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Travelogue:
Texas and More
May 2002
By Roger W. Reini
WORK IN PROGRESS
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Go back to Part 1...
Friday May 17
I was awakened by thunderstorms around 5 AM.
The lights flickered a couple of times, causing the clock radio to
lose its settings. It had a
battery backup that was supposed to prevent that from happening, but it
failed to do so. The battery
must have been drained. I would
need to get a new one. But that
could wait until later in the day, after the rains stopped. But the rains didn’t stop; it rained all morning.
Complicating matters, my umbrella was in the car.
Around 11, the rains had slackened, enabling me to race out to the
car and head for lunch.
Whenever I go home, there are two restaurants I always visit: Joe’s
Barbeque in Alvin and Laredo’s Mexican Restaurant in Seabrook.
Today, I went to Laredo’s. I
had my usual, the Deluxe Dinner (two cheese enchiladas, beans, rice, chili
con queso on a tortilla, guacamole, a taco and a tostada) and a big glass of
water, along with their chips and hot sauce.
The hot sauce seemed hotter than usual.
When I was finished, I went south on Highway 146, crossed the bridge
into Kemah, and visited the new Wal-Mart at the corner of 146 and 518.
It was a Supercenter, meaning that it had a full grocery store.
I didn’t get any groceries, but I got the battery for the Bose
radio along with some soap, some envelopes, a few pads of paper, etc.
While I was inside, the noise from the roof was very intense.
It was raining heavily outside.
Fortunately, I had my umbrella, but I still got wet when I returned
to my car.
I went across town on the new Highway 96.
It will eventually reach the freeway.
It does now, but the portion between Highway 3 and the freeway is
still under construction. Still,
it’s a good road, and it can serve as a back door to Kemah and Seabrook
while avoiding heavy 518 traffic. I
went over to Newport and drove past our old house.
I hadn’t planned on visiting my old neighbor George right then, but
I saw him in the garage and pulled up.
We spent an hour or so catching up on events.
His youngest son Chris, who’s closest in age to me, is running for
county commissioner for Galveston County.
The next older son, Jeff, was recently laid off from Compaq in the
wake of the merger with Hewlett-Packard.
The neighbors in our old house were the same ones that were there
last year. They had put the
house up for sale, but clearly they’d changed their minds.
We made arrangements to have lunch or dinner next week at a buffet
restaurant in League City.
I had gone back to the hotel and lain down for a while,
putting on the New Age channel on the XM radio.
That must have put me to sleep, for I was somewhat groggy when I
heard the phone ring. It was my
old friend Keith, asking if I wanted to go out for dinner with him and his
daughter Hannah. Of course, I
accepted the invitation. On the
way out of the parking lot, he offered me several choices for dinner.
The one that sounded best to me was Pappadeaux in Seabrook, one of
the Pappas brothers’ chains. From
the name, one could infer that the cooking would be Louisiana and/or Cajun
style, and one would be right. The
restaurant was close to the waterfront; from our window, we could see the
Kemah-Seabrook bridge and some of the Kemah Waterfront development.
We caught up on events and happenings and what-not while enjoying our
dinners. The portions were
ample; the meals were good, but neither of us could finish, so we both ended
up taking our leftovers home.
Top
Saturday May 18
I had settled into a bit of a morning routine: wake up, have breakfast,
read the paper, occasionally do dishes, etc.
This morning, I paid the bills that were coming due that I hadn’t
already paid, one of them being my electric bill.
It would come due during my trip, but I hadn’t received it before I
left. I had anticipated that
and wrote down the address to which I mailed the bill.
I paid a certain amount and said I would pay the balance upon my
return [it turned out I had overestimated my bill by some 40%].
I also wrote a snail-mail letter to my sister, for e-mails were not
yet convenient for them to send or receive.
The rains had stopped. Now
it was time to adjust the satellite radio antenna on the car so that it
would be less likely to leak. I
had taken it down on Friday in anticipation of going to the car wash.
But I never made it to the car wash because of the rains, which
served to naturally wash the car. If I hadn’t taken the antenna down, I’m sure I would have
had leaks galore! I replaced
the antenna and repositioned the cable.
I wouldn’t know if I was successful until the next rain.
By this time, it was lunchtime. I had been to one of my regular restaurants yesterday, and
today I would visit the other. Yes,
I was going to Joe’s in Alvin for a barbecue baked potato with everything
on it. I was pretty hungry, but
it was a big potato. Would I
finish it? No, I wouldn’t,
though I came close. I had
thoughts of taking it home in a doggie bag, but I wasn’t going right back
to the hotel, and I feared it wouldn’t keep.
So I left the potato there, paid my bill and left.
I paid a visit to the Circuit City near Baybrook and came very close
to getting a DVD+RW drive for my computers.
The box said it would work with PC’s and Mac’s.
Unfortunately, it would not work with my Mac, so I reluctantly put it
back on the shelf. By this
time, it was nearly 2 PM, which meant that game 1 of the NHL Western
Conference finals would start soon. Detroit
was hosting Colorado. I got
back to the room in time for the face-off.
It was an enjoyable game, with Detroit winning 5-2 on the basis of a
natural hat trick by Darren McCarty (three goals in the game is a hat trick;
getting them all in the same period makes it a natural hat trick).
I stayed in and had a sandwich and popcorn for supper while I watched two
episodes from the Star Trek Next Generation Season 2 DVD set.
I also had time to bring a roll of film to the nearby Eckerd Drugs
for developing. This was the black & white roll; the pictures turned out
fine, though the prints had brown edges.
This was a problem with their printer, not with my film.
At 8, I got online to participate in my weekly chat, but no one else
did. That made for a boring
chat. Later on, I noticed the
message light on my phone blinking. I had received a call while I was online.
It was from David McFalls, who invited me to an evening with Keith
and himself. We met over at
Keith’s house in League City. I
was a little fuzzy on the route inside the subdivision, since it had been
nearly a year since my last visit, but I eventually found the house.
We didn’t get to hang out all that long, though.
The needs of small children took precedence, so after watching a Star
Trek-themed episode of Men Behaving Badly (the UK version), I
went back to the hotel and called it a night.
Top
Sunday May 19
After my normal vacation morning routine, I decided to venture across
town to Fry’s. Traffic on the
Gulf Freeway was not bad at all on a Sunday morning; then again, it’s not
supposed to be bad on a Sunday morning.
