Editor's note: Gilles Samson and his wife, Suzette, always wanted to travel around the United States. So after retiring from their jobs late last year, the two Canadians decided to combine their wanderlust with their love of golf. The Samsons will be driving their RV across the country and attending every PGA TOUR event in 2006. While on that journey, they'll be writing a diary for PGATOUR.com. This is their 38th installment.

Farmington, Penn. To San Antonio, Texas -- Having to travel 1,600 miles over a four-day span does not leave much room for sightseeing. It provides, however, for lots of surprises and awe-inspiring sceneries, especially at the turn of the fall season. As we reached the tip of West Virginia's panhandle, the sinuous roads of the Alleghenies were behind us and traveling on major highways through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas was a smooth and pleasant drive.

Valero Texas Open at La Cantera -- On Sunday, I started walking the course at the first hole, a 665-yard par 5 and joined the threesome of Brian Gay, Gary Hallberg and Daisuke Maruyama. It was their 10th hole as they had started on the back nine earlier in the day. This first hole gives an immediate feel for what is to be expected of the course. It is carved out of the foothills of the Texas hill country and is a slight dogleg to the right with a dramatic 125-foot drop in elevation. All players had good drives that landed in the same area. After inquiring about the driving distances, I found them to be 365, 375 and 374 yards, respectively. Despite the slight wind in their favour, it has become the type of distances achieved nowadays.

When I got to the seventh hole, a 316-yard par 4, Justin Rose, Dean Wilson and Chris Riley were ready to hit their drives. This hole offers a spectacular view of downtown San Antonio and a Texas theme park nearby. With an 80-foot elevation drop, it offers multiple options, including driving the green, providing that the wind works in your favor. Dean Wilson went for the green and was short by only 5 to 10 yards, but his ball rolled back at the water's edge. Nevertheless, he parred the hole. It was an exciting moment of the day.

At the 16th hole, a 380-yard par 4, I caught up with the threesome of Wes Short Jr., Robert Damron and Jonathan Kaye. This hole is considered drivable and they all went for it. Although none reached the green, one of them was pin-high on the left side (44 yards from the hole), one went over green (15 yards from the hole) and the last one went on the right side of the green, at 30 yards from the hole. Only Kaye birdied. The approach shots are made difficult by the high grass around the green, and Kaye succeeded in sinking a 27-foot putt. I saw a lot of long drives today, and one must wonder if pretty soon a 400-yard hole will not be deemed drivable by most professionals? And why not, it's very exciting?

One of the highlights of the week goes to Anthony Kim who finished tied for second place at his first PGA TOUR event. Kim, a 21-year old, played on a sponsor's exemption. He shot a 65 to finish at 12 under. Because of his performance, he now has an exemption into the PGA TOUR's Southern Farm Bureau Classic, the next tournament to be taking place in Madison, Miss.

Eric Axley, the winner of the Valero Texas Open, is the 11th first-time winner of the year and a rookie. He is 32 years old and has played in 27 events on the TOUR. His victory has earned him a two-year exemption on the PGATOUR. He led by four shots at the start of the day and completed the round with a birdie at the 18th for a 1-over 71 and a three-shot lead. Let's hope that we will have other opportunities to discover more of him before the closing of the season! Congratulations!

We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend at the tournament. The venue and the course layouts are unique. Running an event like a PGATOUR tournament requires an exceptionally well- trained and dedicated group of volunteers. We would like to highlight the warmth and generosity of all the volunteers we dealt with - on the shuttles back and forth to the parking lot, information requests, courtesy shuttles on site, entertainment, etc., etc. There is something about Texas and Texans that made us feel special.

