The Big Texan

19/05/2024

Living our best lives - 2023 The Big Texan Tour. Now taking bookings for our next epic Texan adventure 2026 - please email any inquiries or to book this 35 day tour
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Click on the link below to check out the video of the Big Texan Tour

Check out the AWESOME adventures we had on our 2023 BIG TEXAN Tour. We've opened up bookings for our 2026 BIG TEXAN Tour and you can BOOK NOW at bigtexan@usa...

09/10/2023

Day 35
Queen Mary, Long Beach California

Our final night of the tour started with pre-dinner drinks in our Eisenhower Suite on board the Queen Mary where a few toasts were made and nice words spoken. Thank you!

We then arranged for Taxis to take us all to Parker’s Lighthouse restaurant in Long Beach where we enjoyed a great meal and service while looking across the harbor viewing the Queen Mary as the sunset and night rolled in. Spectacular!

After dinner it was back to our suite for the after dinner room party with lots of singing and laughter late into the night.

What a fantastic way to spend our last night together with very special people!

08/10/2023

Day 34
Palm Springs to Long Beach, California

Our 2nd Go Kart race saw Sleepy Steve wake up and take his 2nd Win. And Andrea once again showed the Boys how it is done coming in 2nd place!

Our home for the final 2 nights of the tour is the famous Queen Mary moored in Long Beach.

06/10/2023

Day 32 & 33
Lake Havasu City to Palm Springs

A great driving day with long straight quiet roads. We crossed over the Colorado River at Parker Dam and entered California.

A few if us stopped for a swim in the river before driving through the Joshua Tree National Park which is very scenic.

Our Hotel in Palm Springs has a great pool for cooling off although the weather is perfect!

Today we did the Aerial Tramway 8500ft to the peak in a stunning day. The “Cars” rotate as they travel at 19mph over this 11 minute journey. It is a MUST DO when in Palm Springs.

Tonight we visited the Thursday night markets which were packed and much better than they were when we visited last month.

We love Palm Springs!

04/10/2023

Day 31
Lake Havasu City

Another day of fun in the sun ☀️

A free day of RnR with some shopping, checking out cars, RVs, boats and antiques.

Then lots if splashes in the Hotel pool and water slide before taking the $4 return Ferry boat ride across the Lake for dinner with a beautiful sunset.

03/10/2023

Day 30
Lake Havasu City

We wanted to try something new for our tours so today we rented 3 pontoon boats, loaded up our chilly bins and picnics to spend the day on the lake/Colorado River. Thanks to Captain Steve & Skipper Shippy for being “responsible” for the other 2 boats.

Warm water, sunshine, good music and great company made it a special day with Copper Canyon being a highlight.

Then it was back to our Hotel for a swim and waterslide action.

One of our FAVOURITE days!

02/10/2023

Day 29
Sedona to Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Sorry we didn’t get too many photos of the crew today - unfortunately we had our 2nd flat tyre for the tour which put us about 1.5 hours behind everyone else. This was the 4th flat tyre for the tour - a tour record we don’t want to beat! Lol

We traveled through Jerome, a very cool old mining town high in the mountains before driving a small section of Route 66 through Ash Fork and Seligman. A quick visit to Angels Barber Shop and lunch at the SnoCap for a laugh….

Our base for the next 3 nights is the London Bridge Resort in Lake Havasu City.

01/10/2023

Day 27 & 28
Tucson to Sedona, Arizona

We traveled the country roads to Sedona. The variety of scenery on this drive is impressive from mountains, deserts, mining towns, lakes & forests.

We stopped for lunch, and All Blacks rugby updates, at Jakes Corner Bar which is a popular Biker Bar in the middle of nowhere.

Sedona is one of our favourite places and for the first time we are spending 2 nights in this beautiful spot.

Today we explored Sedona with optional visits to the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is the most photographed building in Sedona, a Vortex, shopping and an off-road Pink Jeep tour into the back country.

We LOVE Sedona!

30/09/2023

Day 26
Tucson, Arizona

We had a free day to explore Tucson or relax by the pool. Some went for the scenic drive up Mt Lemmon while some visited the plane museum.

A relaxing day…

29/09/2023

Day 25
Tombstone to Tucson, Arizona

Our day started with a BANG! Yes we went shooting on the Ranch with cowboys Bill & Cliff. We fired guns from the 1880s - a rifle, pistol and shotgun. Shippy nailed it hitting 11/11 targets while Deb, Trudie & Monique did the ladies proud! It was great fun…

We then took the back roads visiting the cute town of Patagonia then took a private tour of the Titan Missile silo which was incredible. Our guide Mike gave us an in-depth history about the Cold War and walked us through the steps that would have happened if the button (actually 2 keys). Thankfully it never happened but the missile program was a deterrent to ensure there wasn’t a war. Standing next to, then on top of the missile gave us goosebumps…

Our Hotel for the next 2 nights is Loews Ventana Canyon in Tucson - it’s beautiful!