I made note of the businesses alongside the freeway – the new
Wal-Mart and associated developments at El Dorado, the H-E-B grocery store
where Gulfgate once stood, the beginnings of the new basketball arena
downtown, etc. Eventually, I
arrived at the West Road exit for Fry’s, but before I got to the store
itself, I stopped at a gas station for a Sunday paper.
I spent quite a bit of time at Fry’s but didn’t spend a dime.
I saw several things that I could have bought, such as blank Super
VHS tapes. I bought a lot of
tapes last year and might do so this year.
But I would be in town for nearly two more weeks, so there was no
real hurry. I could go back up
there any time and get them. If
I got them today, they’d be cluttering up the hotel room.
The store did not have any external DVD burners, and that was what I
really wanted.
As I said, I left without getting anything.
My next intended stop was the Sears store on North Shepherd.
I’d passed by this one last year and noted that it was an old store
because of the old Sears sign on the road.
Unfortunately, I missed it. I
passed by a shopping center where I thought it might have been, but it
wasn’t there. I doubled back on my route, but it still wasn’t there.
Frustrated, I got back on the Loop and proceeded to my next
destination, the Micro Center near San Felipe.
They didn’t have any external DVD burners, either, but they did
have several new Macs. Once
again, I left empty-handed, although I was tempted by the new iMacs.
I would head back home, but first, I would stop at the El Dorado
Wal-Mart and get some groceries.
I didn’t do much the rest of the day.
But I did look up the location of that Sears store.
It turns out I had misremembered its location.
Instead of being inside the Loop (i.e., south of the North Loop), it
was a few blocks north of the Loop.
So close but yet so far!
Top
Monday May 20
Today was housekeeping’s day to fully clean the room, so I had to go
somewhere today. So I went back
into town. I was going to
wander around and go where I felt like going.
My first choice was to get off the Gulf Freeway at US 90A and head
west on what would eventually become OST, the Old Spanish Trail.
I headed through the Texas Medical Center on Holcombe Boulevard,
which would eventually become Bellaire Boulevard.
I stopped at a Randall’s grocery store on Holcombe and Buffalo
Speedway for a few items, some for myself, some for my sister and her family
overseas. I visited the nearby
Barnes & Noble, where I got lucky and found a DVD that I’d sought for
a bit, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I’d seen it at that Hastings’ in San Marcos but had passed on it
then, thinking I could have gotten it for a better price later.
I’d made a bad decision, for I ended up paying a few more dollars
for it here.
There was a Luby’s Cafeteria on Bellaire near Hillcroft, so I stopped
there for lunch. It was decent
food, if not spectacular. But
sometimes, decent is good enough. When
I’d finished, I got back on Bellaire and crossed the Southwest Freeway,
heading past Sharpstown Shopping Center.
I hadn’t been there in years, and that wouldn’t change today, for
I didn’t stop. I turned north
onto Fondren, heading towards Westheimer and a stop at Evans Music City.
I had two reasons for going there, to see what Rickenbacker guitars
they had and to see if they had a personal guitar amp/PA combo.
I had a good one from Fender called the Amp Can, but I lost the power
supply for it a couple of years ago and have been unable to use it ever
since. They only had one
Rickenbacker in stock, a 381V69, and I didn’t see too many amp/PA combos.
There was one that I noted for future study.
After that, I headed out on Westheimer to the corner of Voss. There was a Wherehouse Music and a Tweeter store on the
corner, and I couldn’t let those pass without a visit.
I didn’t see anything at Wherehouse.
I saw quite a bit at Tweeter, but I was not in the market for an
HDTV.
Up Voss I went, towards the Katy Freeway.
I wanted to visit the Ikea store.
It was possible I could have gotten some furniture ideas, and I
wasn’t disappointed. I got
quite a few ideas for shelving and for DVD and tape storage.
I didn’t act on any of them, though; I figured that I could make a
trip to an Ikea closer to home in Michigan, when my station wagon wouldn’t
be laden with luggage and guitars. I
have three stores from which to choose: Chicago, Pittsburgh and Toronto.
I got on the Loop and took it around to North Shepherd.
Yes, I was going to visit that Sears store that I couldn’t find
yesterday! I found it with
little difficulty. When I went
inside, I found that it was – a Sears store.
Yeah, it was in an older building – the escalators were narrow and
had blue paneling, and the ceiling had large concentric circular air vents,
just like at the now-demolished Pasadena store – but it was basically a
Sears store like any other. The
things that I noted, plus the vintage sign on the roadway, were all that
distinguished it from an average Sears store.
I didn’t need anything from there, so I didn’t get anything.
By this time, I felt like heading back home (meaning the hotel), so I did
just that. However, I took the
old ways home, the streets that one would have used before the freeways were
built. That meant taking old
Washington Street into downtown and Harrisburg Road, Broadway, and Old
Galveston Road out of town. Construction
and development downtown prevented me from following the old roads exactly
as they were some fifty years ago, but I managed.
You see some very different sights heading along the old roadways,
such as the Maxwell House facility on Harrisburg; several companies
advertising bus service to Mexican cities; the prevalence of
Hispanic-oriented businesses and other institutions in general along the
route, including a fairly new Cesar Chavez High School; and so on.
Now this route didn’t have the romance of a Route 66 drive; whoever
heard of a song that said “Get your jive on Route 75” or “Feel free on
Highway 3”? Now that I think
about it, someone could have written a song that said “Get your kicks on
Highway 6”, for I’ve seen some real old road maps that show Galveston
Road as Highway 6 rather than the Highway 3 by which we know it today.
My day was not done. I
wanted to see the new Star Wars film, Attack of the Clones.
So I went to the 4 PM showing. That
gave me some time to chill out at the hotel for a while.
Now the local Cinemark theater was located on the freeway south of
Nasa 1. It was the only
first-run movie house in the area; all the others had closed down.
But that wasn’t a problem, for it had 18 screens, whereas the
others had around 10 combined. I
can remember when the old Clear Lake Theater was the only movie house
around. Now how was the movie?
It wasn’t bad; it had its moments.
But to me, the first film (i.e., the original Star Wars film) was the
best.
Tonight was the season finale of Boston Public
and the series finale of Ally McBeal.
I had missed episodes of both lately, but I didn’t want to miss
these. I remembered watching
the first episode of Ally while I was on vacation in San Francisco.
It seemed slightly fitting to be on vacation as I watched the final
episode, which provided some closure to the storylines.
It was time for it to go.
Top
Tuesday May 21
It was a laundry morning for me. Yes, after a week and a half, I had accumulated enough dirty
clothes to necessitate a trip to the laundry facility.
