A flux capacitor!

At 3:20 we were all done and pretty tired. It had rained since we were inside so we had to wipe down the bike a bit. It started raining again so we hustled to get on the bike and back to our hotel so we wouldn't have to get all the rain gear out. Luckily the rain seemed very local and just a mile away it was drier. 

Back at our hotel, we both agreed that the tour of the Training Center was the surprising highlight. Walking into the catwalk area above the floor, there's so much to see and take in. Michele said, if where you work offers tours to the public, you know you work in a cool place. 

We rested for awhile and then ordered Italian food delivery from Marios nearby. It was one of the better meals of our trip so far. On the laptop we watched the replay of the MotoGP races from yesterday, taking place in Argentina. They are flying to Austin this week as we make our way there also for the race this coming weekend!

Today was cooler weather than we expected. It was cloudy all day keeping the temps down with some drizzle as we were on the tram. Tomorrow will get up to 95 degrees in San Antonio! We are planning to meet Rob's coworkers from the San Antonio office for happy hour at a restaurant near our hotel. We changed hotels to be closer to this location.