24 March 2023, Houston to Corpus Christi “via” Boca Chica, USA –

Yesterday we began our road trip of southern Texas; leaving Houston, we drove about 300 miles south, to Corpus Christi – or more precisely, Ingleside, on the northern outskirts.  This was just a repositioning day, to set us up for today. Apart from two wrong turns and two holdups for roadworks, it was uneventful.  Mostly it bought back memories of our 1997 bike ride, as the roads and small towns were often similar.

Today’s drive required an early start – we had to cover 400 miles, or 650 km, between Ingleside and Boca Chica, which lies right on the US-Mexico border, where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf Coast.  Why Boca Chica?  Because this is where SpaceX is busy preparing its Starships for launch, at a date to be determined.  Boca Chica was a small piece of Nowheresville until recently, when SpaceX moved in and starting constructing its own rocket building and launch facility.

Starship is the vehicle that Elon Musk hopes will eventually take humans to Mars.  As it hasn’t actually gone into orbit yet, this is a long way off.  Still, preparations for the upcoming test launch are close to completion.  The thing about Boca Chica is that you can get REALLY close to cool stuff; unlike Cape Canaveral where the general public are not allowed within miles of the launch pads.

Somehow we expected the drive to be through sparsely populated areas on tiny back roads, with only tumbleweeds for company.  We were surprised to find ourselves on a series of freeways and interstates, with plenty of medium to large towns along the way – and Brownsville, the nearest city to Boca Chica, is much bigger than we imagined. The countryside was also pretty green, with only the odd section of scrubby bushes and cacti.  The drive down took about 3.5 hours. 

Boca Chica Boulevard began with the usual string of fast food stores, gas stations, and midrange motels.  Gradually this gave way to small houses; these ran out, and we were finally on the road we’d pictured – lined with scrappy vegetation, then sand dunes.  Obviously all the trucks that have driven up and down here have wrecked the road, which was severely potholed in sections.

Our first glimpse of the main “resident” of Boca Chica, was a Starship off in the distance to the right – we think this was at the Engine Testing facility, but it was quite a distance off the road, so we continued on.  Before long, we could see something far more exciting – no less than four Starship rockets, and a booster, in the “rocket garden” at Starbase, the SpaceX HQ.  But there was more – another couple of kms east was the launch facility, and we could clearly see the pad, the tank farm, another booster, and the absolutely massive tower with its “chopstick” arms that are meant to catch the booster as it returns to Earth.  Everything was just over the fence, affording us a perfectly clear view.

We parked the car here, finding ourselves in amongst SpaceX employees and contractors, webcammers who monitor Boca Chica 24/7, and other tourists like us.  It was so windy we could barely stand, and the sand from the nearby beach abraded everything. 

After a good sticky beak here, we returned to Starbase, and again parked outside amongst the workers, who were busy coming and going in and out of various gates. As we were taking photos of the rockets from the roadside, a man told us we could walk right in, and get better photos from much closer – so of course we did!  We were practically standing underneath the Starship that is going to be launched soon – black with its covering of heat tiles.  Next to it are the three others, gleaming silver as they stretch skywards.  I remembered Ian saying to me “if we can find the right bit of fence, we can look through it and maybe see one or two rockets”.  This was so much more!

After we’d finished geeking out at the rockets, giggling at the “For Sale” sign that someone has erected at the entrance as a joke (presumably),  and taking silly photos of the Starbase sign, we retraced our steps back to Brownsville.  The Rio Grande forms the border between the two countries, and the infamous “wall” (fence) forms the deterrent, complete with barbed wire*.  We were careful not to make any wrong turns on the freeways, lest we find ourselves visiting yet another country unintentionally (though we did have passports with us just in case).  We contented ourselves with looking at Mexico through the steel bars and across the tangle of grasses and weeds that line the edge of the river, itself not visible.  This was the third Latin American country on this trip where we could only gaze across an arbitrary geographic line.

We’d already spent far longer at Boca Chica than we expected to; it was time to head back to Corpus Christi, wash the sand out of our ears and eyes, and wash the clothes for the final time.  In another week, we’ll be home.

*I will save any comments about border walls for another time. Suffice to say I am not a fan. I am also not suggesting that we all need to relocate to Mars; I just like the rockets.