PHOTOS
Great Britain
1996
Great
Britain
and Finland
1998
TRAVELOGUE
HOME PAGE
RREINI.ORG
HOME
PAGE
|
|
Travelogue:
Texas and More
September/October 2007
By
Roger W. Reini
By
date:
September: 26
| 27 | 28 | 29
| 30
October: 1 | 2 | 3
| 4 | 5 | 6
| 7 | 8 | 9
| 10
Wednesday
September 26
I
left work a bit early today, as I had no more meetings, and I’d
done
all I could do on what I had to do. Still, I left my cell
phone
on in case anyone was trying to contact me. I put my
laptop bag
in the trunk and then tried to tighten one of the bolts on my HF
(high
frequency, a.k.a. shortwave) antenna. Unfortunately, it
wouldn’t
tighten. I needed a second wrench or pair of pliers, but I
didn’t
have either.
I headed down Pelham Road towards I-94, stopping
for gas at one of the stations at Outer Drive. I was below
a
quarter of a tank, so I put in over 13 gallons. The
fill-up was
over $40, a possible first for me. Then it was down to
I-94 and
onto the freeway heading west. Traffic was heavy, but it
wasn’t
jam-packed. I turned on my XM Radio and bounced around
various
stations. Initially, I listened to XM Home Plate and
Charlie
Steiner’s Baseball Beat program. Later on, I gave a listen
to the
new POTUS 08 channel, dedicated to covering the 2008
presidential
election. Eventually, I found myself listening to Soul
Street,
which covers the 60’s and early 70’s heyday of soul music.
This
afternoon’s program featured number 1 songs from the 60’s -- #1
on the
R&B charts, that is. The thing is, most of the songs
also did
quite well on the regular charts. There were some that hit
#1 on
both – perfectly understandable.
The weather was cloudy, warm
and humid in advance of a cold front. I didn’t hit any
rain until
I was traveling down I-69 in Indiana, and even then the rain was
light. I stopped at the Indiana Welcome Center for a
restroom
break and a Diet Mountain Dew. Since I was driving after a
day of
work, I was rather tired (all the more so because I woke up
early to
begin with – 4 AM or so), and I did not want to nod off behind
the
wheel. The Mountain Dew did its job. And so I found
myself
nearing Indianapolis just after 7 PM. I knew that I would
be
passing by Fry’s Electronics, perhaps their closest location to
Detroit
(their Chicago location is in the western suburbs, making it a
bit
farther away), so I decided to pay them a visit. The
location of
some of the items was different, but all in all, it wasn’t very
different from their other locations. I didn’t get
anything
tonight, although I could have. I knew I’d have plenty of
opportunities to visit other locations, whether in Austin or
Houston.
My
destination tonight was the Microtel Inn in northwest
Indianapolis,
near their “North Loop”. I missed the street for it and
had to
loop back through a shopping center parking lot, but I
eventually got
there. The room was small but functional, which was all I
needed
for the night. Download e-mail, read magazines, go to
sleep.
Top
Thursday
September 27
I
woke up a little after 4 again; I must have still been in work
mode. That allowed me to take my sweet time getting ready
this
morning. I also wanted to take advantage of the breakfast
in the
lobby, which didn’t start until 6 AM. The breakfast
consisted of
chocolate muffins, bagels, juice and coffee. I had a
muffin and
some orange juice before checking out and hitting the road
around 6:20.
Traffic
wasn’t too heavy on I-465, the loop around town. An hour
later,
that might not have been the case, but I was far to the west by
then. I got on I-70 and headed westward towards
Illinois. I
turned on my amateur radio transceiver and listened; the band
for which
I was configured (20 meters) was not open, so I listened to one
of the
broadcasters on 49 meters, China Radio International.
Before
long, I put on the iPod and my audiobook on language and thought
called
The Stuff of Thought by
Steven
Pinker. Now I was getting hungry, but I wasn’t sure where
I
wanted to stop. By the time I reached Marshall, Illinois,
I knew
I wanted to stop. At the local McDonald’s, I had a steak
&
egg bagel sandwich, a hash brown patty, and an orange
juice. I
was reading the Chicago
Tribune,
mainly the comics and sports sections. I’d brought in my
iPod
touch to use with their Wi-Fi system, but their Wi-Fi was not
free. So
I didn’t use it. I could use my cell phone to retrieve
e-mail
later (Powerbook connected through the cell phone, that is).
The
drive through Illinois was uneventful. For a while, I got
tired
of the audiobook and listened to some of the songs on the iPod,
notably
the Bangles and most of their Different
Light
CD. I liked them back in the day and I like them now, and
they’ve
aged very well – very well indeed. When I tried to play
the
audiobook again, though, I lost my place and ended up at the
beginning. I was in a gas station convenience store
parking lot,
fast-forwarding to pick up where I thought I left off. I
think I
got it right. So onward down I-57 I went.
Around noon, I
was in Sikeston, Missouri, where I-57 ends at I-55. I had
lunch
at Applebee’s (a shrimp and leaf spinach salad – yummy! A Popeye
special, you could say). I’d also brought my Powerbook and
cell
phone in with me so that I could retrieve my e-mail. The
connection may have been slower than I would have liked, but I
got my
messages and even sent a couple out.
Getting back on the road, I
decided to depart from my original plan to take I-55 down to
where it
intersects I-40 near Memphis, then take I-40 to Little
Rock. The
restaurant was a few miles west of I-55 already, so that helped
my
decision to travel west and go through Poplar Bluff. Many
years
ago, when we would drive from Texas to the Copper Country of
Michigan,
we would go through Poplar Bluff and eat at a restaurant called
the
Hickory House. I wanted to see if the restaurant were
still in
operation or if any sign of it still existed. I drove
through the
town on Business 67, but there was no sign of it. It had
been
over 30 years since I’d been there, so I couldn’t be too
surprised. I drove down US 67 into Arkansas. At one
point,
I stopped at a Wal-Mart to buy a tool set, for I really wanted
to
repair that HF radio antenna. I did get the connections
tight,
but now something else was wrong, for there was a completely
open
connection – no reception, no way to transmit, no nothing.