Fortunately, I did not have to travel to a Laundromat, as the hotel
had its own. After I performed
my morning routine, I brought my load of clothes downstairs to be washed.
I had to wait for the custodian to finish mopping the floor before I
could enter. The floor was
still wet, so I stepped gingerly as though I was on ice.
With the load in the washer, I could head back to the room for a
while. “A while” ended up
being thirty minutes, after which I went back and put the clothes in the
dryer. A half-hour later, the
clothes were toasty warm and dry. I
passed the time by checking e-mail, updating my Web site, and listening to
the XM satellite radio.
When I visited George last week, we had agreed to go out for a lunch or
dinner on Tuesday. However,
when I called to confirm the appointment, he asked to cancel it, for he
wasn’t feeling well. I wished
him good health and said I’d try back later in the week.
So I ended up visiting the Grand Buffet in League City by myself.
The buffet was located in the old Eckerd Drugs location, near Academy
(itself the former site of a Safeway store).
It was a Chinese buffet, but it also served sushi and some American
dishes. These have really
sprung up around the country in recent years, including Detroit.
Their hot and sour soup was very spicy, among the spiciest I’d ever
had. If I had had a cold, the
soup would surely have opened up my nasal passages.
My chiropractor recommends hot and sour soup for fighting colds;
he’d surely recommend this version. The
rest of the buffet wasn’t as spicy, but the food was good.
The price was reasonable, though.
I’d come back here again if I ever got the chance.
Earlier in my stay, I had noticed that one of my pairs of pants was
developing a hole and would soon be unusable.
I needed to get another pair of pants, but I didn’t feel like
spending much money. I met both
need and want by finding a pair at the new Wal-Mart at El Dorado and the
Gulf Freeway. I got them, along
with the latest issues of TV Guide and Texas Monthly. As was my frequent habit during the trip, I paid using my ATM
card. That’s proven very
handy to me over the years, both at home and on the road.
More often than not, I’ll use it when I go to Kroger’s or to
Target in Michigan. What’s
more, you can get cash back without having to pay those foreign ATM fees
that have become so prevalent in the last few years.
Today, I decided to get $100 worth of cash.
Unfortunately, the cashier gave me a $100 bill.
Not very convenient! Fortunately,
I could get it changed at the in-store bank.
On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at the Circuit City and did some
more thinking about DVD writers. That
pondering was leading me away from getting a drive and towards getting
systems that had the horsepower to use a drive.
It seemed that the ones I had were just barely able to use a DVD
writer. Not feeling like
getting a new laptop that day, I left. [ASIDE: The DVD writer saga had a
partially happy ending two weeks later, as I found a drive that would work
on my current computers, albeit for data only, not for creating video
DVD’s] I stopped inside
Baybrook Mall for a bit, wanting to see how it had changed.
And change it had. The
formerly vacant Montgomery Wards store was now a Foley’s store, and the
former home of the Store of Knowledge was now the current home of Sharper
Image. The Warner Brothers
store was gone, as the chain had gone out of business; taking its place was
Abercrombie & Fitch.
The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent back at the
room. At various times, I would
be working on this travelogue, eating the leftovers from last Friday,
watching the news on channel 2 or the DVD of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy, or listening to various channels on the XM radio.
It would appear I was entering a slowdown period.
And what was wrong with that? You
don’t have to be constantly on the go during your vacation.
That’ll wear you out, just like in your regular life.
Top
Wednesday May 22
Today was another housekeeping day, so I could not hang around the room.
I didn’t really want to, though.
Today, I wanted to go to Galveston.
I took something of a roundabout route to get there.
After leaving Nassau Bay on Nasa Road 1 (it’s not that easy to
leave Nassau Bay other than by Nasa Road 1), I took Highway 3 down through
Webster and League City, then turned off on FM 646 to go to a gas station.
Once my tank was full, I stayed on 646.
I ended up staying on it all the way through Bacliff and San Leon,
towns I hadn’t visited in a long time.
I remember going through them while getting behind-the-wheel
driver’s education training, which was 23 years ago.
They were there, which is all that needs to be said.
There was one way out of San Leon: FM 517, which meandered all over the
place before reaching Highway 146. I took that down to Texas City, but not as a through shot.
No, I turned off on Loop 197 for the scenic route (I use “scenic”
advisedly, especially for the southern portions).
On some old road maps I had, this was how 146 originally went through
town. It was a different view
of town. I took a short drive
out on the Texas City Dike. But
I didn’t stay long, for I wasn’t going to be fishing., and that’s what
you generally did out on the dike. I
left town on 197, which took me right through the petrochemical plant area.
The facilities caused my XM radio to frequently lose the signal and
my nose to wrinkle in disgust. But
soon, the plants were behind me, and the Galveston Causeway was ahead.
While driving on 61st Street, I realized that I needed to use
the restroom. Opportunity
presented itself in the form of a Randall’s supermarket a couple of blocks
from the seawall. I figured
they would have restrooms; I was not wrong.
Once I’d taken care of business, I walked around the store for a
bit, seeing if there was anything I needed or wanted.
There wasn’t. I was
surprised by the sound of a rustling bird in the produce section;
apparently, it had gotten inside that morning.
I’d seen them inside shopping malls and large stores, but never
inside a grocery store until just then.
I left; the bird didn’t. I
went to the nearby Hastings’s store; the bird didn’t.
I didn’t get anything there; the bird didn’t, either.
It was nearly lunchtime as I drove down Seawall Boulevard.
What did I want today? The
last time I was in Galveston, I ate at Joe’s Crab Shack, but I didn’t
feel like going there today. I
ended up visiting another Landry’s property, the Cadillac Bar, which was a
Mexican restaurant. I know of
two others around town, one on the Katy Freeway inside the Loop and the
other at the Kemah Boardwalk. The
view from the patio was nice; so were the breeze and the shade, making for a
nice place from which to enjoy a meal.
Indeed it was, but I could have done without the bird that hopped up
to my table and grabbed a chip from my chip bowl.
I saw it do the same thing from another table later on.
That little sneak! The
food was very good; I had a good sampling of it with their lunch buffet.
A meal that good and filling needed a walking off.
I drove a short distance away, then parked along the edge of the road
and walked for a bit, both on the beach and on the seawall.
The beach to the east of the nearby rock groin had eroded nearly
completely away; the waves would crash against the steps down to the beach.
But west of the groin, there was a decent section of beach.
There were a few people enjoying themselves there.
Nobody was swimming, for that was prohibited close to the groin.
