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Travelogue: Texas (mostly),
March 2011
By
Roger W. Reini
By
date:
Prologue
This is a story of a trip to Texas in the early spring of
2011. The last time I’d been in Texas was in October 2009,
although I had passed through lands that used to be part of the
Republic of Texas when I took the train out to LA in March 2010.
And when I was in Florida in September and October, the terrain,
weather and greenery, and even some of the billboards, especially in
central Florida, reminded me so much of southeast Texas. But it
was time to go there for real, especially after a long, cold and snowy
winter in Michigan. There were places I really wanted to visit,
for I’d been unable to visit them on my last visit. Also, I was
getting antsy to ride my bikes outside, something that is not yet
consistently feasible in Michigan. I had ridden my recumbent trike on
February 19 on the rebuilt I-275 trail; the next day, it snowed 8
inches.
Top
Friday March 11
Miles today: 294.5
Miles total: 294.5
As I woke up this morning, I was suffering from yet another cold or
respiratory infection, with a nasty cough and a plugged nose. I’d
had difficulty getting to sleep, but I had gotten some sleep
overnight. As I stirred, I pulled over my laptop to check e-mail
and the morning news. That was when I saw that a major earthquake
had struck Japan and spawned a large tsunami. The snow that had
fallen overnight was a minor consideration in the overall scheme of
things, compared to this quake and tsunami. It would become more
important when I set off for work. I turned on the TV; CNN and
BBC News showed the devastation. Tsunami warnings were out for
the entire Pacific basin. And while that was happening, I was
getting ready for work and getting ready to set out on my
vacation. As I checked Facebook this morning, I learned of a
personal connection to this event: high school classmate and friend
David Zabalaoui was in Hawaii (Maui) with his girlfriend, and Hawaii
was under a tsunami warning. Their car had been moved to higher
ground, and their room was on the 8th floor, so they were prepared to
ride it out.
I finished up my packing and put the last few bags into the SUV.
I checked to see if newspapers had not been delivered; I’d halted
delivery for my vacation. The Detroit papers had not been
delivered, but the Wall Street Journal had been. I’d have to make
a complaint about that. Now it was time to load the bike on the bike
rack. I had to open up the garage door to do that; I had some
problems with the pull cord on the door getting caught on the rack, but
I eventually overcame that. And so, at 6:30 in the morning, I
pulled out of the garage and set off on snowy and slushy streets for
the office. The drive was a bit slower than normal, as expected,
but I didn’t have major difficulties making it in on time or reasonably
close to it. When I got out of my SUV, I noticed that the bottoms
of the bike wheels were covered in slush! The gears might have
received a coating as well. I hoped that no long-term issues
would result from that. I’d be heading towards warmer weather
later in the afternoon, and the slush would become a distant memory.
Work went reasonably well today. I had no major crises to fend
off, and I had no meetings in the afternoon. I was coughing a
lot, though, which irked me to no end. After I finished the last
thing I had on my to-do list, I figured I could head out a little bit
early, especially since I’d put in extra time the last two days.
Also, there was some work I could do while on vacation, such as
cleaning up a transcription of old training videos I’d done some 14
years ago. And so it was that I set out on my trip a bit after
2:30.
The snow from the morning had turned to water on the roadways, so the
only hindrance to my driving was dirty windows, and washer fluid took
care of those. After I left work, I went south on Pelham, which
became Allen Road, and took that to its intersection with I-75.
Traffic southbound was moderately heavy. I passed by the Auto
Alliance plant, the Ford-Mazda joint venture plant that builds the
Mustang. The weather was partly cloudy, a good sign for the start
of a vacation. Forty-five minutes later, I was in Toledo.
It wasn’t rush hour yet, so I had no problem getting through
there. I did see a backup on I-75 northbound south of Toledo, but
that didn’t affect me at all. My first gas stop of the trip was a
Love’s store in North Baltimore, and then it was back on the road.
For my radio listening this afternoon, I stuck with the news channels:
BBC, CNN and Fox. The reports coming from Japan and elsewhere
about the quake and tsunami were too compelling to ignore. I was
especially interested in what was happening on the West Coast, and
there were reports of damage in Oregon and south of San Francisco.
Onward I drove, down through Findlay, Lima, Sidney, Troy, and the north
part of Dayton. This was the route I would normally drive to get
to the annual Hamvention in May. But this evening, I would turn
west on I-70 and drive toward Indianapolis. The sun was low on
the horizon, and I had to use my sun visor for much of the time.
I made a rest area stop just before crossing into Indiana, and then I
kept going. As I drove through Richmond, I saw several billboards
for Tom Raper RV (an unfortunate name, but it would be worse if it were
Tom Rapist). After sunset, I started seeking Jupiter in the sky;
it would be straight ahead of me, more or less. When I saw it, I
then started to look for Mercury, which I knew would be close by.
The clouds made it difficult, but I did find it. I’d seen Mercury
before, but not very many times.
Finally, I arrived in Indianapolis and stopped at my destination for
the evening, the Holiday Inn Express at I-70 and Shadeland. My
room, room 211, was a mini-suite with a king-size bed and a bar
area. I didn’t stay long, for I was hungry, and I walked to the
Bob Evans across the street for dinner. The chicken parmesan was
very good tonight; I couldn’t finish it all. If I’d been at home,
I’d have taken the leftovers with me, but that wasn’t feasible, not
during vacation. Back in the room, I turned on CNN and continued
to follow the tsunami coverage. The latest development: at least
one nuclear power plant in Japan was overheating and might be in danger
of a meltdown.
Top
Saturday March 12
Miles today: 664.3
Miles total: 958.8
I fell asleep to CNN. When I woke up, I turned off the TV and
went back to sleep. My sleep wasn’t the best, given my cough and
stuffy nose, but I might have slept better than last night. I
woke up for good around 5:10, checked e-mail and turned CNN back
on. There had been an explosion at one of those nuclear plants
overnight; that could not have been good. Later in the morning, I
made a donation via GlobalGiving to quake and tsunami aid.
Now I wanted to attend a hamfest in Terre Haute this morning; I’d set
up my route so that I’d pass through Terre Haute. The hamfest
started at 8, and while I didn’t need to get there right when the doors
opened, I did want to get there fairly early. The hotel’s
breakfast started at 7, which I felt was a little late for optimal
timing for the fest. And so I checked out just before 7 and set
off for Terre Haute without partaking of the Holiday Inn Express
breakfast. It was quite chilly this morning; the thermometer in
the car said it was 45, but it seemed cooler than that. The bag
that I’d put on my bike seat had shredded apart, so I removed it before
setting off. My route took me through downtown Indianapolis,
which gave me a good view of Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts
play. There was no traffic on Saturday morning, and so I was
through Indianapolis in hardly any time at all.
Now I had an idea where the hamfest was, but I needed good directions,
and so I stopped at a rest area to hook up my GPS unit and program in
the address of the armory where the fest would be held. It guided
me there perfectly, and when I arrived, the parking lot was quite
full. I saw some Guard members outside the front door; you’d
expect to see that at an armory. It turned out there was a Guard
activity there today; a number of teenagers were there, participating
in a run. Were they potential recruits? Perhaps. The
fest was a small one, compared to the ones I usually attended, but I
recognized one regional vendor. One of the vendors bore a strong
resemblance to a recently-deceased member of the Ford Amateur Radio
League. Coincidentally, they both were named Bob. I didn’t
get a chance to talk to him, though. I bought a few items there: the
latest copy of the ARRL Handbook, a bag of antistatic bags, and some
tie straps.
When I left the hamfest, I drove through Terre Haute and stopped for
gas before getting back onto I-70. Satellite radio was my
constant companion as I drove throughout the day. Today, I
listened mainly to the news channels in the morning: BBC, CNN, Fox,
occasionally CBC. This kept me informed about the aftermath of
the Japanese quake and tsunami. I didn’t stay with them the whole
time, though; close to noon, I’d tuned in the 80‘s on 8, which was
doing a countdown program featuring the songs of March 1981. By
the time I’d reached Mount Vernon, IL, I was hungry for lunch. I
stopped at a McDonald’s and had one of their chicken sandwiches.
As I ate, I checked my e-mail on my MacBook Pro.
