August 21, 2010:
The Gulf of Mexico
After yesterday not driving at all, we covered 460 miles today from San Antonio to Lafayette, including a visit to Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico (the first ocean we’ve seen since Malibu!); visit the Gallery or just look here (there’s not many!) …
GPMINI at the Houston space center:
GPMINI at the Gulf of Mexico:
GPMINI in the rain:
(there’s more pictures of the trip over on MargaretAndIan)
August 19, 2010:
Half way across Texas
Back in 2006 my memories of Texas were mostly of long straight dull roads, and much of today’s drive agreed with that memory …
However this time I wasn’t alone, and while Margaret drove I was able to catch up on my comic reading during a rare AT&T works moment on the iPad!
Texas knows that their state is a bit flat – this is their idea of a scenic view!
More driving-in-Texas pics over on MargaretAndIan
August 18, 2010:
Bug carnage
Loads of miles, and even with Sandia MINI cleaning the car yesterday, the front of GPMINI shows many encounters!
August 17, 2010:
Large Array, Little MINI
I’ve always wanted to visit the Very Large Array (VLA); but it’s a long way from everywhere – 50 miles from the highway at Socorro which itself is 80 miles from Alburquerque … but we made sure to visit, and got treated to the best!
The array consists of about 27 huge radio telescopes which can be moved closer together or further apart along three rail tracks – they can cover more than 20 miles, or be brought closer for higher resolution telescopy. We were very lucky that all the antennas were together, giving great views. Even more, the antennas were active, swinging through about 100 degrees, and back, during the time we were there!
The place is an engineers paradise, even if you can’t actually visit the lab areas … and look how big the antennas are:
It’s hard to find on maps etc; go here on Google Maps and you can see the three track lines extending out from the center of the VLA! It’s open Sunrise to Sunset (can’t see anything in the dark!) and as well as an interesting visitor center with various information and a movie, you just get to walk around the array, pretty close to the antennas …
August 17, 2010:
40,000 miles
GPMINI drove through 40,000 miles today on our way from Alburquerque to Socorro! And she’s just as much fun to drive as she was when new 
The only worry is that she’s now (2 days) out of warranty! A first for me owning a MINI, or any car, in USA …