I was not dressed for sunning myself on the beach, so I didn’t stay
that long. I set off down
Seawall Boulevard and ended up driving around the roads that led to East
Beach, though I didn’t actually enter East Beach.
I then ended up driving through UTMB and through downtown Galveston,
but I didn’t feel like stopping anywhere.
Attractions such as the Elissa and the restaurants in the area
would have to wait for another trip. I
found Broadway and headed out of town and back to the hotel.
I needed some orange juice, so I made a short trip to
the store for it. I also loaded
up on caffeine-free Dr Pepper, for I didn’t think I’d be able to find
any in Michigan [UPDATE: some
stores in Michigan have diet caffeine-free Dr Pepper, but I haven’t seen
any regular]. But what to do
for supper? Now there was a
question, and soon it had an answer. I
walked down to the nearby KFC and ordered a meal, then brought it back to
the room and proceeded to eat it while watching and/or listening to the
channel 2 news. They were
promoting the return for one night only of retired anchorman Ron Stone and
retired weatherman Doug Johnson. I
made a note to watch the 10 o’clock news.
But first, my evening’s TV pleasure would involve the season finale
of Enterprise. Due to
preemptions in Detroit because of sporting events and due to my vacation
schedule, I had not seen the last few episodes.
But I had no excuse tonight, nor did I want one.
As has become typical for Star Trek series, the season ended with a
cliffhanger: Captain Archer was trapped in the 31st century with
no way to return to his own 22nd century.
Once the episode was finished, I called up the Ivens, who used to be
our neighbors in Newport but had moved to Santa Fe, and made arrangements to
see them either next Sunday or Monday.
Top
Thursday May 23
Today was something of a down day for me.
I didn’t do all that much at the start of my second week in Nassau
Bay. I drove around Clear Lake
City for a bit, following the new subdivisions and streets and seeing how
the community had grown. It was
pretty big already, but now it extended close to Ellington Field.
I then paid another visit to the CompUSA and Barnes & Noble at
Bay Area and the Gulf Freeway, after which I had lunch at the Macaroni
Grille located nearby. I had one of their lunchtime specials that day, but I wish I
could remember what it was, for it was excellent.
Now how should one follow a meal like that?
I know a way not to: drive around through Pasadena.
But that’s what I did, for I wanted to see how it was nowadays.
I followed old Genoa-Red Bluff Road, which actually was a fairly new
road, for some of the curves had been straightened out via bypasses.
The old road was still there, though.
I went up Burke past the offices of my former dermatologist in my
teen years, Dr. Joseph. I can still remember the dry ice treatments, the injections
into some of the nastier pimples, and the ultraviolet lamp treatments, all
of which were to ease my acne problems.
I drove past the Pasadena Town Center and the Foley’s, recalling
the days when the Foley’s was the only store there, not counting the Globe
across the street (which is now a Mervyn’s, by the way).
I passed the Wal-Mart, built on the site of the old Sears store, then
took Shaver down to Spencer. I
noticed that the old Montgomery Ward store was still vacant. So was the Albertson’s store that had replaced the old
Pasadena Plaza shopping center. Texas
Tapes and Records was now several businesses, none of which involved tapes
or records.
Back at the hotel, I called Candy Silcott to confirm
our appointment for tomorrow. She had been my English teacher in intermediate
school – part of 6th grade, all of 7th, and half of
8th. We spoke
for a few minutes but saved most of it for tomorrow. After I got off the phone, I was inspired to take my
Backpacker guitar to the Nassau Bay park, sit in a shady location, and play
for a bit. I saw several boats
and a few personal watercraft pass by as I played.
The longer I played, the more I realized that I had been spoiled by
the necks on my Rickenbacker guitars, which I found to be the most
comfortable of any guitars I have played.
Top
Friday May 24
I woke up that morning with a bit of a tickle in my throat.
Actually, it was localized in the back right side of the mouth.
That alarmed me, for those things have frequently been the beginnings
of colds. I did not want a cold
on vacation. Actually, I never
want a cold, but I certainly did not want one then.
When the nearby Eckerd drug store opened, I made sure to go there and
get some zinc lozenges and some multivitamins.
I would use these, along with the Echinacea capsules I had brought
with me, to hit this thing hard before it turned into anything. They seemed to do the trick, for the throat problem cleared
up.
We (meaning David Horrigan, Candy and I) had agreed upon an afternoon
appointment, around 1 PM. Dave
would do his business at the county courthouse in the morning.
I would spend the morning driving around the area, including the
Challenger 7 Park, west of I-45 in Webster.
I had never been there before. It
was OK as far as parks went. Well,
it seemed OK while driving through it on a Friday morning while few people
were there. There was a boat ramp leading to Clear Creek, but it was
closed. After leaving the park,
I drove through Friendswood and went through areas I hadn’t visited in a
long time. Things were
definitely different. One of
the most obvious differences: Clear Brook High School on FM 2351, the
CCISD’s third high school. It
had come into existence well after my graduation.
Indeed, the district has added several schools since my graduation.
The attendance zones for each school have shrunk accordingly.
For instance, those who live in Forest Bend, Wedgewood Village and
other parts of Friendswood in Harris County would not attend Creek but would
attend Brook. If I were living
in Newport and were school-aged, I would still attend Ross Elementary and
Creek, but I would attend Creekside Intermediate instead of Webster.
Then again, I might be attending Webster as a member of the WAVE
program, but I digress….
It was lunchtime, and I knew where I wanted to go: Laredo’s in
Seabrook. The fastest route was
by Bay Area and Red Bluff, so that was how I went. Red Bluff hadn’t changed much – the establishment known
as Bill and Marie’s was still in business.
Laredo’s was still going strong, as I learned last week when I went
there. I believe it’s been
going since 1972, for that was the date I saw inscribed on a sidewalk in
front of the place. I had my
usual meal, and while eating that meal, I was inspired to grab a camera and
take a picture of Bill and Marie’s. I’d
enlarge it, frame it and give it to my aunt and uncle, who just so happen to
be named Bill and Marie. It was
just before noon; I had enough time to go back to the hotel, grab my camera,
take the picture, and still make my appointment at 1.
I found the optimum picture-taking location across the street from
the establishment. I had parked
along a section of abandoned roadway, part of the old access road to a
bridge that had been replaced by a higher one, and walked to the edge of the
road. I had to make sure that
the pictures wouldn’t be affected by passing traffic.
Once I’d got my shots, I got back in the car and drove back through
Seabrook. I tried taking some
pictures of the pelican statues that were along the main highways.