When I left, it was after noon Eastern. The weekly American Top
40 repeat was airing on 70’s on 7; which week was airing this
week? March 1971, as it turned out, and so I kept listening to
that. 1971 was the year before I started listening to AT40 and
buying records, but I was starting to become more aware of popular
music. I kept listening for the entire time, for there was some
pretty good music playing. Later, at 3 PM Eastern, the 60’s on 6
started ITS countdown program, which this week was for March
1965. All of them were pretty good.
Onward I drove through Illinois on I-57, Missouri and Tennessee and
Mississippi on I-55. I saw signs for a restaurant in Sikeston,
Missouri advertising its “throwed rolls”; I didn’t stop. I passed
through Blytheville and West Memphis, Arkansas; I didn’t stop in either
place. Traffic got heavier in Memphis; construction didn’t help
with that. When I entered Mississippi, I pulled off at the first
rest area and welcome center for a restroom stop, a chance to refill my
water bottle, and the ability to reserve a room for the night.
Now where would I want to stop? Jackson was a little under 200
miles away, a bit far, but there weren’t any major cities en
route. I decided to stop in Canton, some 15 miles north of
Jackson, and made my reservation for the Hampton Inn there.
As I set off down I-55 again, I noticed the road was also signed as
I-69, at least for a stretch. If I-69 ever gets built all the way
down to Texas, I might be driving that route. But today, it was
I-55 all the way. The sun got lower in the west, and then it
set. I became a little concerned that deer might decide to cross
the road; fortunately, none did. I tried to look for Jupiter and
Mercury again; it was a harder task, because they were not directly in
front of me but off to the side. Still, there were times when the
road curved in the right direction and the trees cleared that I could
see the two planets approaching each other.
By 7:30, I had arrived in Canton and done my basic unpacking. I
had noticed a Western Sizzlin steakhouse down the street, and so I went
there for dinner. My entree was sirloin tips with a baked potato,
both of which were good. However, the buffet bar there was
overpriced and understocked; I actually was charged the price of the
buffet as a standalone meal (there was no option of the buffet with an
entree, as there was of the salad bar with an entree). What’s
more, it took me a long time to be given my drink (and a refill of that
drink) and silverware. While the food was all right, the service
was not the best, and the pricing was too much for what I got. I
wouldn’t go back there again. Back at the hotel, the desk clerk
greeted me as I headed towards the elevator. She reminded me of
Betty Alexander, one of the members of the Detroit Bahá’í community.
Now it was time to rest. I turned on CNN and kept up with the
latest on the quake and tsunami aftermath, which included a worsening
situation with the nuclear reactors. Were they in danger of
experiencing a meltdown? It sure seemed that way. As I
watched and/or listened, I typed up a few notes from today for use in
this travelogue, and when I got tired, I went to bed.
Top
Sunday March 13
Miles today: 565.0
Miles total: 1524.2
When I woke up, I took a shower, and then I went to the lobby for
breakfast. Thanks to the combination of the transition to
Daylight Saving Time and my traveling to the Central time zone, I
didn’t have to adjust my watch, my car’s clock, or my internal body
clock. How convenient! But later on, after I’d hit the road
around 8 o’clock, I knew that things were different. The radio
programs were on one hour earlier than I was accustomed to, which would
make sense because I was now on Central time. That meant the
repeat of American Top 40 was now on, and Breakfast with the Beatles
was also on. I listened to both of them, first the start of AT40
(I’d missed that yesterday) and then BWTB.
There was some fog on I-55 south of Jackson, but it eventually
passed. There was also a Nissan plant in Canton. I rolled on down
the highway until I crossed into Louisiana, and then I stopped at the
Welcome Center. Now I was planning to visit Reeves Zabalaoui
(father of Keith, David and Jamie) in Hammond, and I tried to call
either him or Keith, who was visiting his dad along with his
daughters. But I had no coverage on my T-Mobile phone in that
location. To be more specific, I was receiving roaming coverage,
but I didn’t want to pay roaming rates. My MiFi connection
through Verizon had a good non-roaming connection, though, and so I
sent Keith an e-mail letting him know where I was. I continued
down to Hammond, exiting at the first exit for the city. By this
time, I had a good non-roaming phone connection, and so I called
Reeves. He gave me his address, which I entered into my GPS
device. I was around 5 miles away from his house, as it turned
out, and the GPS guided me through the back streets of Hammond.
Keith’s daughter Becca was out playing with Lily the dog, and they
welcomed me. Everyone welcomed me, in fact, eventually.
Now I had no specific plans for how long I’d be staying. Turns
out that the Zabalaouis had plans for going to a puppy parade.
This was actually part of the “Mardi Paws” event in Mandeville, on the
north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. They invited me to go, and I said
yes, thinking it wouldn’t take very long. Well, we drove several
miles to meet up with some relatives, and then we drove several miles
further. I didn’t know where we were going, but when I started to
see signs for the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, I wondered if we were
going into New Orleans. No, we didn’t go into the city, but we
struggled to find a parking spot for the festival and parade. I
found one on a city street. We met up and walked to the lakefront
park where the festival was being held. And a big festival it
was, with dressed-up dogs all over the place. There was a kissing
booth for kissing various dogs. There was an obstacle course for
dogs to run. There was an area for children to pet goats and
ducks. We were there for quite a while, but the parade never
seemed to get under way. In fact, we gave up waiting for it and
headed back to Hammond. We didn’t head back to the house, though;
no, we went to Middendorf’s restaurant on I-55 south of Hammond in the
town of Akers. The restaurant split into two locations right next
to each other over the years. We went into the southern
restaurant, which I understood to be the original location. Now
I’d been advised that the place was known for its thin and crispy
catfish, and so that’s what I ordered. It was pretty good,
although the portions were way too big and I had leftovers. I
gave mine to Reeves to take home, for I wouldn’t be able to take them
with me.
It was after 5 when I resumed my trip toward Houston. I hadn’t
thought I’d be staying as long as I had today, and I had a long drive
ahead of me. It wasn’t a particularly eventful drive through
Baton Rouge, the Atchafalaya River basin, Lafayette and Lake Charles,
just a long one. It was well after dark when I arrived at the
Texas Welcome Center. There were two raccoons wandering around,
and one of them stood by as I opened the lid on the garbage can to dump
my trash. He didn’t show much fear of man, I thought to myself as
I went to the restroom. Back on the road, I continued
westward. The road narrowed to one lane east of Beaumont, which
delayed me some more. Soon, I was in familar territory: Winnie --
Mont Belvieu -- Anahuac -- Baytown -- Channelview. Now I turned
onto the East Loop and followed that around to where it became the
South Loop, and then I headed west until Highway 288, the South
Freeway. Even after dark, the sights were reasonably familiar to
me. I noticed it was after 11 o’clock; the repeat of Breakfast
with the Beatles was starting, and so I turned it on and listened to
it. It seemed strange to listen to a breakfast show so close to
midnight, but the music was still just as good. A few miles south on
288 took me to FM 518. Four miles to the east, and there it was:
the Hampton Inn. It was so late that the desk clerk had to open
the front door to let me in so I could check in. I got my key and
then pulled around to the back of the building near the back
door. I brought up the two bags that would tide me over for the
night; the rest could wait until morning. I was tired, and I
wanted to go to sleep.
Top
Monday March 14
When I first popped awake, the clock said 5:15. I didn’t actually
get up until it said 5:35. But the clock was wrong, I learned
later. When I was outside unloading my car the rest of the way of
bags I didn’t feel like unloading last night, I checked my watch.
It read 7:15, and I thought, something’s wrong here. My watch
does not adjust automatically for DST. When I checked my laptop
time, I knew that the room clock was wrong and that I’d gotten more
sleep last night than I had thought.
The Hampton Inn had its regular and customary breakfast bar with the
now-customary waffle iron. My first attempt at a waffle failed,
as it came apart during removal. After the room attendant sprayed
non-stick coating on it, the second waffle attempt worked
beautifully. It tasted great, as did the small yogurt and the
English muffin. Well, the muffin had been cut strangely, as one
side was much smaller than the other. The Weather Channel was on
the TV, but it was the national version, with no local updates.
For that, I’d have to check the web or local TV. And there was a
front heading this way, with thunderstorms along and in front of
it. This morning didn’t seem like a good time to go for a bike
ride. Fortunately, I’d recovered the seat with a bag -- just the
cushion, not the back, which was mesh and didn’t need to be covered.
Now that biking was out of the scope of the morning activities, what
would I do? I’d already downloaded and identified the pictures I
took on the way down and in Louisiana. I thought I would go
to Baybrook, visit the Apple Store and check out the iPad 2, then go to
Fry’s afterwards. So that’s what I did. I drove through
Pearland on 518, remembering how empty much of the countryside was when
my dad and I would return from the dentist. It certainly wasn’t
that empty now! I found the intersection with Dixie Farm Road,
which I knew would take me to the freeway. As I neared Baybrook,
I noticed that the old Circuit City building north of the mall had been
leveled; there was no sign of it now.