27/09/2023

Day 24
El Paso Texas to Tombstone Arizona.

Today we left Texas and crossed the border into New Mexico and followed the border wall between the USA and Mexico.
Then we crossed the border into Arizona and stopped for lunch in the historic mining town of Bisbee, and had a little look around the town center.
Our next stop and highlight for the day was Tombstone which is famous for the shootout at the OK Corral, and we attended a recreation of the well known gun battle which was very entertaining.
Our hotel tonight is the Tombstone Monument Ranch where we had a Western dress up night which was a lot of fun. After a wonderful meal we learnt how to play Texas Holdem Poker with Wyatt Earp which was a lot of fun.

26/09/2023

Day 23
Alpine to El Paso, Texas

Our day started with a visit to Dave at Stable Performance Cars in Alpine. Dave’s a real character and let us check out the Fords and Dodges - he’s not a fan of Government Motors (GM Cars).

Our next stop was Marfa which has been settled for over 10000 years.

Just out of town was the tribute to the 1956 movie “Giant” starring James Dean, Liz Taylor and Rock Hudson which was filmed in the area. There was even music playing by Mike Nesmeth from the Monkies… very cool.

30 miles up the road was the Marga Prada Store. It wasn’t open - in fact it never is! It’s a fake store and a piece of art featuring 1 shoe from each of the 2005 collection and handbags. It’s in the middle of the desert and very clever.

We took the scenic drive over El Paso which overlooked Mexico- we even walked down through downtown El Paso right up to the border!

25/09/2023

Day 21 & 22
Austin rest day and Austin to Alpine travel day

We enjoyed exploring the Texas state capital for a day then made our way West through the hill country avoiding the interstate. 75mph on beautiful country roads.

Alpine is a small town near the Big Bend National Park and has fantastic artwork around the town. We’re spending our 2nd to last night in Texas at the historic Holland Hotel built in 1912.

23/09/2023

Day 20
Austin, Texas

We went exploring around Austin’s Hill Country today and visited some well known Hot Rod Shops along the way.

Mercury Charlie has been around the scene for over 50 years and his team let us walk around and talk to them about their projects. Wonderful people.

Next up was Martin Brothers Customs from the TV show Iron Resurrection. Unfortunately we just missed Joe & Amanda but the team were great hosts with lots of souvenir shopping happening.

Luckenbach Texas was made famous in a song by Waylon Jennings and a great spot for a burger and cold beer while listening to some live music.

Next up was Fredericksburg with great shopping - lots of bags seen afterwards!

22/09/2023

Day 19
San Antonio to Austin, Texas

Our day started with a short walk to one of the most iconic buildings in the USA - The Alamo. With centuries old history this landmark is great place to explore.

We then visited 2 small towns made famous through music - China Grove was the subject of a song by the Doobie Bros and had some fun with the local Police who were fantastic.

ZZ Top wrote a song about La Grange in 1973 and one of their most recognized early hits.

We stopped by the Austin Speed Shop along the way to the Hotel in downtown Austin where we are based for the next 3 nights.

21/09/2023

Day 18
Rockport to San Antonio, Texas

We spent our last day on the Gulf of Mexico taking a ferry ride to Mustang Island then a cruise along the beach - how cool is that? And the water was like a warm bath water.

We then toured the Corpus Christi waterfront checking out the multi million dollar homes before passing by the USS Lexington aircraft carrier.

Avoiding the Interstate to San Antonio where we visited a Tiki Bar then walked around the beautiful river walk in downtown. Most of us took the night time canal boat tour. What a surprisingly beautiful City this is.

20/09/2023

Day 17
Galveston to Rockport, Texas
Our adventure continues on a beautiful day starting in Galveston then making our way along the coastline heading west. The stilt holiday homes along the beaches are colorful and the Gulf of Mexico water is nice and warm.

We took the quiet country roads and took a detour to Port O’Connor for lunch.

Our Hotel in Rockport is right on the water and we all have water views from our rooms. The Hotel pool was nice and warm and “Wilson” made a return with a frantic game of boys vs girls water netball/rugby/polo/wrestling… was a lot of fun!

19/09/2023

Day 16
Fort Worth Stockyards to Galveston, Texas

So far we’ve managed to avoid the Interstates but today was one of those days where we needed to cover some miles so Interstate it was.

We had 2 options for the group today - take a tour at the NASA Houston Space Port of visit the Hemi Hideout private collection.

