F-TYPE Savannah or

F-TYPE Savannah or Charleston brighten up the neighborhood. Or take a stroll through the Pearl neighborhood, named for the eponymous brewery that was once its focal point. At the center of the neighborhood revitalization is the Hotel Emma, a converted brewery built in 1894 that proves that Texas and luxury aren’t disparate concepts. Do the Riverwalk if the weather isn’t too humid. Eat some queso, because you have to, and drink a beer made from the local water. A hundred miles from Houston. The drive is nearly complete. At this point, the odometer of the F-TYPE SVR is reading hundreds of miles higher than expected. Everyone says it’s Texas, after all! It’s a reflex: everything is bigger in Texas. That’s the refrain. The terrain grows flatter and wider as the city skyline suddenly appears. Any discussion of Texas that does not mention Houston is incomplete. You can hastily dismiss Houston as an oil magnate’s megalopolis come to life, or really take a look at it. Suffer through the traffic and wade your way in. The city’s character is disjunctive and diglossic. Downtown, it’s laid out in the European tradition, replete with traffic circles, beautifully maintained public gardens, and a METRO. Spend more time in the museum district, or downtown, and get a sense of why people come to Houston and stay with the oppressive climate. You’ll learn a lot by staring at Houston’s skyline at sunset, wondering why this isn’t the Texas seat of power, but you come to respect Texas’ reverence for its past. Saying goodbye is hard once you’ve come to understand a place. Not that I understand Texas any more than I did 96 hours earlier, but at least I’ve seen some more of it. It’s also Your wallet will be lighter, but not enough to offset the heavenly intake of meat more difficult than anticipated to part with the F-TYPE SVR, which indulged my fantasy to take a road trip in a supercar. It’s the perfect metaphor for the perfect Texas road trip vehicle: an abstruse but irresistible powerhouse. I reflect a bit on the purpose of the trip. It wasn’t to change my mind about what Texas is, but to shed light on a part of the country that many perhaps tend to underestimate. To understand what America means today, you must visit Texas. You don’t have to agree with it, and you certainly don’t have to scramble to fill out forms to change your residence. Undoubtedly, you’ll see more of Texas in a short time if you choose to fly over it, but don’t be intimidated. Pick a great car and a few days, and take it slow. Outside (right, left) and inside San Antonio’s Hotel Emma built in the city’s old Pearl Brewery, named after Emma Koehler who ran it from 1914 74 THE JAGUAR

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