We met Buc-ee

Yesterday we visited two different Buc-ee's - a first for us. It was also the first time we returned to the same Buc-ee's location. Since it was the start of the holiday weekend, the stores were very busy, and the mascot was roaming at both locations.

Our Buc-ee stuffie was left behind in the Motorhome. Greg regretted not buying a new one for this trip. They were selling a larger version, so we have a new mascot for our travels!

We arrived in Houston and settled into a campground for a couple days. Seth, Amy’s friend from college, was nice enough to meet us at our RV park. He recently retired from NASA and is keeping himself busy restoring his WWII Jeep that he’s had since before college. In fact, Seth got that Jeep when they were in college, and Amy was responsible for its name: Kermit. We were glad to catch up with him, since it had been way too long.

Today, we met up with Cindy, who retired from Gurobi a few weeks after Greg. We met at the Pearland Creek Trail and took a long walk while discussing life after retirement. Cindy is traveling almost as much as we are! Greg is slightly jealous that Cindy has already hiked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.

After lunch, we decided to check out the Johnson Space Center. We have both toured the Kennedy Space Center before, but Greg had never visited the Johnson Space Center. The JSC visitor center was very busy, probably due to the holiday weekend. We failed to plan ahead, so the more interesting tours were sold out before we arrived. The regular tour was just ok, not as good as the one at the Kennedy Space Center and definitely not as interesting as the personal tour that Seth gave Amy back in the early 1990s. We checked out the Saturn V rocket and the mock-up space shuttle sitting atop the real 747 that ferried the space shuttle to Florida. For a more personal view of the space shuttle, we prefer the tour of the space shuttle trainer at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, where you can really explore the crew quarters.