I parked over by Macy’s in my “traditional” location and went
inside. After making my way through the women’s clothing and the
makeup areas, I was in the main mall. Soon, I was at the Apple
Store, and there I saw the iPad 2 in the flesh. I picked it up;
it felt lighter, and it felt different in my hand than my iPad 1.
But I wasn’t motivated to immediately get one. If I hadn’t
already owned one, I would have. So I left and walked around for
a bit. On the other side of the mall, though, I felt tired and
sat down. Perhaps my illness was flaring up again. I didn’t
feel like going to any other store, and so I went back to my car and
went down to Fry’s. It still seemed weird to pass through the
Nasa Road 1 intersection where the freeway passes over the road, rather
than the other way around. Soon, I was at Fry’s. I could
almost always find something to buy there, but not today. I
walked around through most of the departments, but there wasn’t
anything that I had to get
It was getting close to noon, which meant it was lunchtime. I
thought I’d go to Laredo’s for lunch, but when I reached Nassau Bay, I
decided that I didn’t feel like eating anything. I wasn’t feeling
well, so I turned around and headed back to the hotel. As I drove
back, the thunderstorms arrived. Along with the storms came a
cold front; temperatures dropped dramatically. I was glad that I
had two coats in the car, for I needed to put one on when I visited
Walgreens for a bottle of water, a bottle of diet cherry Coke, and a
bottle of Pepto-Bismol.
Back at the hotel, I holed up in my room, drank the water, drank some
of the Diet Coke, took some Pepto, and lay down on the couch.
Thus began my afternoon and evening of misery, where at times I felt
hot and sweaty, and other times I felt chilled. I didn’t feel
like eating anything; I’m not sure I would have been able to keep it
down, anyway. Did I have a case of food poisoning? Was the
catfish from yesterday causing me grief today? Did I have something
else going on? I did not know. I didn’t do anything else the rest
of the day. I didn’t feel like doing anything else.
Top
Tuesday March 15
I did sleep, though not very well. When daylight broke, I
went downstairs to the breakfast bar to have something to eat, for I
hadn’t had anything since yesterday’s breakfast. I didn’t push myself;
I went light, eating some yogurt and a muffin. Back in the room,
I continued to rest for a bit. Suddenly, I heard the door
open. I sprang out of bed! It was only the maid, grabbing
the used towels. Still, I was perturbed. I’d set the
deadbolt, and no one should have been able to enter.
Now I didn’t feel completely normal, but I was feeling better than I
had been. And so I decided to drive into town. Perhaps I’d
find a place to park and ride some of the trails that I wanted to
ride. I set off on 518 heading west toward 288 and the South
Freeway, which is what I would take into town. I turned off onto
the South Loop, which eventually became the West Loop. The
intersections seem to have been reconfigured since my last visit, and
there seemed to be a few more of them. I never remembered an exit
for Westpark from the West Loop, yet there was one now. I
continued north until the exit for Memorial Drive and Woodway
Drive. As I drove down Memorial, I didn’t see any place to pull
off for the trails. I continued heading eastward, looking for
parking spots for the trails along Buffalo Bayou, but I didn’t see any.
Now I was in downtown. No, I didn’t want to park downtown.
So I thought maybe Hermann Park would be a better bet, and so I headed
there. That turned out to be a mistake, for traffic in the park
was really heavy. It was spring break week, I’d learn later, and
zoo traffic was really high. I couldn’t find a place to park in
the park! So I drove up Main Street back to and through downtown
and maneuvered my way over to Memorial Drive again. I turned off
on one of the side streets in the park. That’s when I saw signs
that the main trail in the park was exclusively for pedestrians: no
bicycles allowed. I wouldn’t be doing any riding here
today. Now it was getting close to lunchtime, and I was feeling a
bit hungry. That was a good sign after my illness
yesterday. Unfortunately, I also had to use the restroom rather
badly, perhaps an aftermath of the illness. The Memorial Golf
Course had a Beck’s Prime restaurant in its clubhouse, and so I decided
to pay a visit. I ordered a hickory burger and a bag of jalapeño
potato chips, along with a bottle of water. The burger was all
right, but I couldn’t finish it.
Since my biking attempts were thwarted, I decided to head back to
Pearland. My first stop was the Barnes & Noble on Broadway,
which was in the shopping mall there. I passed it by the first
time because it faced in a direction where I couldn’t see it heading
west, but I eventually found my way there. I had to visit the
restroom a couple of times there (not good), but I also found an
Arcadia Publishing history book on Seabrook, which I had heard
about. It looked interesting, and so I bought a copy. Soon,
I was on my way back to the hotel, but not before stopping at a
Walgreen’s for generic Imodium. I took two of those pills once I
got back to the hotel. As I rested in my room, I heard the door
lock turn. It was the maid again, dropping off washcloths and
towels. This time, I hung the Do Not Disturb sign on my door.
When evening rolled around, I was hungry for something, but not
anything heavy. I drove down to a Kroger and went inside, getting
some hummus, flat bread, and a bottle of low-calorie Gatorade.
That made for an interesting supper. Later, as sunset approached,
I wanted to attempt to see Jupiter and Mercury together in the sky
again. If the opportunity arose, I’d want to take a picture of
the apparent conjunction. The opportunity did arise, for it was
mostly clear as twilight began. I set up the camera on the
tripod. First, a couple of pictures of the moon. Then, a
search for Jupiter -- there it was, in the west! And soon
thereafter, Mercury to the right of Jupiter. I took a few
pictures of the planets -- some were in focus, but some were not.
The ones in focus turned out pretty well, I thought. And now it
was time to start packing, as I’d be checking out in the morning.
Top
Wednesday March 16
Well, today I would leave Pearland. Fortunately, I had gotten
a reasonable night’s sleep, and when I woke up, I was feeling quite a
bit better. I had Cheerios, a banana and a danish for breakfast
down in the lobby, and I started to load the car. It was cloudy
outside, but rain was not in the forecast. Fog might be down on
the coast, though. That was of interest to me, as I planned to go
to Galveston for the day.
I had spent too many days being sick and tired. I wanted to ride
my bike! And today, I had a chance. I checked out and set
out on 518 heading east. Once again, I traveled down to Dixie
Farm Road and turned to pick up the freeway. Traffic wasn’t bad
at all; I wouldn’t expect it to be, not for outbound in the
morning. It seemed weird passing through the Nasa 1 intersections
and the 518 intersection, all of which were dramatically different from
how I remembered them and experienced them for so many years.
Later, I noticed where the new Hampton Inn in League City was; I’d be
staying there the next four nights. It wasn’t too long before I
was heading over the causeway into Galveston. Destination:
Seawall Boulevard!
I turned on 61st Street to head over to the seawall by the quickest
route, and soon I found a parking spot around 59th Street. I got
out and started to unload the bike and load up the panniers with the
necessary bike tools and supplies. I needed to pump up the rear
tire a little bit before I set off; once I took care of that, I set off
on my trip. I got as far as the 1900 memorial before I realized
I’d forgotten something important: my water bottle. It was back
in my car. So I pedaled back to the car to retrieve it.
Bottle in hand (or in bottle holder mounted to bike), I set off
again. The wind was not coming directly from offshore; I had a
slight headwind to contend with. I was glad to have been wearing
a jacket, for it was a little bit chilly with the clouds and the
wind. And if I got too warm, I could always remove it and stuff
it into my pannier.
As I reached the 1900 Memorial again, I had a problem with one of my
pants legs: it got caught in the chain and gears. Fortunately, I
was able to recover and not tip over, but it was close. What’s
more, I wearing a pair of pants that could convert into shorts by
unzipping the bottom part of the pants leg. It was necessary for
me to do this, and the unzipped pants legs went into the pannier.
Onward I rode. Soon, I could see the hulk of the Flagship Hotel
in the distance. But this time, it was different. It was
being demolished, piece by piece. Never again would it be a
hotel. Plans are to restore the pier to its original function as
the Pleasure Pier. It would seem weird to not see the Flagship
anymore; for me, it had always been there. I took some pictures,
for this would likely be the last time I’d ever see it.
The seawall soon bent away from the coastline; I followed it. I
followed the seawall all the way to the end, taking care to avoid the
occasional glass debris. Off in the distance, a parade of ships
were steadily heading out to sea. Some people came by, off to do
some fishing. One of them asked about the bike, if I’d made it
myself. No, I said, it was a commercial model, made by a company
that no longer exists. I received quite a few comments about the
BikeE today, and I even encountered another recumbent rider. He
told me about his ride from Galveston to San Diego; it took him eight
weeks. That had to have been a rough ride.
