Road Trip 2025: Day 30

Sadly, our trip is drawing to a close. There is still much I would like to see and explore in Texas, but time and money are running out. This morning, we turned the car towards home. But first we stopped at Mission Concepcion. As I said yesterday, there are five Spanish missions still standing in San Antonio. I would have liked to have seen them all, but neither G3 nor Kati had any interest, so I’ll settle for three. Mission Concepcion is one of the oldest unrestored stone churches in the United States. The mission was established in 1731, and out of the five, it is the best preserved. Neither the dome nor the bell tower have collapsed. The inside is also beautiful, and appears to be an active church. The surrounding wall of the complex is no longer standing, so in some ways it is less compete than Mission San Jose.

Dr Pepper was created in 1885 by Charles Alderton, a pharmacist at the Old Corner Drugstore in Waco, Texas. This is why Waco is home to the Dr Pepper museum. Why do I know this? Because Kati has a very advanced and severe Dr. Pepper addiction. It is the only thing she drinks—aside of wine and an occasional glass of water. Since G3 is aware of her obsession—you should see our shopping cart when it’s on sale—after seeing a video about the museum on social media, he told us about it. Since we were driving right through Waco, it made sense to stop.

There wasn’t much much to display about Dr Pepper, so the museum covered the history of soda making and the history of bottling carbonated drinks. It was interesting to see how the label changed over time and to watch Dr Pepper commercials that I remember from when I was a kid. Kati had too much fun in the gift shop picking out souvenirs. I was just happy with my free root beer. (Yes, I am that person getting root beer at the Dr Pepper museum. I don’t like Dr Pepper and root beer is one of the few soda flavors I like.)

From Waco, we drove to Dallas to attend the Mesquite Championship Rodeo. A rodeo is something I’ve always wanted to see, and it’s an experience I thought G3 might enjoy. We’ve wanted to go on prior trips, but the dates never seemed to line up with our visits to specific places. This time they did—or at least came close enough that we were able to make it work. Our intention had been to get a campsite just outside the city, set up, and then go to the rodeo. However, camping was too expensive. We couldn’t justify the cost. So we figured we wouldn’t worry about where we were staying, we’d go to the rodeo and figure out where to stay when it ended.

We are in Texas, so I should not have been surprised, but I was not comfortable, when the rodeo opened with a prayer. It was a reminder that I am in a part of America that doesn’t welcome everyone. Prayer aside, I’m not a fan of the rodeo. I may be the only one in the stands cheering for the calves. It makes me happy when they aren’t roped or wrestled to the ground—when they escape—because then they aren’t getting hurt. I did not get any pleasure or have any enjoyment watching the calves get knocked around by people. I especially disliked the down roping. Those poor calves were jerked and thrown and they looked miserable. As for the bucking horses, while everyone else was cheering for the riders, I was concerned about the horses and the pain they must have felt.

If I had known how violent the rodeo is, I would not have gone. The cruelty towards the animals was awful. Kati and G3 didn’t seem to have been as troubled by it. They both seemed to have a good time.

We found a campsite at Lake Tawakoni State Park. It’s about sixty miles east of Dallas and we arrived just before midnight. But we’ve set up our tent so many times that setting up in the dark wasn’t difficult.