McGregor, Texas - Coffee Shop Cafe and SpaceX

On Saturday, July 21, Dan and I went out for our Saturday morning breakfast. We drove to McGregor, TX, which is about a half-hour north of Temple. It's a small town of less than 5,000 people. We really enjoy eating at The Coffee Shop Cafe in McGregor. Apparently it was a favorite of George W. and Laura Bush. The Bush ranch is near Crawford, TX, just six miles north of McGregor. The Coffee Shop Cafe has a wonderful breakfast buffet, as well as service from the menu, if you prefer.

After breakfast at the Coffee Shop Cafe, we decided to try to visit the SpaceX test facility. From the road into McGregor, you can see the launch tower, where the rockets are tested, and it looks very close. We used our iPhone maps app, which kept sending us down one gravel road after another to get to SpaceX. But every one of those country roads was blocked off at some point, making it impossible to get to our goal. FINALLY, we found the proper road, which is the road that passes by McGregor High School. When we got to the gate, we chatted with the security officer, who told us that visitors were not allowed onto the property. I asked if we could take pictures, and he said we could do so from the road, but not while we were sitting at the gate, which was on their property. We also asked if they ever gave tours of the site, and he said that he knew school groups sometimes came for tours, as well as friends/family of employees, but he didn't know if individuals - like us - could arrange a tour. We're going to look into it.

We also want to go out to McGregor when they have their next rocket test, although we haven't yet found a public schedule. Rockets are not actually launched from this site; they are tested while being tethered down. Here's a YouTube video about it, if you're interested.

This is the gate, with the security officer's shed at the left.