Not quite so speedy once I got on the roads, as I hit the late afternoon traffic and crawled my way round the freeways of Houston.

Spent my first day visiting the Johnson space centre on the opposite side of the city, a 40 mile journey which is just quite how big this city is. 

The centre is very impressive especially the scale of the exhibits. There is the gigantic Saturn rocket, which propelled the astronauts towards the moon. Three tiny specks of humanity perched on top of a silo of liquid gas. Pushing them out into space, further than any man had gone before or since. In contrast there's the tiny module in which the astronauts sat, just a few millimetres of metal between them and the endless infinity of space.

The tour includes the tram ride into the centre itself and a visit to the original Houston control centre from where the moon landings were all engineered. From the outside, it's just a normal office block, but entering brings you in to the pages of history. The control room was retired in the 1970s and has been restored to look exactly as it did when the whole world turned its gaze towards Houston, relaying the signals received from the first men to walk off planet. 

And the centre still lives, just one floor down the new control centre is in full operational mode, controlling activities on the international space station, orbiting some 200 miles above the planet.

Some 30 miles past the space centre you reach Galveston for a pleasant stroll past the antique homes and a breath of Sea air.