AggieCon 47 Trip Report - 34th Aggiecon

Friday morning I got up at the usual time, mucked around and manged to get out of the house around 5:45 a.m.  First stop was the neighborhood Shipley's.

Then on to the Beltway and out to San Felipe.

I drove near Stephen F. Austin State Park on blacktop which turned into a gravel road.  About this time, Kim called me to see how the trip was going.  As we chatted, an owl swooped over the car and perched in a nearby tree.  (The owl turned out to be a Barred Owl.  I did not manage to get a picture as my camera was not within shooting distance, regrettably.)

After hanging up, I continued on travelling on 36 for bit where I managed to snap this picture.

The next road was 949, taking me near Cat Spring and then on to New Ulm.

I managed to get some wildflower pictures along this stretch of road.

FM 109 led me to Frelsburg, 1291 took me to Lone Oak and Fayetteville.  I think I took 159 for the next road to take me on into La Grange.  My goal of the morning was to make it to La Grange and the Fayette County (named after the Marquis de la Fayette) Courthouse to grab a picture.

From LaGrange, I took a circuitous route to College Station. up 159 and 237 through Warrenton and Round Top.  If I'd known in advance, I might have planned more time in the area.  There was a massive antique show going in on the road.  Form Warrenton all the way through the town of Round Top there were tents set up with antique dealers on both sides of the road.  I was amazed!

One of the common items being advertised were cow hides starting at $125.  Some of them listed the hides as coming from South America.

I missed my turn for 2714 out of Round Top, being distracted by the antiques and traffic, so I had to catch 2502 outside of Carmine to get me headed toward Latium and Welcome.  Up through Brenham and on to Gay Hill.

From Gay Hill, it was on to Independence where I normally stop and take some pictures.  At this point I wasn't feeling it, the sun was fairly high up in the sky, and I just wanted to get on to Aggieland.  So, up 50 and off to 21 and the Brazos County Expo Center.

I pulled into the parking lot, got out, stretched, and made my way in.  Got up to the registration table and quickly handled the details there.  Took a quick tour through the Dealers' Room and then sat down to examine the program book.

The secrets it revealed to me were these: nothing happening on Friday until 5 p.m., nothing really of interest to me happening on Friday at all.  Iron Artist used to appeal to me back when Stelfreeze and others attended, but I'm harder to please these days.

Off I went to get some lunch at the Hullaballoo Diner.  Back in to town and off to Half Price to grab some more reading material.  Went to see a matinee of "Dead Pool". Then dinner at a Mexican joint and back to the hotel.

Saturday morning had me up and going promptly.  I wanted to get to Iona, Tx for breakfast.  I ate there last year and it was good, better than the joints in B-CS that I know about.  After traveling 30 miles, I discover the restaurant is out of business.  Back to Bryan for a meal at the Kettle.

Off to AggieCon for more trips around the Dealer's Room and to catch the last of CosPlay 101, all of Armor Up, Brian Muir: Fantasy Sculptor.  I stood around and chatted with some old Cepheids for a while and made the decision to head home for dinner with the wife and end my AggieCon trip.

I got to the hotel too late to get any part of my Saturday night refunded to me.  That was what I expected.  I'd hoped otherwise, but it was my own fault.

About 2.5 hours later I was back home and heading out for my usual Saturday night Mexican meal.