When I started to ride back, I rode at the top of the seawall until it
came back down to the regular level, and then I made my way into
downtown through the UT Medical Branch. I rode past John Sealy
Hospital and the Shriners Burn Hospital, places I’d heard about for so
many years, places I hope I never have to visit as a patient but am
glad are there if I must. I pedaled up and down the Strand and
through many of the streets of downtown, seeing some unusual sights as
a building covered with ghost signs and pigeons nesting in the decaying
marquee of the old Martini Theater. I never saw a movie there,
but the name was familiar to me from newspaper ads and from the late
Houston sports reporter Anita Martini; her family owned the
theater. I’ll never forget her anchoring overnight coverage on
KPRC radio during hurricane Alicia. And near the theater, I saw a
mark on a wall and the name “Ike” written above; that must have been
the high-water mark in that part of town during hurricane Ike.
I pedaled back to Seawall Boulevard and got back on the seawall.
It was much more crowded than when I started out, so progress was slow
at times. I passed by what was left of the Balinese Room, the
Flagship, the 1900 Memorial and the nearby historical marker (still not
repaired after Ike). When I reached 59th Street (where my car was), I
decided to press on to the other end of the seawall. Then I could
say I had biked the full length of the seawall in a day. It
wasn’t all that difficult to do, really, although my rear end was
beginning to get a bit sore. At the western end, I took a few
pictures and then set back towards 59th Street. That return trip
meant a return to the headwind, so it was tougher going heading back,
but I made it. Now I knew that I was getting close to reaching
100 miles of riding for the year; I thought I needed 24 miles to be
sure of reaching it. But when I reached my car, I stopped, short
of 24 miles. With the crowds on the seawall now, it wasn’t worth
it. So I recorded my mileage and loaded the bike back onto its
rack. As I pulled out, another car was ready to pull in.
It was around 1:30 when I left. I’d worked up an appetite, and I
was finally ready to visit Laredo’s. After heading over the
causeway, I went up 146, through Texas City, San Leon, Bacliff and
Kemah before reaching Seabrook. When I pulled up, though, the
Open sign in the window was not lit. Were they open? I
tried the door; yes, they were open! I went back to my car for my
laptop, and then I sat down for my meal. First came the chips
with three different salsas: the traditional red, a pico de gallo, and
a green, creamy sauce. While I nibbled on those, I entered the
mileage from today’s ride into my log. Success! I had
indeed reached 100 miles for the year today -- just. The count:
100.01 miles. The chips were good, and the Laredo meal I had
today was good as well, although I couldn’t finish it all. There
was something different about the enchiladas and the beans, though.
They didn’t taste like they used to. Now it was getting close to
3, still a little early to check in at the hotel but not too early to
start heading there. And so I made my way to the Victory Lakes
area (FM 646 and the freeway) and spent some time at the Best
Buy. The store had an Apple section, showing the latest models on
display, including iPad 2’s. But what caught my eye was a small
hard drive that promoted an upgradable interface, suggesting it could
be upgraded to USB 3.0 in the future. My current laptop didn’t have USB
3, but future ones might, either directly or through a Thunderbolt
adapter. And I was looking for a drive so I could continue to do
Time Machine backups on the road. It seemed like a good deal, and
so I got it.
The Hampton Inn was just up the street -- just up two streets, in
fact. I drove there via the back way from the Best Buy, and soon
I was checking in. The hotel was very new and looked it.
Even the rooms looked fancier than other Hampton Inns I’d been
in. What’s more, my room had a shower, but not a tub. That
was different, at least for Hampton Inn. The view out the window
was to the north. Ahead was a small retaining pond, and past that
the UTMB clinic. To the left was the Gulf Freeway, to the right
the Victory Lakes subdivision and empty land. I could see
northbound traffic backing up, although I had no idea why.
Later on, I went out for supper. Actually, I went for takeout at
the Wingstop, a place specializing in chicken wings. I got a
combo of some wings, fries and a Diet Coke to take back to the
hotel. The wings were good, if messy; the fries, less so.
The Diet Coke was Diet Coke, what else needs to be said? And so I
listened to and watched CNN as I ate; the news was all about Japan and
the nuclear reactor incidents.
Top
Thursday March 17
I had fallen asleep to CNN on TV. Suddenly, around 1 in the
morning, I was jolted awake by something I’d rather not disclose.
Was it a return of my illness from Monday? It seemed like it in some
ways, but it felt different this time. It kept me awake the rest of the
night. Later in the morning, I eventually obtained relief.
I was tempted to blame the Diet Coke, which in retrospect may have
contributed to what I felt Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, as
well as a previous incident. And so I vowed not to have any
caffeinated drinks any more, not for a while, perhaps ever.
When breakfast time rolled around, I still wasn’t feeling the best, so
all I had was a cup of yogurt and a muffin, which weren’t bad. I
read my complimentary USA Today and could hear the Today show in the
background; I couldn’t see it because the TV screen was blocked from
view. Later, I decided to drive over to the Super Target, which
was on the south side of 646. There, I picked up a few
necessities and then ended up going on a little drive. I drove up
Calder Drive its whole length -- well, the whole length up to Highway
96, that is. Parts, I’d never been on; other parts, I had, and
they still looked familiar. The Safari mobile park was still
there, but so were a number of new subdivisions. I maneuvered my
way over to Newport and drove past our old house; it was still in good
shape. I drove into town on Main Street, went down Highway 3 and
made my way back to the hotel. I was feeling a bit better by this
time, though I was not 100%. The maids had been by; my room had been
made. So I decided to rest up for a bit, and the rest did me good.
While I rested, I was reading one or two e-books from my iPad and had
some NCAA tournament games on the TV in the background. A couple
of hours later, the problems of overnight were gone, and I thought I
had a good idea how to avoid a repeat: no more caffeine. The
weather outside was sunny and reasonably warm, so I thought I would
ride my recumbent bike through League City. I prepped the bike,
not bothering to bring a camera this time; I could do that another
time. Then I set out.
I took a shortcut through a car wash that took me to Walker
Street. But I had to go south a bit in order to U-turn
north. The wind was at my back as I pedaled more or less north
through mostly open field. I stopped at the light at Highway
96. When the light changed, I started up again. I passed by
new subdivisions and soon reached the civic center, home to the police
station, library, pool and city hall. City Hall was torn up and
under renovation; the offices had moved elsewhere temporarily.
The library was much larger than when I lived here, but I had already
known that. Otherwise, things looked quite familiar to me.
I crossed Highway 3 and then the railroad tracks. Now I was in
the older part of League City. There were the Little League
fields. Over there, League City Elementary, both old and new
buildings. Here, there was a hair salon in a house; I think I
visited that salon a few times when I was a teen and still had a lot of
hair.
I crossed Main Street and passed by League Park with its gazebo and
playground. I made my way over to Kansas Street, which at one
time was part of the recommended road between Galveston and Houston,
and pedaled it to its northern end. There was the cemetery.
There was the “treehouse” in the lot next to it (really a room on
stilts); I went there a few times to play guitar with the guy who lived
there. There was the barricade at the end of the road; there
would have been an old bridge there many years ago, but it was long
gone. Yes, this ride was bringing back memories for me. I’d
want to do this again before I left.
I took Walker Street back to the hotel. The part of the road west
of the police station didn’t exist when I lived here; it’s all
new. It also was a tiring ride, as I had a strong headwind all
the way back to the hotel. But I made it there. Now what
would I do for supper? I had a strong craving for Laredo’s again,
even though I’d just been there yesterday. But after this trip, I
would certainly not be going back during my vacation. And so, I
made the drive over on Highway 96 (I must resist the temptation to call
it I-96) to Kemah, and then up on 146 to Seabrook and Laredo’s.
This evening, I had a Special Dinner, which had two cheese enchiladas
instead of one enchilada and a pork tamale, and a taco instead of a
taco and a chalupa. But I decided to start off with some tortilla
soup, minus the chicken. The soup was made from chicken stock,
and I thought it was some of the best tortilla soup I’d ever had.
The enchiladas and refried beans were not quite as good as I remembered
them, just as I had thought yesterday. However, the taco was
still good, and the chips and the sauces were still excellent.
Now would I return? For the soup and the sauces, yes. Maybe
not so much for the traditional dinners, though. It seemed the
restaurant had changed on me. Did I still consider it my
favorite? I wasn’t sure. Then it was back to the hotel for the
evening. It was time to watch more of the first round of the NCAA
basketball tournament and to see how well I was doing in the bracket
game set up by my friend David Horrigan (although I’ve won it twice, I
would end up doing poorly this year).
