New Orleans to San Antonio

Jarvis Harris and Joe Foss are telling local audiences about their five-week, 4,600-mile tour of Black historical sites across the United States last fall. For additional insights into their journey and anti-racist work, please visit their website, AcceptingOthers.com. 

It was a full 15-hour train ride from New Orleans to San Antonio. We left early in the morning and got there around 10 p.m. We saw some pretty flat countryside along the way, spending considerable time in the observation car.

That day, we had breakfast, lunch and dinner on the train using the Snack Bar Car. We found some reasonable food and drink choices and ate in the observation car. We never used the dining car the whole journey, as it was expensive and required specific eating times.

Amtrak is such a relaxing way to travel, meet folks along the way, eat and rest as desired, and use cell and Wi-Fi service if desired as you pass through various metro areas.

Reading, visiting, and sightseeing were the primary activities on these long stretches of riding the rails. That was such a great time us to debrief and discuss what we had seen in our previous travels.

Jarvis: We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to New Orleans. We discovered lots of new and fun things and experiences there. Our trip to San Antonio was pretty good and once again filled with anticipation and excitement. It was mostly day travel, also. This allowed us to enjoy the observation car more.

One of my daughters, Mercedes, and several friends live in Texas. In fact, she picked us up from the Amtrak Station in San Antonio. Again, this was a place I hadn’t been, so I was further excited about being there. 

In our planning process, I’d wanted to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma and visit Greenwood Rising, a museum that focuses on the Tulsa Riots, Black Wall Street and the Greenwood neighborbood there.

However, the train didn’t really go in that direction. I’m saving it for my next trip, along with some other places we didn't get around to visiting.

Joe: This next portion of our rail journey from New Orleans all the way home to Lacey and Tacoma included the longest train rides of our entire journey.

This portion was also more about seeing and meeting family along the way home, as the last Black History Museum we visited was in Austin, Texas.

We had chosen San Antonio specifically to be able to spend time with Jarvis’ daughter Mercedes, who lives in Austin, about 80 miles north. The Sunset Limited Amtrak line kinda hugs the Gulf Coast area from New Orleans and ends in Los Angeles.

Since it does not go to Austin, the plan was for her to pick us up at Amtrak station in San Antonio and take us to our Motel 6 in Austin, which she did. It was really great to meet Mercedes after meeting his other daughter, Juanita, in Philadelphia.

She came by our hotel the first morning, and we enjoyed sharing breakfast at Denny’s right next door to our hotel, then went to find a laundromat to catch up on washing our clothes.

Our second night in Austin we decided to try one of their famous BBQ restaurants. Man, did we hit the jackpot! Honestly the best BBQ food I had ever had by far was at Terry Black’s Barbecue in Austin. This was truly scrumpdelicious food, done to perfection. I might consider flying to Austin just to eat there again.

Jarvis:  The George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center in Austin was a little smaller than I expected, but had some really good exhibits. As its long name suggests, it is focused on cultural and genealogy studies and exhibits. There were also lots of really interesting art and sculptures. They had a room to fill out and explore your family history. 

And of course, the people we encountered were fantastic. We had several great conversations with people throughout our trip. Our trip was during the period just prior to the election, and we ran into lots of people who talked about the importance of this time.

I’ll admit I was pretty hopeful about the election after talking to many of these people. However, I guess we were mistaken.  Since we were borrowing my daughter's car, we tried to stay fairly local. We did once again experience the cuisine of Texas BBQ … a man’s gotta eat. One more treat my daughter had for me. I finally got a real Italian water-ice. I haven’t had one since I was a kid in Philadelphia.

On our departure from Austin, we encountered a gentleman at the San Antonio train station, an employee who asked about our hats.

During our conversation he shared his discovery of his own heritage of being Puerto Rican. Some of his ancestors were Africans who had been brought to Puerto Rico during the transatlantic slave trade.

Jarvis Harris, of Lacey, is a retired U.S. Army veteran and former Pierce County corrections officer who now dedicates his time to personal passions and volunteering. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he settled in Lacey during his Army service.

Joe Foss, of Tacoma, is a Navy veteran and retired business owner who has been actively engaged in projects addressing racism in America since 2012.