Worldcon Day 5: Wrap It Up and Take It Home

I thought that I would be able to sleep in this Monday morning, but late last night René Walling asked if I could attend a CanSMOF board meeting at 8:30 AM. (I am a director of the Montreal Worldcon's parent non-profit corporation. Worldcon is one of the few times we have a quorum in one place for an in-person meeting.) I said, "I don't want to do so, but I can make it." At least I didn't have to help Lisa haul equipment to the convention center, but could instead get a coffee and sit in a comfy chair while we discussed stuff we needed to approve as a Board. I would be out of line to talk about the decisions until the corporation officially announces them, however.

( Last Chance for Worldcon Shopping )

( Closing Ceremonies )

With LSC3 over, Lisa and I finally got our first and only real meal of the day over at the food court. I fear that we never really experienced the selection of restaurants around us. We ate twice at Luciano's Italian next to the hotel, but everything else was the food court, Denny's, or camp food in our room. Lisa was sick, and we were too busy to do much else.

( BASFA Meeting )

( Worldcon Chairs Party )

( Advance Move-Out )

Tuesday, we hope to be on the road by Noon. We have one stop in San Antonio, and we plan to take the scenic but slower route on US-90 through Langtry, Texas, heading for Fort Stockton. It could be a very long day, and I've had only about three hours of sleep in the past 48, so it would be wise if I tried to get a few more hours before we pack out of here.

Stage 7: San Antonio to Fort Stockton (the Scenic Route)

We got away from San Antonio this morning at least an hour earlier than I expected, and headed off to our first stop: The SAS Factory Store. More than just shoes (although both Lisa and I bought two pair of our favorites), this store includes a whole bunch more stuff, and we bought a bunch of other things too. Even more fascinating is that (almost) everything there is made in the USA. In fact, their goal is for it all to be American made. When Lisa pointed out that one of the books we were thinking of buying was printed in China, the staff were aghast, and while they didn't take it off the shelf, they did say they'd raise it to management.

Then it was off on our scenic-route trip west via US-90, by way of Del Rio (where we stopped for lunch at a local rib joint), the Pecos River bridge (impressive scenery, and I hope to post the photos someday), and Langrty, Texas, the site of Judge Roy Bean's "Law West of the Pecos." Alas, we got there two hours after the visitor center closed for the day, and had to settle for peeping through the fence. (Again, photos someday.)

We had originally planned on visiting Langtry on the trip east, but skipped it and took the short route on I-10 so we would be in San Antonio before LSC3 registration closed on Wednesday. But in changing our trip plans, we didn't think about changing the return. In retrospect, we either should have stopped today in Del Rio (requiring a much longer trip tomorrow but making it possible to visit Langtry when the visitor's center is open) or Alpine (a more direct route than swinging north at Sanderson as we did).

Anyway, we're in Fort Stockton tonight for the second time in a week, and it has the virtue of us already knowing where the grocery store and quick food is. And tomorrow's trip to El Paso should be relatively short, so we can sleep in a couple of hours on Wednesday morning.