Top
Friday March 18
I woke up for good around 7:30 this morning; it was already light
outside. I’d fallen asleep to the basketball last night and woke
up during a repeat of the Conan show, after which I’d turned everything
off and properly gone to sleep. And now, after yesterday’s
illness flareup and my bike ride, I needed and got a good night’s
sleep. I took my time getting ready for breakfast. There
was no need to hurry. And when I went down to the lobby for the
meal, the scrambled eggs, sausage patty and muffin were good.
It was cloudy outside, but rain wasn’t in the forecast. Now I had
not brought along a camera during yesterday’s bike ride. Here
looked like a good opportunity for another ride and, this time, the
chance to catalog it. And so I decided to set out again on my
bike. It was windy again from the south or southeast, so I’d
likely have a harder time heading back to the hotel again. I
brought both of my cameras with me for convenience; the larger one went
into the pannier, the smaller one went into one of my pockets.
Off I rode. I followed the same route as yesterday, except I
didn’t cut through the car wash lot. I took a picture of the
hotel and some pictures of its surroundings. When I reached City
Hall, I took a picture of the renovations underway there. Back
across Highway 3 I went. Today, though, I turned on Clear Creek
Avenue and rode past the old post office, which was now a banquet
hall. After taking some pictures in the area, I rode across the
railroad tracks and made my way over to the elementary school for more
pictures. I tried to cross Main Street at Kansas, where there was
no traffic light; I got caught mid-street. Fortunately, no one
ran me over as I walked the bike the rest of the way. I pedaled
up to the cemetery, noting the many Japanese names I found there.
Rice farmers from the early 20th century, no doubt. Then I made
my way through the back streets towards the Butler Longhorn Museum, the
old Water Hall mansion (Hall owned League City Bank & Trust and
other banks in the area). I’d ridden my bike through these
streets as a teen some 30 years ago, and some of the sights were
familiar. Still, I was venturing down some of the streets for the
very first time.
After a close pass of the creek, I encountered a park I’d never seen
before. Heritage Park had been dedicated in 2008 (no wonder I’d
never seen it before) and was adjacent to the Butler museum. When
I was there, it was probably the Halls’ backyard. I stopped for a
while to walk around and admire the park, which was nice, even if you
could see the sewage treatment facility a short distance away (couldn’t
smell it, though). Back on the bike, I backtracked my route to
Alabama Street, then took it down to East Main. I rode down East
Main to Texas Avenue, where I soon passed by St. Mary’s Catholic
Church, site of the K of C fish fry this evening. Not to be
outdone, the Texas Avenue Baptist Church across the street was having a
crawfish boil tomorrow. Then I started pedaling back on Walker,
but not before passing by League Park again. I took a picture of
a statue at Perkins Station; it was a rider on a buckin’ bronc. Two
cheerleaders were also having their photos taken at Perkins Station,
for the yearbook, perhaps. Then I headed back to the hotel.
The wind was fairly strong out of the south again, so I had some
resistance as I pedaled onward. But soon, I was back at the
hotel. 15 miles for the morning ride.
Now what would I do? I wasn’t sure my room would have been
cleaned yet, and I wasn’t quite hungry for lunch. So I decided to
head up to the Barnes & Noble on Bay Area for a little bit. I
wandered around there for some time but didn’t get anything. By
then, I was getting hungry, so I went back to 646 and had lunch at
Cici’s Pizza. The one nearest me back in Detroit had closed
down, so I hadn’t been to one for a little bit. It hadn’t
changed, except this location was larger. I made sure not to have
a drink with caffeine in it. Then it was back to the hotel to
download the pictures from my camera, to work on the travelogue, and to
rest up. Let’s not forget the NCAA basketball tournament!
The remainder of the first round was underway, and I watched several
games casually, not paying much attention.
For my evening meal, I wasn’t sure where to go. Spring Creek
Barbecue? Looked a little busy. Other fast food? No,
I wasn’t in the mood. I decided to go to Denny’s and have the
prime rib & chicken skillet, along with a garden salad. It
was all very good, although I couldn’t quite finish the skillet.
Then it was back to the room for more basketball, reading, websurfing
and what-not. Later, I turned on NASA TV for a while, but when I
started to fall asleep, I figured it was time for bed (good figuring!).
Top
Saturday March 19
I think the room was a little warm overnight; I didn’t put
covers on most of the night. I recall waking up one or two times,
so my sleep wasn’t quite as sound as the night before, but I
managed. After I got up and showered, I definitely had to turn
down the temperature in the room. I checked my e-mail; among the
messages was one from Verizon encouraging me to get a 4G modem.
When a mobile hotspot version becomes available, I will seriously
consider it. Well, this note said that just such a device was
coming soon.
Now what would I do today? Well, first I’d have breakfast.
Today, I had Rice Krispies, a danish and a tortilla (interesting
combination). After that, what? I might be having lunch
with friends. So I decided to go for a ride, up to
Seabrook. I wanted to ride along Todville Road, the shoreline
road. As I did, I saw all the houses along the shore. Most
were on stilts, naturally. A lot of them had to have been rebuilt
post-Ike. Not everything had been rebuilt, though: the Pappadeaux
restaurant along the channel was still an empty lot.
As I drove, I saw a number of walkers with numbers on their chests, as
well as the occasional police car. There must have been some
event taking place, though it wasn’t obvious what the event was.
I continued driving up to the turnoff for Pine Gully Park.
Reading that book on Seabrook inspired me to visit.
Unfortunately, the road ahead was blocked, with a truck being unloaded
for the Maas Nursery. I turned around. It was probably just
as well; I later learned that the park had a $20 per vehicle entrance
fee for non-residents, too steep for my liking. I continued up to
the end of the road, which had changed from what I remember; it now
connected to Port Road through side streets. I saw signs for a
cruise terminal but saw no evidence of the cruise terminal as I headed
west, back towards 146.
Back at the hotel, I took it easy for a while. I had a chat with
one of my nieces via Facebook; she didn’t know that I was in
Texas. I exchanged messages with Rob Wohrer; we wouldn’t be
meeting for lunch, but we would be meeting for breakfast
tomorrow. I eventually decided to set off for lunch on my own.
Stomp’s was on 146 in Bay View or Bacliff; its burgers had the
reputation of being as good as those of Tookie’s. There was
certainly a wait to be seated; I had to wait some 15-20 minutes for a
table. I studied the takeout menu while I waited, and then I
studied it some more after I got my table. So many options to
choose from, but I just went with a cheeseburger. For a drink, I just
had tap water. The burger had a nice grilled flavor, and it
wasn’t bad. It wasn’t the Tookie’s recipe, though, so anyone
looking for that would be disappointed. Then it was back to the
hotel for more March Madness.
As suppertime rolled around, I wasn’t sure what I wanted for the
evening meal. I still didn’t feel like barbecue, nor did I want
another burger. The obvious choice was to try the Panda Express,
where I had fried rice, lo mein, orange chicken, an egg roll, and Mug
Root Beer. My one-word review: meh. But does “meh” qualify
as a word? Then it was back to the hotel to the accompaniment of the
Underground Garage and the Ko Melina program. Then it was time to
start packing up for tomorrow’s departure.
Top
Sunday March 20
Today, I would leave League City and Houston and head up to
Austin. First, though, I would meet friend and classmate Rob
Wohrer for breakfast over at Skipper’s in Clear Lake Shores.
Before then, I finished packing, had a small strawberry-banana yogurt
from the breakfast bar to tide me over, and then checked out. I
took 96 over to what today is the Columbia Memorial Parkway but which I
knew as part of FM 1266, took that to FM 518, the Deke Slayton Highway
(and home to a bike trail), took that to Lawrence Avenue and took that
up to FM 2094, where I could see Skipper’s in the distance. Rob
and I arrived at the same time (convenient).
As I left Skipper’s, my radio was tuned to Breakfast with the
Beatles. Today, the show featured songs by groups strongly
influenced by the Beatles, interspersed with the regular Beatle and
solo songs. It was good listening on a Sunday morning. It
would have been good listening at any time! Now today was my last
chance, as a practical matter, to visit the special exhibition on Texas
history at the Museum of Natural Science. I’d have to return from
Austin otherwise. So when I drove into town, I did not
immediately set out toward Austin. No, I made my way to Hermann
Park, which was much less crowded this Sunday morning than last Tuesday
morning. The zoo parking lot was pretty full, but the lot over by
the Garden Club was still wide open, and so I parked there. The
museum wouldn’t be too far away. I left my cameras in the car, as
I had a hunch photography would not be permitted inside the
exhibition. I bought my ticket as well as the chance to use an
audio guide, made a restroom visit, and then went upstairs to see the
exhibition.