The statues had been painted in various themes; one was a police
officer, another a biker. One was an astronaut, another a Hooters Girl (or should that
be Hooters Pelican?) Traffic
conditions and parking conditions were far from optimum, leading to fears
that the pictures wouldn’t turn out that well.
I was in no danger of missing my appointment.
In fact, I was a bit early. I
was expecting a phone call from Dave, so I wore my cell phone and kept it
activated, something I was not in the habit of doing.
I reported to the office and met Candy there, and then we went into
her office. As it turned out,
this may not have been the best day for me to meet with her, for there was a
lot going on related to end-of-year activities.
Add to that the disruption caused by the death of a popular coach and
how to handle breaking the news to the students (Coach Andrews had suffered
a series of strokes earlier in the week and had just passed away), and the
scene was hectic. However,
Candy did find time in between finishing up hot e-mails, doing patio duty
and attending important meetings to take me around the school, showing me
what had changed. Buildings
that were separate when I attended had been connected together.
Classrooms that had opened onto an open-air patio now were in the
interior of the building. The portable buildings were long gone, but not the sidewalk
that led to them. The campus
was much smaller than I remembered. Of course, it wasn’t really smaller,
but I had been smaller when I attended.
The walls didn’t have any murals back then, either, but it has them
now. There were a number of
pizza parties taking place in the various classrooms, including the art
classroom, which we visited. Having
just had lunch, I was not that hungry, though I did take a small slice of
Domino’s cheese pizza. One of
the students had relatives in Lansing and would be attending music camp that
summer in Interlochen, Michigan. I
was asked to explain why, when you see a spinning wheel, it appears to be
turning opposite its true direction of rotation – spinning backwards, in
other words. I thought he was
asking about a wheel on film or video and talked about frame rates and the
strobe effect, prompting a nearby student to say “What?!?”
Actually, he was thinking about a bicycle wheel with spokes.
The same principle would apply there, I said, because the spokes are
behaving somewhat like shutters or strobe flashes.
While we were going around the school, Dave had called me.
However, my phone never rang, so I only learned of his call when I
checked the phone and saw a voicemail message waiting for me.
He was stuck downtown and would be delayed.
Later that afternoon, I had the opportunity to serve as an unpaid
consultant to the school on the best way to display certain student works of
art. I had accompanied Candy to
the nearby Office Depot to make copies of the art works for posters. Some of them defied meaningful copying, as their key elements
could not fit on an 11 x 17 sheet of paper.
Fortunately, there were enough works that could be copied without
losing much impact. We also
reviewed some color PDA’s, for she had noticed my Pocket PC and was
interested in it. While we were
out, Dave had called again. This
was the latest round of the phone tag we’d been playing.
I returned the call and left yet another message.
Some minutes later, I was visiting the facilities when I heard Candy
being paged (she was on patio duty at the time). I ended up taking the call; it was Dave’s brother Brian,
who lived out in The Woodlands. While
we were on the phone, Dave pulled up at his brother’s place and got on the
line. Clearly, he would not be
coming down to Webster that day. We
did agree on a time for us to meet Sunday at Candy’s house. It would be 5 o’clock, after the funeral for Coach Andrews.
Now Friday night also represented the beginning of the
Clear Creek “un-reunion”, an informal get-together of members of the
Class of 1981. I went over to
the Nassau Bay Hilton in the early evening and had dinner in the restaurant.
The filet mignon was not exactly bargain fare, but it was good.
Besides, I felt I should spend some money at the hotel.
I had a window seat, which gave me a view of Clear Lake.
While I was eating, I saw Dale Fortenberry walking around outside
with his family. He was the
first classmate that I saw, so I knew I would not be alone.
Unfortunately, I was in no position to draw his attention, and when I
had finished, he was gone. I
stayed around the hotel for a bit, then headed back to my hotel.
I called him from my hotel room, and we agreed to meet around the
pool area. For a while, it was
just his family and I there; his daughter swam in the pool, while we shot
the breeze. Later on, Karl
Hamelmann and Kay Kinney put in appearances.
The weather was very nice, with a cool breeze blowing in from the
lake. We talked about the tremendous growth this area, the teachers
we had in high school, etc.
Top
Saturday June 25
One of the reasons I stayed at an extended stay hotel was that I could
eat my breakfasts in my room – real breakfasts, not just whatever happened
to be convenient from the vending machine down the hall.
However, I felt like going out to eat this morning.
I had breakfast at Dixie’s Diner in League City, which was close to
the high school. It had been a
Denny’s restaurant for a while. If
I recall correctly, the franchise owner was a relative of Hakeem
Olajuwon’s. But that was then. Now,
Dixie’s was a typical diner and served typical diner fare.
I had a breakfast that was similar to what I had two Saturdays ago:
pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage.
Again, it tasted good, but I wouldn’t want to be eating it every
day.
My next stop took me across town to the Kroger’s close to the freeway.
It had been remodeled into a Signature store, meaning that it had
fancier foods and a larger selection. I
needed to get a few things for the room, which I did, and so it was back to
the room. I was listening to
KPFT that morning; they were featuring Cajun music.
Meanwhile, the Special X channel on XM Radio was featuring surf music
in tribute to the beginning of summer.
They called their programming the Wax My Woody Weekend.
Now there’s an expression that has acquired multiple meanings over
the years. I’m sure the
intended meaning was to wax one’s wood-paneled car.
The other meaning will not be mentioned here, but those of you old
enough to know will know.
Big Item Number One on today’s agenda was the Horrigan barbecue in the
Woodlands, which was being thrown by David’s youngest brother Brian.
Keith and I were going to carpool together up there.
I had brought my guitar and amp with me, so I thought it best that I
drove. I knew they’d fit in
my station wagon, but I wasn’t so sure if they’d fit in his car.
I went over to his place around 1, rang the doorbell, knocked, rang
the doorbell again, knocked again, etc.
It turned out I’d woken him up.
While he showered, I watched the season finale of Andromeda on
his Tivo or ReplayTV unit (I forget which one it was).
At last we were ready to go, and so we took off.
Now The Woodlands is way on the other side of Houston.
League City is exit 23 off of I-45; the exit we needed was exit 79,
and the house was some 3 to 4 miles beyond that.
Fortunately, the directions I’d written down from my mapping
programs did the trick. With
Keith serving as navigator and reading my directions to me, we had little
trouble finding the place. It
was a nice house in a nice neighborhood.
Pine trees were everywhere.
