In the first part of our journey, we shared how Gemini AI mapped our route, keeping us off the interstates and guiding us through the back roads of the Midwest and West Texas. We proved that swapping speed for scenery, armed with both algorithms and old-school paper maps, was a successful way to travel. With the westernmost point of our trip—Big Bend National Park—now behind us, it was time to turn east toward the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

Our journey east from Alpine, along US Highway 90 through Sanderson and the Pecos River area, offered eye-popping scenery at every turn. But once we reached San Antonio, the nature of the trip began to change. We traded the vast, empty roads of West Texas for a patchwork of easy highway stretches, tangled city approaches, frustrating logistics at new bridges, and surprise detours, as well as one truly convoluted bypass around Houston traffic. The back-road navigation continued to test both our systems and our patience. Yet the biggest, most unexpected turn in our road trip wasn’t a missed exit or a GPS glitch—it was a sudden, human moment that would ultimately upend our carefully laid plans.

Day 6: Alpine, TX to San Antonio, TX 5 hours, 25 minutes

The drive to San Antonio was one of the easiest legs of our journey. US Highway 90, often a four-lane modern road, carried us through stretches of beautiful Texas countryside with minimal fuss. Our only hiccup came at Del Rio, where we missed the turn to stay on US 90 and found ourselves on the US 90 Business Loop—leading us right through the heart of downtown. Faced with a sea of traffic lights ahead, I spotted a workaround: we turned north onto a local street until it dead-ended at a railroad track, then headed east, paralleling the track to rejoin the Business Loop near the edge of town. From there, it was a smooth hop back onto US 90 and onward to San Antonio.

We spent three nights in San Antonio, giving us two days to explore. Our visit to the Alamo was marred by a restoration project and closed areas, a disappointment for Pat and Gary, who’d never visited before. Fortunately, the River Cruise along the River Walk Canal and dinner at Casa Rio were as pleasant as ever.

Day 7: San Antonio, TX to Corpus Christi, TX 3 hours, 10 minutes

Finding our hotel in Corpus Christi proved a bit tricky, as the new Harbor Bridge had recently opened. Both Google Maps and the car’s internal GPS were confused by the updated routing to the bridge approaches. I’ll be featuring this impressive structure in an upcoming Cellpic Sunday post—it’s now the longest cable-stayed bridge in the United States, and the tallest in Texas.

Just southeast of Corpus Christi, we visited Padre Island National Seashore—a stunning stretch of undeveloped coastline along the Gulf of Mexico. The park protects miles of dunes, tidal flats, and prairie, and offers a peaceful contrast to the city. We walked the boardwalk near the Malaquite Visitor Center, where the sea breeze and wildflowers made the path to the beach feel like a quiet invitation into nature.

Day 8: Corpus Christi to Huntsville, TX 5 hours, 43 minutes

To avoid traffic through Houston, we opted to drive north to Huntsville, Texas, skirting the western edge of the Houston metro area. It added an extra night to our trip, but saved our sanity. The routing, however, was a bit of a nightmare—one of the most protracted and most convoluted in Gemini’s AI-generated list. Before I pasted it into the routing document in Microsoft Word, I wrote specific turn-by-turn directions so Pat could highlight them on her Texas road map. Here’s a screenshot of the route we started to follow:

Earlier, I mentioned that when we approached our overnight objective, we’d enter the hotel’s address into the vehicle’s GPS and let it navigate directly there. On this leg, we made that change too early, and we were routed onto two major toll roads with slow-moving traffic and an area with road construction in progress. Adding to our confusion, we were required to drive on new roads that weren’t listed on either Google Maps or the Suburban’s GPS. We learned from this experience to not switch the GPS routing too soon.

Day 9: Huntsville, TX to Opelousas, LA (instead of DeRidder) 4 hours, 30 minutes

Day Nine was eventful—and not in a good way. I wasn’t feeling my best as we navigated toward DeRidder, but I spotted a highway that would keep us south of DeRidder, bring us closer to New Orleans, and offer more hotel options in Opelousas. This detour proved fortunate. I felt better by lunchtime, but by 9 PM I asked Pat and Gary to drive me to the emergency room at Opelousas Hospital. I spent the next three days in the large regional hospital with a gastrointestinal issue. Thankfully, I recovered well enough to continue the journey—but our five-day stay in New Orleans, along with the seven-day Caribbean cruise that was to follow, was officially out the window.

Day 12: Opelousas, LA to New Orleans, LA 4 hours, 45 minutes

We’d reserved five nights in advance at a hotel in Marrero, Louisiana, just northwest of New Orleans. I was concerned we might have to pay for the missed reservation, but Pat called ahead and spoke directly with the hotel front desk. They graciously adjusted our booking and rescheduled it, waiving all charges for the missed nights. We ended up staying in Marrero for three nights, using Uber to shuttle into the city. It’s better to let someone familiar with New Orleans drive us to our destinations and avoid parking issues.

Our 55th wedding anniversary was celebrated at a Gemini-recommended seafood restaurant near the French Quarter. I can wholeheartedly recommend GW Fins—but it’s popular, so I suggest making a reservation, just as we did. Otherwise, you might be in for a long wait. For the above photo, I used Photoshop’s Remove Distractions to remove all of the people in the background who were waiting for a seat.

The one concern about the hotel was the elevator, which tended to stutter for 10 to 30 seconds as it adjusted to stop at each selected level. On the morning of our departure, the delay felt exceptionally long, but we managed to exit, load our luggage into the Suburban, and begin our journey home.

Not long after we were on the road, Pat received a news bulletin from her Newsbreak app, which delivers local news wherever she is. The alert informed us that an emergency rescue team from the local fire department had been dispatched to our hotel to extricate passengers trapped in the very elevator we’d just used.

We routed our journey home with a stop at Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro, Arkansas. In 2023, we’d planned a visit—and even made it there once—but lightning and muddy fields foiled our attempt to dig in the diamond field. We tried again on the return leg that year, but rain on our scheduled arrival day forced us to put a bookmark on the park.

This year, we finally made it. Although it had rained the night before, the fields had dried enough to let us search for diamonds in the only public diamond field in the United States. We didn’t find any diamonds, but we did come away with some interesting stones to share with the grandkids—and a story of persistence to go with them.

On the way to our final two-night stop in Branson, Missouri, we discovered that Arkansas Highway 7—with its winding roads and stunning views of the Ozark hills—was an attraction in itself. In Branson, we visited the World’s Largest Toy Museum. I didn’t count them, but I’ll take them at their word: the museum claims over a million toys on display.

From Branson, we headed north on US Highway 65, a scenic route through the Missouri countryside. Our last overnight stop was in Kansas City, and with less than four hours to Pat and Gary’s home, we took Interstate 29 north for the final leg. Thanks to the cruise cancellation, Lynn and I arrived back in Fargo exactly one week earlier than planned.

As of this writing, I’m still recovering from the remnants of my hospitalization. My system isn’t quite back to normal—but it’s mending, in its own time.

John Steiner