The entrance to the exhibition was not well marked at all; I had to
find my way through the start of another exhibit to find the
entrance. When I found it, I found my hunch was right: cameras
were not permitted. I obtained my audio guide, slipped it over my
neck, put on the headphones, and then started with the
exhibition. The first part covered the Indians who lived in the
areas of Texas pre-colonization. Next came sections on the
Spanish and French, including a first printing of Cabeza de Vaca’s
journals of his time exploring Texas. Spanish spurs, pikes, helmets
were on display, even the remains of a crucifix from a mission (the
cross was present, but the representation of Jesus was not).
There were a number of French artifacts retrieved from the shipwreck of
one of La Salle’s vessels in Matagorda Bay.
The exhibition moved on to the revolutionary period. There were
documents from Stephen F. Austin, most successful empresario of
Texas. There was the “Come and Take It” cannon from Gonzales,
which the Texans would not return to the Mexican army. There was
an original printing of Col. Travis’s message to the world asking for
help in defending the Alamo. There was Jim Bowie’s knife that he
had at the Alamo -- Davy Crockett’s pistol and violin. Farther
down, there was the report that Sam Houston wrote summarizing the
Battle of San Jacinto. There were artifacts that belonged to
Santa Anna, as well as the weapon used to capture him. There was
an original printing of the military orders from June 19, 1865, the
date that the Texas slaves first learned they were free. There
were items from a Texas Ranger (lawman, not ballplayer) and items from
Spindletop. There was a Mardi Gras gown worn by the daughter of
Jesse Jones during Mardi Gras in Galveston in the ‘40s. And
there, the exhibition came to an end. Next came the gift shop,
where I bought a couple of refrigerator magnets and a video. Then
it was time to leave.
I took a few pictures outside of the park, and then I set out. I
made my way over to Montrose, thinking to take that up to I-10.
It did go up there, but construction made it impossible to get on the
freeway there. Driving over to Heights Boulevard then down didn’t
help; the construction continued. So I gave up and went down to
Washington Boulevard, which I knew would lead me to the freeway
eventually. The area had been cleaned up since I’d last been
there; it was looking like a nice part of town. Soon, I
encountered an entrance ramp to I-10 and entered the freeway. Now
I was on my way to Austin. I tried calling Keith to let him know
I was on my way. His cell phone number didn’t work, so I tried
the home landline. That worked. I later learned that he’d
given up his cell phone, which explained why it didn’t work.
I stopped for lunch in Columbus at a McDonald’s, then continued
northwest on Highway 71. I turned on the Astros preseason game
against the Pirates; things weren’t going well for them, as the Pirates
were beating them soundly. Next stop: La Grange. No, not at
the Chicken Ranch, but at Weikel’s Bakery, where Keith had asked me to
pick up a loaf or two of bread - very good bread, I would learn
later. The store was also supposed to be a gas station, but that
part of it was torn down, possibly being reconstructed. I
wouldn’t stop for gas until later on, not until I reached the Travis
County line. Soon, I could see the airport in the distance.
Then came the intersection with US 183, which would wrap around to the
northwest and position me for the drive to Steiner Ranch. I had
the GPS unit running, but I didn’t need it to reach my
destination. I’d flipped back to the Underground Garage on the
radio, and I was hearing some interesting music, including the Bee
Gee’s “Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You”, a song I’d
NEVER heard on the radio before (I knew it from my collection, though).
By 4:30, I’d arrived at the Zabalaoui’s. Knowing that overnight
street parking was banned, I parked right in the driveway and walked
around to the front door. I was made most welcome. Keith helped
me unload my car. And so, I settled in for the next few days with
no major plans. For supper that night, we ordered delivery pizza.
Basketball was getting some prominent airplay on the TV, especially the
Ohio State-George Mason game. Keith’s wife Karen, a proud Buckeye
alumna, was enjoying the thrashing OSU was giving George Mason.
After the game had ended, we watched an episode of American Pickers, in
which two men canvas the garages and storage places of America looking
for potential lost treasure items amongst a lot of junk, and followed
that up with a cake challenge demolition derby. Yes, the cakes
were mobile and could smash each other up! By this time, it was
getting pretty late, and I had yet to unpack. And so after the
demolition derby had been decided, I went to my room to unpack my
stuff, putting it in the closet, the two small dressers, or on the
floor for washing tomorrow.
Top
Monday March 21
Today was a take-it-easy day for me. I had traveled a lot
in the last several days, including a fairly significant drive
yesterday, and I didn’t feel like going anywhere. And I
didn’t. For breakfast, I had two pieces of toast, using the bread
I’d bought in La Grange yesterday. I could tell why Keith wanted
me to pick up that bread, for it was very good. Later on, after
Keith and Karen had gone off to their appointments with a chiropractor,
I was by myself. Well, Ping was there, but he spent most of the
time in the basket near Karen’s computer, meowing whenever I came close
by to pet him or skritch him. And he liked it.
I was in dire need of clean clothes, so I did a load of laundry
today. While I waited for the load to complete, I did some work
on this travelogue. Within an hour or so, the laundry was all
done and put away. Soon after, Keith and Karen came back from the
chiropractor’s; they both agreed he’d done a good job on them.
Unfortunately, sometime in the afternoon, I had to have done a bad job
on my right knee, for it started hurting me. I didn’t know what
I’d done, but I knew I was in discomfort. That was more incentive
to take it easy.
Later in the afternoon, Renee (Keith’s first wife) and Hannah (their
daughter) came over to pick something up. Hannah had gotten a 100
on her algebra test, and this was a cause for celebration. Later
on, we had corned beef, cabbage and boiled potatoes for supper. I
passed on the cabbage, but the corned beef and potatoes were pretty
good. I wish I could have said the same thing about my knee,
which was really beginning to bother me. For the night’s viewing,
we watched the first episode of The Dresden Files and a couple of episodes of Top Gear. Ping came over to keep us company.
Top
Tuesday March 22
Today was another take-it-easy day. My knee was less of a
problem today, but it was still sore, and so I didn’t want to stress it
too much. I wouldn’t be riding my bike today; in fact, I didn’t
think I would ride the bike again during the trip (I didn’t, in
fact). In addition to the knee, my rear was getting a bit sore
after the last ride.
Once again, I had toast for breakfast, said toast coming from that very
good Weikel’s bread. I might have considered going back to that
bakery to pick up some more for home, except that La Grange was well
out of my way for traveling back to Michigan. Eventually, Keith
woke up. By the time he was ready to eat, it was closer to
lunchtime, and so we set out in search of lunch. A number of
opportunities presented themselves as we drove in the general direction
of Fry’s in north Austin. I was doing the driving in my Mariner
because Keith’s RX-8 was a bit on the small side for a large person
such as myself.
As we drove along the 183 freeway, we noticed Chuy’s Mexican
Restaurant, one of the outposts of that chain in the city (the original
was near Barton Springs, if I recall correctly). By the time we’d
noticed, we’d gone too far and had to turn around at the next
interchange, but soon we were there. The parking lot was already
pretty full, and the place hadn’t been open for more than 15
minutes. Well, some of the parking lot cars might have been for
the Brick House next door, a restaurant that was scheduled to open
tomorrow. They were in training today, though, and the waitresses
were all out on the front deck trying to drum up business -- free food
and sex appeal! But we resisted temptation and stayed with
Chuy’s. The food was quite good, as I knew it would be. I
knew a new Chuy’s had opened in Webster, but I hadn’t visited it
(perhaps next time). I had one of the day’s specials, five
chicken taquitos with green chile sauce, along with a cup or bowl of
tortilla soup. The soup was good, although I preferred Laredo’s
tortilla soup. The taquitos were very good, but I couldn’t finish
them all. Keith couldn’t finish his meal, either, and so we had
boxes to take home. We marked ours with our initials so we could
tell whose was whose. But I didn’t think the meals would keep in
the warm conditions, so I thought we should head back home. We
could go to Fry’s tomorrow.
Supper was a definite change of pace from lunch: tilapia with rice
pilaf, honey glazed carrots, and some kibbee (a Middle Eastern food I
had not had before). Everything was good, although Becca was not
very fond of honey at the moment and resisted eating her carrots.
Her resistance was futile.
Then came an opportunity for me to see Hannah perform with her
intermediate school’s band in a tune-up concert for the UIL competition
next week. It was being held at the nearby high school, and Keith
invited me to go. Once again, I drove. We ended up getting
there too early, so we sat in the car for a bit. It appeared I’d
parked in the wrong lot, for we had a bit of a walk to get to the
entrance for the auditorium. But we found the place, met Renee
there, and took our seats. Another school’s band was
playing. The conductor was an attractive young blonde, prompting
Keith to comment to me that he’d have gone out for band if the
conductors at our school had been like her. I could understand
his comment completely, although the lighting made her blonde hair
appear slightly grey to me. After several minutes of teardown and
setup, Hannah’s band came on. She was one of the saxophone
players. Their conductor was a young man -- a very young man,
barely out of college in my opinion. The first number had a
military theme; I could easily envision it as the theme to a military
drama from the ‘60s. The band played three numbers in all, and
they were all executed reasonably well, although I thought the first
one came out the best.