When we arrived, the crawfish were still being washed, and the main
dishes had yet to be started. Keith
had not had breakfast, so he was quite hungry and offered to prepare the red
beans and rice. His offer was
graciously accepted. Meanwhile,
all of the Horrigan brothers (David, Sean and Brian) were doing their parts
to get everything ready. I
hadn’t seen Sean or Brian in a long time – probably not since high
school. I even played a part in
meal preparations. In addition
to moral support, I sliced up some onions and sought out some of the secret
herbs, spices and seasonings that would make these red beans and rice taste
absolutely delicious. Eventually,
the hot oil boiler was ready. First
up: corn and potatoes. I never
had any of the potatoes, but the corn on the cob was pretty good. Next came the grilled burgers and hot dogs, which were also
delicious. At last, the
crawfish went into the boiler. I
never had any, so I could not tell you how good they were.
Much as we would have liked to stay, we could not, for we had other
places to go, other things that needed to be done.
So we left before 6:30 and went to the Central Market on Westheimer.
That is a grocery store with a vast selection of just about
everything – exotic produce, meats and fish.
And you could sample many of them.
I had a drink of raw Granny Smith apple juice, which did not taste
quite the same as other apple juices I’d had in the past.
I sampled some meat, which was delicious.
I got to have a wasabi-coated pea.
I enjoyed that so much, I bought a small bag to bring home as a
snack.
We returned to Keith’s place and unloaded his groceries.
Unfortunately, one of the bags broke, which caused one of the eggs to
break. Doubly unfortunate, the jar of strawberry rhubarb preserves
that he had bought were nowhere to be found.
What to do? Go to La
Madeleine, that’s what. So
while I headed over to the Nassau Bay Hilton, Keith went on his strawberry
rhubarb run. At the hotel, I
saw some shapes on the balcony (it was dark by this time).
I went out and could not see immediately, but they could see me.
It was several of my classmates.
Dale and Karl were there, as was Rob Wohrer.
Lisa Dills Neighbors was there, as were David Bealmear and his wife
and Billy Porter and his wife. Last
but not least, Melissa Mayo was there too.
I had not seen her since our 5-year reunion in 1986.
How did we pass the time? We
were on the patio for a while, then went down by the pool.
We ordered drinks and chatted about whatever we felt like.
I had taken out my Rickenbacker 12-string and was playing it
unplugged. Melissa had brought
her yearbook and her senior year scrapbook, although it was difficult to
review them in the dark. You
had to go underneath a light, which you’d be sharing with all the bugs
that were congregating there. Time
passed and passed. Then the
pool area closed, which effectively put an end to our evening.
When I returned to my hotel shortly before midnight,
the parking lot was quite full. I
had to park around the back and hike to the front door.
Top
Sunday May 26
Those of us who remained agreed to meet in the Hilton lobby around 9.
I got there first, followed by Dale.
We waited for everyone else to come down, check out, do whatever they
needed to do, etc. When all
were ready, we agreed that we would go to the IHOP on Nasa Road 1.
This was the same IHOP where several of us went after last year’s
reunion. It would appear that
IHOP was becoming a reunion tradition for me.
The Bealmears rode over with Melissa, while Dale went with me. We were seated quickly.
Our orders were taken quickly. We
received our drinks quickly. Our
food, however, arrived slowly. It
took over an hour for it to arrive. We
had some nice conversation while we waited for our food.
Some of the topics included crime and guns, marijuana and the lengths
some would go to grow it, close brushes with crime, Austin, life at a
British bed and breakfast (Melissa had worked at one, describing it as a
real Fawlty Towers-type place), etc. We
looked at the pictures in Melissa’s senior scrapbook.
The tape was failing, so we had to be careful to keep the pictures
from falling out.
After we’d finished, we stood around the front of the
IHOP, taking a few pictures, then went back to the hotel.
From here, the Bealmears would go off to meet some relatives, while
Melissa, Dale and I would head over to Kemah for a while.
Melissa was from Kemah and wanted to see how the place had changed
since her last visit. It had
changed a great deal in the boardwalk area, which was just beginning to come
together her last time down. On
the way over, she was telling us about not knowing many people her first
days at Creek; she had gone to Seabrook Intermediate, and the vast majority
of students from Seabrook ended up going to Lake.
But she found new friends and quickly became accepted at Creek.
We drove past her old house and around her old neighborhood, past her
old elementary school, which had been demolished and replaced by a newer
school, past the new Target and Home Depot on 2094, and finally down by the
Kemah Boardwalk. I observed
that 20 years ago, Kemah’s traffic jams were on 146 and were caused by the
old drawbridge. Now, they’re
on the side streets and caused by the Boardwalk.
They’ve just moved, that’s all.
We parked in front of some of the stores, looking for a place to get
a cool drink. In one store,
there weren’t any drinks, but I did find a book that I thought would be
cute for my nephew Brandon. We
ended up walking down to the Boardwalk in search of that drink, and we found
it in a coffee shop in the retail area.
We each got a different cool drink, while we shared a plate of
beignets (New Orleans pastries). My
drink was similar to a fruity Icee or Slurpee, and it gave me a brain freeze
when I sucked it down too quickly. We
had a nice time there, but it was time to return to the hotel.
Melissa would meet up with the Bealmears again, then head back home
to Tyler; Dale would stay in town another day with his family; and I would
head back to the hotel to cool down, take a breather, read the paper and
watch the Grand Prix of Monaco. That
took a couple of hours.
Watch
for the rest of Sunday later....
Top
Monday May 27
On the agenda today were three events: visiting Moody Gardens, attending
a barbecue, and visiting the Ivens. First
up was Moody Gardens. A new
IMAX 3D film, Space Station, had recently premiered, and I wanted to see it.
I wasn’t sure they would be open on Memorial Day, but I saw nothing
in the paper or on their Website to say they wouldn’t be, so I went.
Just as I was about ready to get into the car, I noticed that my red
Lugnuts hat was not inside. It
wasn’t in my room, either. I
did have it last night at the Silcott’s, so I figured I’d left it there.
I called over and left a message, then set off for Galveston. Unlike last week’s visit to the island, this was freeway
all the way.
The first showing was at 10 AM, but I arrived a few minutes too late for
it, so I got a ticket for the next showing at 11:10.
I had already seen the other exhibits such as the rainforest and
aquarium, so I had time to kill. Part
of that time was spent looking for a hat.
The gift shop had some, but I was looking for a white hat, and none
of theirs were white. There was
a Wal-Mart on Seawall Boulevard, and I had time to go there and find a white
hat. I also found some coloring books for nephew Brandon and an
atlas for Houston-Galveston. Unlike
my CD mapping programs, this atlas had some recent subdivisions, including
the one in Pearland where today’s barbecue would be.