Photos from NASA will come however we chose the Hemi Hideout which has 26 Mopar cars and 4500 neon signs all housed inside the largest wooden building in Texas on a beautifully property. John the owner was fantastic to talk to with so much passion for his hobby.

We then made our way to the beautiful Grand Galvez Hotel for the night with a great pool and across the road from the Gulf of Mexico. Dinner at Bubba Gumps on the Pier finished the day…

18/09/2023

Day 15
Forth Worth Stockyards, Texas

Today we could finally reveal a big secret we’ve kept of a couple of months. When we visited Gas Monkey Garage in May we met Richard Rawlings who generously offered to turn it on for our tour group.

Much to their surprise Richard walked in (it’s Sunday here) and gave our tour group a 15% discount in the gift shop, autographed anything we wanted, then took us in a tour of the workshop and his private collection.

Did we mention - help yourself to my beer? He sure did! And provided pizza for our lunch. A huge thank you to Richard, Margaret and Marina for your hospitality - you were very generous!

Our next stop was a drive by where JFK was sadly assassinated in downtown Dallas then another tour first - we went to the movies!

The resorted Ibis Theatre has a great deal with a $10 entry which includes 2 confectionery items! And there is also a Bar…. And the movie? Blazing Saddles - totally NOT politically correct in todays society but still a good laugh.

17/09/2023

Day 14
Fort Worth Stockyards

We were special guests at the annual Wheels for Wellness Car Show held in beautiful downtown Fort Worth. Over 500 cars on show with a great variety to look at. We were stars at the show with many people talking to us about our trip.

And we won the LONG DISTANCE trophy for our 13 Mustang convertibles! A great show for a great cause - Men’s health…

We had drinks on our Hotel deck before heading to the Fort Worth Coliseum for the Rodeo. And what a show it was! Fantastic atmosphere and we received a shout out from the MC and featured in the big screen several times.

We love Fort Worth!

16/09/2023

Day 13
Lubbock, Texas to Fort Worth Stockyards, Texas

Once again we avoided the Insterstate preferring the quieter country roads. Our first stop was the steel house at Ransom Canyon which is an architectural masterpiece that’s been on the cover of Vogue magazine.

The quaint town of Albany is the home of Hereford cattle then we made our way to the Blue Oval Car Barn in Mineral Wells. Finley Ledbetter has the best private collection of Mustangs in the world and his knowledge about Mustangs is unbelievable. We’re honoured to have a private tour with Finley and he unveiled 2 of his latest restorations to us.

Our base for the next 3 nights is the Fort Worth Stockyards- let the FUN begin!!!

15/09/2023

Day 12
Roswel, New Mexico to Lubbock, Texas

We had a free day to explore Lubbock- the Buddy Holly Centre is the main attraction and it was great to learn so much more about this Rock’n’Roll icon!

We also had a visit from a great tour friend Pete McQuire from Amarillo

14/09/2023

Day 11
Roswell, New Mexico to Lubbock, Texas

Roswell is world famous for its alien experiences and the entire downtown area is based on little green men. We visited the International UFO Museum & Research Centre which will question your belief in life outside our planet. Very interesting!

We then made our way across the border to TEXAS which is what the tour is based on. Our wonderful Hotel for the next 2 nights is the beautiful Cotton Court in Lubbock. What a great place!

One of our tour members jokingly asked us tonight “when is this tour group going to gel?”

We think we are already there - what a FUN bunch we have

13/09/2023

Day 10
Gallup to Roswell, New Mexico

Today was a big driving day as we avoided the interstates as much as possible, which saw us take quiet country roads through the. We Mexico countryside.
We visited “ A Very Large Array” which is 27 satellite dishes that receive all of the images we see of space.
Lunch was at The Golden Spur Saloon in Magdalena which is a cool old pub with lots of history. Our next stop was the Trinity site which is the location of the first atomic bomb test during the Manhattan Project in 1945.
Smoky the Bear was a real life bear cub that was rescued in a forest fire, we stopped for a photo at his memorial site.
The road we travelled was Billy the Kid Hwy and the historic town of Lincoln was where he famously escaped while waiting his ex*****on for murder.
For a bit of fun we had a tinfoil hat competition tonight as we are in Roswell which is world famous for Alien activity.

*Sorry if I missed some of you in the tinfoil hat comp, some of the photos turned out really blurry

12/09/2023

Day 9
Lake Powell to Gallup, New Mexico

We had to change our schedule for the day as our hike in Antelope Canyon was cancelled yesterday. Our day started with a visit to Horseshoe Bend which is the most photographed section on the Colorado River - check out the photos.

Antelope Canyon was well worth the change in our plans with a blue sky day making the experience even more special. We loved the expressions from our crew as every corner created a new photo opportunity.

We drove across beautiful Arizona country roads to the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup for the night.