After the band finished, they moved to the band room for the next
phase, the sight-reading contest practice. Here, the band was
given a song that they’d never seen before and had perhaps five to ten
minutes to prepare to play it. The conductor analyzed the song
for the students, pointing out key passages; next, he led them through
a silent run-through of those key passages. Finally, they
performed the song, and I thought they did a good job. So did the
proud parents. When we left the building, it turned out that my
SUV was right there. I guess I parked in the right lot after
all! Later, I’d learn that the band’s performance tonight was no
fluke; they would receive all 1’s in the UIL competition, the highest
possible score.
Back home, after Becca had gone to bed, we watched another episode of
Top Gear, after which (I think) I finished my leftovers from Chuy’s,
and then we settled down to watch a recent movie whose title shall
remain nameless for various reasons. The movie was not bad, and
that is all I can say about it for the same various reasons. Then
it was time for bed -- for me, anyway.
Top
Wednesday March 23
This morning, I took a shower, for I needed one. Once
again, I prepared toast using Weikel’s bread, the pride of La
Grange. That was my first breakfast; the second, fuller breakfast
took place at the Hamburger Hut in Lakeway, a few miles west on RM
620. It was a small, colorful restaurant that served a good
breakfast plate. With the name Hamburger Hut, they surely must
serve hamburgers, but I have no idea how their burgers taste.
There was a TV on in the background that I could see from my
seat. It was carrying CNN this morning. And it was from
that TV carrying CNN that I learned of the death of Elizabeth Taylor.
After breakfast, I drove us out to Fry’s in the northern part of town.
Now there was one thing I was looking for: the new version of Toast 11
Pro, a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burning program for Macs. The Pro included
the Blu-Ray capabilities, along with Photoshop Elements 9 and several
more programs. It turned out that the store had received a copy
of Toast 11 Titanium, which was similar but lacked some
capabilities. I wanted those additional capabilities, and so I
passed on it. Later, while looking at DVD’s, I noticed a copy of
season 5 of Rocky and Bullwinkle. I knew it was coming out in
late March, and it was now late March. There was only the one
copy, so I grabbed it. We went to the checkout, Keith with his
things and I with mine. When I got to the checkout, though, the
clerk refused to sell the DVD to me. It was scheduled to come out
next week, he said, not this week; the store software would not allow
the sale to go through. It shouldn’t even have been on the
shelf. He offered to put it on hold for me until next week, but I
had to decline because I was from out of town. And so I left
empty-handed and disappointed. And a store worker might have been
written up for putting a product on the shelf before it was supposed to
be available.
Now I’d brought along my iPad and my MiFi. I was also in search
of an ATM for money for my trip back, preferably an ATM that didn’t
charge any fees. While I drove, Keith downloaded an app for Co-Op
Network and attempted to locate some ATM’s. There was one in a
7-11 on RM 620, one we’d already passed and would pass again.
When I got there, I saw a sign for Citibank, and I was pretty sure they
would charge a fee. But I went inside to check it out. It
turns out the sign was inaccurate; the ATM was not from Citibank, and
it was indeed fee-free for me. I withdrew $200, and then I bought
a Sprite Zero and a bottle of Topo Chico mineral water from Mexico for
later in the day.
Back “home”, I got onto Amazon and placed orders for both products I
tried to get but couldn’t, the Toast 11 Pro and Rocky and Bullwinkle
season 5. In the case of the DVD, I paid for extra shipping so
that it would arrive on the first day of availability, next
Tuesday. Later on, I started plotting my route back to
Michigan. Where would be a good stopping point for the
evening? Arkansas between Little Rock and Memphis seemed
reasonable. Now I felt like staying at a Holiday Inn tomorrow
night, but when I checked for Holiday Inns in Brinkley or Forrest City,
there weren’t any. I’d either have to choose Lonoke (close to
Little Rock) or West Memphis (close to Memphis, as you might
expect). I thought Memphis would be a bit too far, and so I chose
Lonoke. That would be at least a 500 mile drive.
For supper, Keith prepared SOS (stuff on a shingle), although he didn’t
use chipped beef; I can’t remember what meat he used. It was
good, or at least as good as SOS can be. Later on, we watched a
couple of episodes of Doctor Who,
the first being “The Next Doctor” (the 2008 Christmas special) and the
second being “Vincent and the Doctor”. Both of them were as good
as I remembered them, especially “The Next Doctor”, which I hadn’t seen
since its original broadcast.
Top
Thursday March 24
Miles today: 537.1
Miles total (this segment of trip): 537.1
I had to make a couple of trips to the restroom during the
night; I was up for good around 6. It was time to finish packing,
which I did. I wasn’t the only one up at this hour; Karen and
Becca were up, getting ready for school. During another trip to
the restroom, Becca came over to the closed door and said goodbye to
me. I said goodbye to her and to Karen, for I’d be gone before
she returned. Now I started loading the car, getting everything
in the back just so for the trip. Soon, I was complete except for
one bag, my laptop bag. I waited around until Keith got up, and
then after a while I said my goodbyes to him and to Ping. No,
Ping wasn’t going with me.
I left the house around 8:30, but I got stuck in heavy traffic on
620. I stopped at the HEB at 620 and 2222 to pick up a few things
for the road, such as some more peanuts, some cookies, some muffins, as
well as an Austin newspaper. So when you consider the traffic and
the HEB stop, I really got under way around 9:30. As soon as I
could, I picked up the 45 toll road and made for I-35. I made the
turn onto northbound I-35 and headed northeastward, through Round Rock
and Georgetown, through Temple and Killeen and Waco. The last
time I’d driven through here, in November 2009, was the day of the
shootings at Fort Hood.
Around lunchtime, I had made it to the Dallas area, and now I was going
around town on I-20 and I-635, heading over to I-30. Before long,
I was thinking about lunch, where I would like to eat. I figured I’d be
eating in Rockwall, where I’d eaten a number of times before.
There was a Carino’s here, I remembered, as well as a Steak &
Shake. Both were good, but today, I felt more like a Carino’s
visit. I had the Spicy Shrimp and Chicken, one of the dishes I
regularly get when I visit. Yes, it was good. And so, with
a full stomach, I headed back onto I-30 for the drive to Arkansas.
As I traveled, I bounced around the radio dial, as I usually tend to
do. For old-time radio, I recalled hearing Dr. Kildare and a
Studio One presentation of “The Return of the Native.” I also listened
to 60’s on 6, Fox News, BBC World Service and the World Radio Network
during the day. Soon I was in Texarkana, and then I was in
Arkansas. I still had a ways to go before reaching Little Rock,
though, but once I got past there, I didn’t have too far to go for this
evening’s destination, the Holiday Inn Express in Lonoke.
I made it to Lonoke at 7 and checked into the hotel, having driven some
515 miles for the day. Not too bad, given the late start. I
checked in and received room 314, or as it could have been called, the
Pi room. But there was no pie in the Pi room. There weren’t
too many places to eat close by; fortunately, the McDonald’s was within
easy walking distance, so that’s where I went. Back in the room,
I turned on the Weather Channel to check on the forecast for
tomorrow. The local insert graphics were really archaic,
seemingly never upgraded from the 1980’s; it was still all text.
Top
Friday March 25
Miles today: 537.9
Miles total: 1115.0
I woke up at or before 5:30 in the morning. In doing my e-mail
checks, I also checked out the national weather for the day. What
would I be facing on the road? Well, if I went up I-55 and I-57
the way I had been considering, I might be running into freezing
rain. I didn’t care for that possibility. Now I had another
alternative path, and that was to drive into Tennessee on I-40 to
Nashville, then go up I-65 towards Louisville and then I-71 towards
Cincinnati. That route looked better on the weather maps.
There was the possiblity of rain, but the likelihood of anything frozen
or freezing coming down was very small. And so, I changed my
plans.
When the breakfast bar opened up in the lobby, I went downstairs.