The movie was excellent. I’ve
read comments from astronauts saying that IMAX films like this are about as
close as you can get to experiencing what it was like up there without
actually going into space. After
the movie ended, I left Moody Gardens and looked for a place to have lunch.
The barbecue was supposed to start around 1, but that didn’t mean
that there would be food at 1. As it turned out, I didn’t have any lunch.
McDonald’s had run out of Sprite, and they had no other
caffeine-free pop. And after
calling Keith and informing him of my plans, he assured me that there would
be food at 1 PM at the barbecue. So
I passed on lunch and headed back to League City and to Keith’s.
I had to fight slight urges to turn down Hobbs Road as if I was
heading to our old house.
When Keith and I went to the barbecue in the Woodlands, I drove.
This time, he would drive us to Pearland.
So there we were, heading west on 518 through Friendswood and
Pearland. I was marveling at
the development in Pearland, for I could remember when there was hardly
anything out there. I had the
atlas I’d just bought, and it turned out to be useful in getting to the
Abel’s. I had been there last
year but would have had difficulty getting there without a map, and Keith
had never been there before. With
the help of the map, we found the place with ease.
There was indeed some food available for early arrivals, and more
food was under preparation. There
was also plenty of liquid refreshment, with drinks hard and soft.
The kids played in an inflatable pool.
Many were watching the basketball games (WNBA and NBA), while others
were outside. I wandered
between inside and outside. I
even played my guitar briefly. Just
before we left, we got Doug Abel to take a picture of Keith, the Davids
(Kilgore and Horrigan) and me. Someone
suggested we should send it to Jackie Donovan, our former debate coach in
high school (or one of them, anyway).
Before I could head off to see the Ivens, I had to head
in the opposite direction to retrieve my hat. I had had a message on my cell phone from John Silcott: the
hat would be on their patio, and I could pick it up any time.
“Any time” happened to be that evening, and “on their patio”
turned out to be stuck in a niche on the door, propped up by a wreath.
But the important thing was that I had my hat back, and I could now
proceed to Santa Fe. The atlas
proved useful in finding the Iven’s house, for I had been fooled by Avenue
U not being between Avenues T and V. But
after consulting the map, I eventually found their house.
They used to live down the street from us in Newport, but about three
years ago, they moved down to Santa Fe on a large lot.
Their house was a nice one, with plenty of room for grandchildren to
run about. It seemed I just
missed seeing some of them run about, for son Bobby and his family had left
shortly before I arrived. Everyone
was doing fine.
Top
Tuesday May 28
Last week, I was supposed to go out to lunch or dinner with George
Mallios, but he postponed because he was not feeling well.
When I called, he asked to postpone again because of a broken tooth.
Oops! Perhaps we’ll
keep the appointment the next time I’m in town, I said.
But that allowed me to go into town and do a few things. First on the agenda: Fry’s.
I didn’t encounter any traffic problems going up there.
I was still looking for a DVD burner, and I was still disappointed in
their slim selection. However, I noticed they had a sale on some Firewire CD
burners, so I got one. I also
picked up some blank video tapes and DVD’s, including the new Harry Potter
disc for $14.95. I actually got
two, but there was a limit of one per customer, so I had to leave the store
and return to get the second copy, which I would send to my sister.
Once I’d left Fry’s, I stopped in briefly at the nearby Parker Music
before heading down the freeway. It
was nearly lunchtime, and I was looking for places to eat.
While traveling on Montrose just west of downtown, I saw a blimp in
the sky. It was not the
Goodyear blimp, though; it was the Rolling Stones blimp.
Their logo was clearly visible as it sailed over town, promoting the
Stones’ tour later that year. I
turned west on Westheimer, wondering if this area was still a center of the
gay community (it was). When I
passed Chuy’s west of Kirby, I stopped there for lunch.
I’d been there once before and was impressed with their Mexican
food. I’d been there several
years ago, back when it was Boardman’s seafood restaurant.
Whenever we were attending the Lamar Debate Tournament, we would
visit Boardman’s for a meal. But
I digress…. After lunch, I stopped at the Central Market and got some more
wasabi-coated peas, alone with some locally brewed root beer and a few other
items. Unfortunately, when I
went to pay, the store would not accept my ATM card.
They only accepted in-state cards.
I had cash to cover it, but I didn’t have much cash afterwards.
The Southwest Freeway was extremely busy, so I didn’t take it home.
Instead, I took Kirby down to the South Loop.
This took me past the new Reliant Stadium, home of the new NFL team
in town, the Texans. The
stadium was on the west side of the Astrodome and was nearly complete and
ready for use. My next stop was the Target store on Bay Area, where I got
some boxes for mailing packages, a set of MiniDV tapes, and some cash back.
When I got back to the room, I loaded up the boxes and got them ready
for shipping. I would send them
via different ways, one via the embassy’s APO address and the other via
the diplomatic pouch. Things
sent via the APO address have to clear Saudi customs, but items sent via the
diplomatic pouch do not. Now I
had the APO address, but I’d forgotten to put the pouch address in my
planner. That package would
have to wait, but the APO package could go out that day. However, due to bad weather, I didn’t go to the post
office. In fact, we had strong
thunderstorms. The lights went
out briefly.
That night, I wanted to try out my new CD burner.
I opened up the box and connected it to my laptop and loaded the
software for it. And after all
that, it refused to work. The
system knew a drive was there, but it could neither read from it nor write
to it. I struggled and cursed.
I went to the Web to look for new drivers, but they didn’t fix the
problem. I called up Keith for
assistance, but none of his systems had Firewire capability.
The same was true with David McFalls.
That left me with one option: return the drive tomorrow.
Top
Wednesday May 29
After having breakfast and showering, I went to the post office to mail
the one package, and then I made the journey back to Fry’s to return the
CD burner that would not work with my laptop.
I decided to go up Highway 3 and take the old way into town, and I
would take some video showing the route.
As I had noticed before, it led through some very Hispanic
neighborhoods on the east side inside the Loop.
I made my way across downtown and picked up the North Freeway.
The weather forecasts were saying there was heavy rain north of town,
and I found out firsthand on the freeway.
Once I arrived at Fry’s, I returned the drive and got a credit.
Had I been in town for a longer period, I might have taken a drive in
exchange, but I was to leave tomorrow, so that was not an option.
I went through the store fairly quickly but saw nothing else, so I
left. I called Keith from the car and told him I was about to set
off for his place, where we would meet for lunch.