First overnight stop: Louisville, Kentucky -- As we only had an hour or so to spare before dark, we decided to head first to Churchill Downs, home to one of the world's most famous horse races, the Kentucky Derby. Since it first began in 1875, the event of the year in Louisville takes place every first Saturday in May and most seats are by invitation only or they have been reserved years in advance. Both the venue and the dozens of thoroughbred horses we have seen in their stalls were quite impressive. We then drove to the historic district on the waterfront of the Ohio River to see, among other things, the 120-foot high baseball bat leaning against the Slugger Museum building. Louisville is also home to Hillerich & Bradsby Co. that has been producing world-class Slugger baseball bats since 1884. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to see more of the historic homes, museums, courthouse, concert halls and theaters that we passed by on our way back to our campground.

Second overnight stop: West Memphis, Arkansas -- We left early by a cool sunny morning on our way to Nashville, Memphis and to our campground, a few miles further west on the other side of the river bank in Arkansas. We knew very little about this campground and were thrilled to be assigned a lot overlooking the poetic Mississippi River. From the bench we were sitting on, we witnessed an unforgettable sunset and watched barges passing by, having in mind images of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, two main characters of Mark Twain's great Mississippi River books. Before hitting the road for another leg of our journey, we drank our coffee sitting on the same bench the next morning. The steamboats are long gone. However, the Mississippi River still plays an important role in the transportation of all kinds of goods and its legends endure.

Waco -- En route to San Antonio we stopped at Waco. Having to refuel, we decided to spend some time here as the April 19, 1993 standoff between the FBI agents and Branch Davidians was our first introduction to the area 13 years ago and we still have vivid memories of the event. The incident ended with a fire that destroyed the compound of Branch Davidians in Elk, near Waco and killed close to 80 people. The 51-day standoff had attracted the attention of the world and evolved into a media frenzy that gave the situation a worldwide notoriety. Thirteen years after the events, followers of the apocalyptic cult leader David Koresh are still meeting, albeit a very small group, amidst controversy about the reformation of the faith and the ownership of the remnants of the compound.

Waco is definitely not only about the above event and we discovered other interesting facts and saw another one of the beautifully designed Roebling's bridges in 1870. This bridge had a significant economic impact, attracting cattle runs from the nearby Chisholm Trail, and increasing the city's population as immigrants had a safe passage for their horse drawn carriages. In 1885, the soft drink Dr. Pepper was invented at the Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store. In the 1890s, it was heavily involved in the cotton market. In 1999, President George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas, purchased land outside of Crawford, approximately 17 miles west of Waco. Since the 2000 presidential election, Waco has been home to the various news bureaus covering the Western White House -- the private ranch and home of the President and Mrs. Laura Bush.

San Antonio -- The most historic and popular city in Texas, San Antonio has always been a crossroads and a meeting place. Sounds and flavours of American Indians, Old Mexico, Germans, the Wild West, African-American and the Deep South mingle and merge here. Spanish missionaries founded San Antonio de Valero in 1718 which was later converted into a military outpost and renamed the Alamo. "Remember the Alamo" was the battle cry that inspired Texans during their war for independence against Mexico in 1836 -- 189 defenders, including Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, held the old mission against some 4,000 Mexican troops for 13 days. Shortly after the Texas Republic was born. Texas was admitted to Union at the end of 1845 but seceded in 1861, was readmitted in 1870 and has flown the flags of Spain, Mexico, France, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy and the United States.

It was scorching hot (105 degrees F) on Saturday at the golf tournament, and we decided to drive downtown for a cruise on the San Antonio River along River Walk -- an open-air promenade in the middle of the city edged by hotels, restaurants, shops, sidewalk cafes, monuments, gardens and live music. After the cruise, we walked to most of the downtown attractions, including the Alamo Fort and the Plaza; La Villita, one of the original settlements and site of the signature of the surrender by Mexico; the San Fernando Cathedral, built in 1731 by Canary Islanders and Market Square; and the largest Mexican marketplace outside of Mexico.

We intend to see more of the San Antonio area and of the Hill Country before heading to Madison, Miss., for the next golf tournament.

Suzette and Gilles Samson