MUO’s First Battle Wound
July 15th, 2008 | Published in Video Episodes by David
Muo is the name of our van. We gave her a name (and a gender) because the old girl has faithfully carried us for over 10,000 miles so far, and will obligingly chug us along another 9,000. She keeps our things safe, and makes it easy for us to travel the country in just one summer. The trip thus far had been kind to Muo, but in Beaumont, the little lady had a little brush with the wild side. Here’s how it happened.
The day after the barbecue, we went to get new glasses for me at the mall and run errands. We stayed an extra day in San Antonio because of my lost glasses but left early the next morning. As we were leaving San Antonio, we ate some breakfast tacos at La Potranca, a nearly empty Mexican cafe in a local strip mall. Alex educated us about types of Mexican salsa and we crammed taco into our faces while watching Spanish novellas.
We input Shiner, Texas into our GPS on our way out of San Antonio to the east and set off. Shiner, Texas is, of course, the location of the Shiner Brewery where Shiner beer is made. We ate at the Country Corner Cafe lunch buffet before touring the brewery.
Shiner’s population is only about 2000 so the brewery is a major local landmark. All the employees we met were very friendly and the tour was very informative. The brewing facility uses traditional copper equipment to cook the wort and create the beer. At Shiner, every batch of beer is isolated and crafted separately.
After the interesting tour and some free beer sampling, we headed to Galveston and our first look at the ocean on this trip. The Galveston we saw was fairly industrial and bustling with traffic. As we drove on the island, we caught glimpses of off-shore oil platforms on the horizon. To get off the island, we took a free ferry from Galveston to Texas City. On the ferry, we were treated to views of the surrounding city, shipping lanes, and off-shore platforms under a beating sun.
The countryside near Texas City after we docked was… empty. Touristy beach shops and motels dotted the landscape, separated by large open grasslands and marshes. The sun was setting as we approached Beaumont, TX and though we had couchsurfing host lined up we had some initial troubles getting in contact with them. We pulled off the highway and held a pow wow in a CVS parking lot to determine what to do. While we were there, we also picked up some aloe vera gel for my severely sunburned back.
After checking couchsurfing through our rickety “wireless broadband” internet connection, we decided to stay noncommital and drive around Beaumont. After wandering for a while, Michelle, our host called us and gave us her address which was coincidentally nearby. It turned out that Michelle’s phone had died, but in the end we found her without a problem.
After arriving at her house and taking our gear inside, we walked with Michelle to Tacos La Bamba, a Mexican restaurant and video rental store nearby. The burritos and tacos were greasy and excellent and the Spanish television was intriguing. After chowing down, we headed to a nearby grocery store to pick up some beer for the evening.
Back at Michelle’s house, we chatted and drank beer for hours. Michelle showed us her photos and we talked about travel and life. Sometime after 1am, we prepared for bed and slept soundly until around 8am.
When we woke up, Michelle’s boyfriend informed us that a window of our van had been smashed in the night. We immediately got up and investigated. The van’s driver-side sliding door window had been broken, and shattered safety glass covered the area. Checking the van’s contents, nothing appeared to be missing. I called State Farm, which insures our van, and filed a claim for the vehicle damage. Luckily, we had purchased full glass coverage for the van before the summer at the recommendation of my mother. This extra insurance covered all $600+ of the repair.
We also filed a police report by phone and paid a dollar for a hard copy at the Beaumont Police station. While we were waiting for our insurance claim to be processed, we napped, read, and I got my back aloe’d. Once State Farm located an auto glass repair company and arranged delivery of the glass that had been broken on the van, we went to AAA Glass around the corner and had it installed while we munched Whataburgers.
At about 4pm, when the window was fixed and a storm was brewing, we left Beaumont for New Orleans. The drive took us through swamps and over miles of elevated highways to causeways flanked by bayou and oil refineries. We arrived in New Orleans after sundown and headed to Hana Sushi Bar for some Cajun-Japanese sushi. After an interesting and delicious dinner, we headed to Metairie where we met our hosts for the night, the Xiaos.
