Gin?...But Not With Tonic!

I am writing this final post while we are cruising at 36,000 feet on our way to London Heathrow.  Yes we are sitting in very comfy business class seats and yes, we are drinking a lovely glass of champagne each.  I will say nothing else about the flight other than we always remind ourselves how fortunate we truly are.

I had said in a previous post that driving down the backest of back roads in America, you often come across something both unusual and very interesting and guess what?  That's exactly what happened to us today.

We were making our way across country from Houston to Austin - it was enjoyable to get off the busy Texan Interstates - when Linda suddenly noticed a sign saying Texas Cotton Gin Museum!  Having seen and subsequently read about the extensive cotton growing industry in Texas we had seen lots of buildings with cotton gin written on them but never really understood what it meant.  Today we found out in the tiny community of Burton, Texas.

The Gin referred to is actually a shortened version of engine, a machine invented and brought into production in 1794 by a certain Eli Whitney which was used for removing seeds from the cotton fibre.  I could go into great detail and bore you all to death but we learnt so much in the half hour we spent in the museum with our own personal guide.

For the budding engineers the actual gin in Burton was installed in 1914 and is still in working order albeit only once a year for a festival held in April.  They are very proud of their heritage although the success of this gin actually led to a dramatic increase in slavery in the American South as demand for cotton exploded.  Ask me about cotton next time we meet!!

The final thing I wanted to do on the way to the airport was revisit the Circuit of the Americas on this beautiful sunny day.  Very different from when we were there just over a week ago.  We were able to get close by driving through this amazing venue but actually we weren't supposed to do this as massive work was still underway dismantling all the F1 paraphernalia.  Weather like today would have perhaps made it a more enjoyable experience on race day but the race wouldn't have been anywhere near as exciting.  Catch 22?

And so another jaunt around America comes to an end.  It continues to fascinate us endlessly and has further cemented our love affair with the place and its people.

I hope that in the words of that great playwright, Ernie Wise, that you have enjoyed, "some of what I wrote?"  If not, my humble apologies if it is at all possible for me to be humble?

Until the next time, I sign off.

Oh, I am going to Dubai next week to work on Europe's top golf tournament so the next blog might be sooner than you think!!!!!😀😀😀😀😀😀