He was glad I called, for he had some things he wanted me to get at
Fry’s, such as CD holders and the Harry Potter DVD. I went back inside, got those things, then took off for
League City. Once again, I had
to keep myself from not turning down Hobbs Road.
We had lunch at Chabuca’s, an international grill in Webster, located
on the site of the old Jalapeno Tree. Keith
had raved about this place to me, and I soon found out why.
Their specialty was grilled meats and vegetables brought on skewers
to your tables, where they would cut off slices of everything for you.
It was difficult to keep up with everything being offered to us –
grilled pineapple, chicken wrapped in bacon, fried banana, several cuts of
steak, Argentine sausage (very spicy), etc.
We topped it off with dessert; mine was a Mexican tres leches (three
milks) cake. Mm-mm!
I had just found a third restaurant that I would have to visit every
time I came down: Laredo’s, Joe’s, and now Chabuca’s.
After that delicious meal, we went back to Keith’s house, where I tried
to transfer some files I had on a Compact Flash memory card.
These were scans of some humor I had done in high school.
Unfortunately, none of his systems were able to read the memory card.
I’d have to put the files on a CD, but that would have to wait
until I returned home and could access the computer that had a working CD
burner. We said our goodbyes,
and I returned to the hotel.
I still had one package to mail to my sister, but I needed the address
for the diplomatic pouch. I
called up my aunt Marie, who did have it.
Thus armed, I went back to the post office and mailed the second
package. Then I went out to
Alvin to see the Vandervorts, our former neighbors from across the street.
To avoid traffic in Webster and League City, I went out there via
FM’s 270, 646 and 517. Everybody
was doing fine out there. We
had dinner at Joe’s Barbecue, where it was as good as ever.
Joining us for dinner were daughters Audrey and Gaye, along with
Gaye’s husband Steven and daughter Joanna.
Naturally, I got the barbecue baked potato with everything on it.
Enough time had elapsed from lunch that I nearly finished the potato,
which was a very big potato. I’ve
never weighed them, but I would say that the potato weighed around a pound.
It was time to head back to the hotel and begin to
pack. I put the hockey game on
the TV: Detroit was leading. They
had to win in order to force a game 7 on Friday.
And win they did! My
mood while packing was helped by their win.
Still, it was with some sadness that I packed, because it meant the
end of my vacation.
Top
Thursday May 30
All good things must come to an end, even though we don’t want them to.
That included this vacation. Although
I still had two formal days of vacation left, those would be travel days.
When I woke up, I checked e-mail, had a little bit of breakfast, and
showered. I also finished
packing up all of my stuff. Down
came the XM antenna from the window. Out went the Bose radio; in came the little ol’ clock radio
that belonged there. The extra
food I had left over went either into my car or into the garbage.
I went downstairs to retrieve the rolling cart for luggage.
It took two trips for me to load everything and move it downstairs
and pack it into the car. The 12-packs of pop went into the back, forcing some of my
bags to ride in the back seat. I
would have been in trouble were anyone else riding with me.
At 8 o’clock, I was ready to roll. I had checked out of the hotel and settled the bill.
Now which way would I go? I
had decided to go east by way of Louisiana.
This had the benefit of being mostly freeway travel.
I wasn’t looking to dawdle and take my time this time; I wanted to
get home as quickly as possible. It
was still rush hour, so I left by way of Highway 146 to Baytown, where I
took Garth Road to get up to I-10. That
was the way we would drive to San Jacinto Mall in Baytown.
It was still there, but so were lots of other establishments and
developments. I got onto I-10
and had good driving through Texas and far western Louisiana.
I was listening occasionally to the radio, more so the XM radio, and
mainly the radio dramatization of Star Wars, which I had recently acquired.
The weather did not always stay favorable.
There were times when it would rain so hard, my windshield wipers
could hardly keep up. I
considered pulling over on a few occasions. Indeed, when I stopped for gas at a station just west of
Baton Rouge, I remained at the pumps (which were under a large canopy) for
several minutes while a bad rainstorm passed.
I could see fierce lightning in the distance as I filled my gas tank.
Later, I heard about a road closure ahead of me on I-12 west of
Hammond. I had gone too far to
take the recommended detour, so I got onto US 190 and headed east.
Unfortunately, I got stuck in a long backup.
Fortunately, I had my atlas and could find a detour for the detour.
It put me on I-55 north of I-12.
Now I suppose I could have taken I-55 north and gone though Jackson
and Memphis, but I wanted to take I-59 and head up through Meridian, MS and
Alabama, so I went south on 55 back to I-12.
My drive took me up I-59 through southeastern Missisippi and into
Alabama. I had entertained some
thoughts of driving straight on through but put those aside and stopped at a
La Quinta Inn in Tuscaloosa – Crimson Tide country. I walked over to a nearby Chinese restaurant for a late
supper. Their Mongolian Delight
was delicious, but they served too much of it.
I could not finish it, nor could I box it up and take it home.
Top
Friday May 31
The La Quinta was another of the hotel chains that served a breakfast in
the morning. I took advantage
of it before setting out again. I
had traveled some 600 miles yesterday and would have done better were it not
for the heavy rain and the detours. This
put me around 40% of the way home, I figured.
It was rush hour in Birmingham when I went through, but
I encountered no problems. I
didn’t encounter any problems in Nashville or Louisville, either.
I did encounter backups in Cincinnati, for I arrived during its
evening rush hour. I had
stopped for lunch at a Hardee’s in Kentucky, but I hadn’t stopped for
supper, nor would I. I had some
snack foods in the car that I could eat.
The late sunset worked to my advantage as I drove northward. I could arrive home around 10, I figured.
That would be 9 by my internal clock.
I fiddled with the radio, hoping to be able to pick up the hockey
game: game 7 between Detroit and Colorado.
The winner would play Carolina for the Stanley Cup.
I couldn’t find the game, so I had to content myself with updates
from ESPN Radio. The news was
good: Detroit was scoring early and often.
As I neared Toledo, I could finally receive the game broadcast from
Detroit and listened to that as I drove up from Toledo.
Detroit scored once more during that period, giving them a 7-0 lead,
which is how it would end. They
would play for the Stanley Cup [UPDATE: and they’d win it, too!].
At 9:45, I stopped at my neighborhood Kroger store for a few items,
and at 10 PM, I pulled into my garage.
I was home, and my vacation was over.
The major unpacking could wait until tomorrow.
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THE END
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©2002 R. W. Reini.
All rights reserved.
Written by Roger Reini
Revised April 20, 2008 |