I didn’t have much, just some cereal and a muffin. I went back
upstairs to brush my teeth and do my final packing, and then I came
down to check out. It was 6:50 in the morning when I started up
the car and pulled back onto the highway. Memphis was over 100
miles away, so I still had a lot of Arkansas to travel through. I
drove through Brinkley and Forrest City, places I might have stayed at
last night but didn’t. Soon came West Memphis and I-55, a road I
wouldn’t be taking this time. My first gas stop of the day came
at a station just east of where I-40 and I-55 split. It was with
a full gas tank that I drove across the Mississippi River into
Memphis. Traffic wasn’t much of a problem at all; it appeared I’d
avoided the Memphis rush hour.
It was a long drive between Memphis and Nashville; to be honest, at
this point, everything was a long drive. There wasn’t much on
regular radio, so thank goodness I had the satellites to keep me
company. I listened to a lot of the RadioClassics station today;
sooner or later, they’ll always have a program of interest on. As
noontime (OK, 11 AM in the Central time zone) approached and passed, I
searched for the Rush Limbaugh show, but I wasn’t able to find it until
I tuned in WLAC Nashville, and there’s where the dial stayed for the
next few hours, as I headed into Nashville on I-40 and then out of it
on I-65. Within an hour or so, I was in Kentucky, and I flipped
over to WHAS Louisville to keep on listening to the show.
Now I’d thought I would stop in Bowling Green for lunch. But
there was a problem with Internet access: my MiFi’s power button turned
blue, indicating the device was roaming on a different network.
That meant extra charges on my bill (or so I thought; I later learned
that Verizon doesn’t charge for data roaming). I didn’t eat lunch
in Bowling Green; perhaps a few miles down the road, I’d get a regular
network connection. But I never did, for every time I turned the
MiFi on, it went into roaming mode. Fortunately, when I did stop
for lunch at a McDonald’s at a Pilot truck stop, the restaurant had
free Wi-Fi of its own, and I used that to retrieve e-mail. I also
used it to locate Louisville’s Apple Store, and when I saw that it was
on my general path, I made plans to visit there. Soon, I was back on
the road. South of Elizabethtown, I saw a sign marking the
Eastern time zone. Here, I changed the car’s clock one hour
ahead. My watch would have to wait until later. I, too,
would have to wait, for I had encountered a major construction backup
on I-65 just south of Elizabethtown.
After I passed the construction, I continued northward. Soon came
the signs of Louisville, including signs for their two loop
freeways. I was looking for the inner loop, I-264, for the Apple
Store could be found there in the Foxmoor Mall. Now I was getting
sore and stiff, and I was also getting tired; I had to make a sudden
stop on the freeway when I wasn’t as alert as I should have been.
It was time for a break, and I took the break at the mall as I walked
around. No, I didn’t make a beeline for the Apple Store as soon
as I got inside; I encountered it during the course of my travel.
Did I see anything I wanted to get there? Yes. Did I get
anything? No.
Now over the last few days, Keith and I had talked about e-readers and
tablet e-readers, with the Nook Color coming up frequently. After
seeing a recent article about how a rumored future update would turn
the Nook Color into a basic Android tablet, I thought it would be
worthwhile to get one as a potential experiment. I looked around
the area for Barnes and Noble or Best Buy stores, but none were
nearby. Thanks to the Mi-Fi (now no longer roaming) and the iPad,
I located both a B&N and a BB that were close by; the Best Buy was
closer, and so I drove to the other side of the freeway
intersection. The Best Buy was still hard to find; it was
actually on a side of the strip mall that didn’t face the main highway
directly. Once I found it, I parked and went inside. The
store had a few Nook Colors; it also had some Amazon Kindle e-readers
and some other brands. Now I had been thinking about the Kindle
for a while; even though I had the Kindle software on my iPad, I
thought that the experience of e-ink would be worth it to consider the
standalone reader. Which should I get? Then I remembered my
bonus. I could get both! And that’s what I did.
Back in the car, I broke out my laptop to make a hotel
reservation. Given the time of day, I thought it best to stop in
northern Kentucky and not go into Cincinnati, and so I made a
reservation for a Holiday Inn Express just north of where I-71
intersects I-75. I got back onto Louisville’s Loop (the inner
one, I-264), observing a Chuy’s ahead of me as I circled up the
on-ramp. This would be the closest Chuy’s to Detroit, possibly
motivating future trips to Louisville. Soon came the intersection
with I-71, and I headed northeast. I continued listening to As It
Happens on CBC, which I had turned on before I went to Best Buy (the
Canadian government had fallen today, meaning elections would soon be
called).
The drive up I-71 was uneventful. As I drove along, I passed the
Kentucky Speedway. I passed a sign marking where a bus had
crashed in 1988, killing several people (I remembered hearing about it
at the time). I passed interchanges that made little if any
impression on me. At last came the intersection with I-75. Soon, I’d be
at the hotel; it was located at the next exit. But I was also
getting hungry. Should I check in at the hotel first and then get
supper, or should I get supper first? I decided I’d get supper
first. Supper, this evening, was a plate of 3-way chili at
Skyline Chili, 3-way signifying chili, spaghetti, and shredded
cheese. It was pretty good. In the background, TV’s were
showing either the NCAA Sweet 16 or an ESPN show on the Fab Five of
Michigan. The TV showing ESPN eventually got changed to the NCAA
tournament. Everyone was waiting for the Kentucky game to start,
it seemed. When I was finished, I drove over to the Holiday Inn
Express, which was up on a bit of a hill or a rise, and the entrance
wasn’t that easy to find. But find it I did, and soon I was in my
room (room 136, no stairs or elevators) for the evening.
Now I wanted to open up one of the e-readers I’d bought earlier that
evening. Which one would it be? I ended up opening the
Kindle. I charged it, connected it to my MiFi and downloaded the
book I was reading. I also used the Kindle to buy a new book, an
alternate political history called Then Everything Changed from Jeff
Greenfield. It speculated on how history might have been
different in three instances: if JFK had been killed in 1960 before
assuming office, and LBJ was president beginning in ’61; if RFK had not
been assassinated in 1968; and if Gerald Ford hadn’t made the gaffe
about Poland not being under Soviet domination. I noticed that
the Kindle was much lighter than the iPad and could easily be held in
one hand. The Nook Color would wait until I got home.
Top
Saturday March 26
Miles today: 276.3
Miles total: 1391.3
I woke up once in the middle of the night to use the restroom; I woke
up for good around 5:30. That was too early for the breakfast
bar, which opened around 7. I used the time to check my e-mail,
the web, the weather, etc. When 7 rolled around, the alarm went
off. I hadn’t set it; evidently the previous occupant of the room
had. I attempted to download the current Wall Street Journal on my
iPad; once again, the download went very slowly.
The breakfast bar here was in a separate room that was closed off when
not in use. Otherwise, it was the standard Holiday Inn Express
breakfast bar. This morning, I had a cinnamon bun, some cereal
and yogurt. I didn’t get a drink, for there was enough milk in
the cereal to cover that. When I was finished, I went back to the
room to pack up and check out. By 7:50, I was on the road.
Traffic wasn’t too bad in Cincinnati, although there was construction
north of town and in Dayton. It wasn’t bad in those construction
areas, either, for this was Saturday morning. I
passed the drive time listening to various stations: Soul Town, MLB
Network Radio, and the 70’s on 7, to name but three. At one
point, I turned on WJR in Detroit, which was now in range. It
warned of lane closures on I-275 north of Ford Road, which I thought
might hinder my way home. I made a note to myself to exit at
Michigan Avenue and avoid the potential mess. Northward I went,
past Dayton and Tipp City, through Troy and Sidney and Lima (the
fictional home of Glee). I stopped for gas at a Speedway in
Beaverdam, right on the Lincoln Highway; this would be the last gas
stop I’d need to make before making it home.
I continued northward on I-75, through Findlay and Bowling Green, past
the large mosque south of Toledo and on into Toledo. This was
around 11:30. Just before noon, I had made it all the way across
Toledo and into Michigan. I didn’t have much farther to go now,
around 45 miles or so. Would I make it home by 12:30? No,
but I did make it to I-275 and I-94, so I was very close. I
remembered to exit at Michigan Avenue, and I made my way to my house,
arriving at 12:43. I was home. Now came the
unpacking. First, the bike came off of the rack. Then I
removed the rack from the car. It didn’t want to come off at
first; I had to hit it with a hammer a few times to loosen it up, but
it finally broke free. Now the garage door could be closed, and I
could unpack at leisure. Had I left the heat turned up to 70
while I was away? No, I hadn’t; it was down between 60 and 65.
The cable box was still not responding to the remote control; I’d have
to call for a service appointment. Now I could make out a bill that was
due right away; now I could start the Nook Color charging in
preparation for its first use; and now I could rest up from my vacation.
THE END
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©2011 R. W. Reini.
All
rights reserved.
Written
by Roger Reini
Revised April 11, 2011
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