Some
more repairs were needed, but I didn’t have time for that now.
I
arrived in the Little Rock area around 5 o’clock, taking the
loop
around the city to avoid downtown rush hour traffic. By
this
time, I was getting hungry, and I was also getting tired, and I
needed
to find a hotel for the night. Eating at the Dixie Café
satisfied
my hunger, and bringing in the laptop let me make a reservation
in
Arkadelphia (the connection was terribly slow, but I did
complete the
reservation). And so that was how I found myself at the
Hampton
Inn in Arkadelphia around 7:30 at night. It was fancier
than the
Microtel Inn, thus more expensive. But I would be
acquiring more
Hilton HHonors points that I could use for free stays at the
hotels of
my choice. In the past, I’d used points to stay at the
Hampton
Inn in Windsor, Ontario on the way to and from Ottawa, and I was
contemplating doing so again.
Top
Friday
September 28
I
woke up around 5 o’clock Central time, took a shower and checked
my
e-mail. Then it was time for breakfast, and I partook of
Hampton
Inn’s very good breakfast bar. It didn’t have those
muffins that
I really like, but I still liked what they had (different
muffins,
cereal, sausage). By 6:45, I was ready to hit the
road. My
first stop was 30 seconds later at the gas station next door,
where I
filled up and washed off the windows. While doing so,
though, I
noticed a spot that wouldn’t wash off the windshield. Upon
closer
examination, it wasn’t a spot; it was a small hole, not visible
from
the driver’s seat because of the rearview mirror. I would
have to
see about getting it repaired. I would also have to
monitor it
closely in case it started growing. I did recall hearing a
loud
tap at some point yesterday
The drive through Arkansas on I-30
was unremarkable, and within an hour or so I found myself at the
Texas
Welcome Center in Texarkana. After a bathroom break, I
went
inside and picked up some literature for places I might be
visiting. These were places around Austin and Houston,
mainly. Then I continued westward, passing by the turnoff
for US
59, the route to Houston. I’d normally take that exit, but
not
today, for my destination was Austin. I continued westward
for a
few hours, listening to the iPod, stopping for lunch at the
Steak &
Shake restaurant in the town of Rockwall. I had stopped
here in
the past, meaning the town, for I recognized the nearby Waffle
House
and the lake. Once again, I brought in my laptop and cell
phone
to check e-mail. While doing so, I saw an article that
caught my
attention: second-generation astronaut to head to space station,
to
paraphrase the headline. Reading further, I saw that the
second-generation astronaut was someone I knew way back when:
Richard
Garriott, who had graduated from Creek two years ahead of me,
had
developed the Ultima series of computer games and had become
quite
wealthy. We’d also taken drama/acting classes together
back in
the mid-70’s (friend Rob Wohrer had done so as well). He
was
going to be a “space tourist”, buying a ride to the
International Space
Station. His father had flown on Skylab and the shuttle
and had
been the first amateur radio operator to operate from space.
After
lunch, I got back on the road and headed towards Dallas. I
wasn’t
going to stop there, but I was going to turn towards Austin
there. There was no need to head all the way into town; I
could
take I-635, Dallas’s Loop, to connect to I-35E, and that’s what
I
did. Once I got onto I-35E, there was construction south
of town,
so that slowed me up for a while. Eventually, the
construction
ended, and the road opened up. It was heavy with traffic
the
whole way down through Waco, Temple and Round Rock. I was
listening to audiobooks on my iPod again. At one point,
Keith
called to see where I was and when I might arrive. I had
to pause
the iPod in order to take the call.
[Details removed of my stay in order to avoid embarrasing Ping
the cat. He doesn't want to remember how scared of me he was on
this visit; he's become much friendlier to me over the years.]
Top
Saturday
September 29
[Details of today have been removed, but the highlight was
having breakfast at the Magnolia Cafe in Austin]
Top
Sunday
September 30
[Details of today have been removed, but they did involve a
delicious meal at the Monument Cafe in Georgetown and my
introduction to Crocs footware. No one can question the
importance of the first thing, but there are those who have
questioned the benefit of the second. So what? I like Crocs.]
Top
Monday October
1
I
was supposed to be on vacation, yet I found myself awake at 5 AM
internally, which was 4 AM in real life. But I found the
time
useful, for I checked e-mail and websites I usually check in the
morning. Later, I took a shower and had the leftovers from
the
Magnolia Café. I finished the home fries and most of the
eggs,
but I didn’t really care for the leftover black beans. I
also
finished packing up, for I would be leaving today for Nassau
Bay.
It was 9:30 when I left.
My first
destination of the day was the local amateur radio store in
Austin, for
I was looking for an inexpensive temporary mount for my HF
antenna. After a few loops around the block, I found the
store in
an older shopping center. When I parked, though, the store
was
not open. Nor was there a posting of hours on the door, so
I had
no way to know when it would open, or even if it would be
open.
They could have been closed on Mondays, for all I knew (an
electronics
store back home in Westland was closed on Wednesdays and
Sundays). Disappointed, I left and headed east on US
290. I
would now have to try Houston’s amateur radio store.
Based on
Keith and Karen’s recommendation, I stopped for an early lunch
at the
Southside BBQ in Elgin. The interior was low-key and
non-descript, but to me, that conveyed authenticity. I
could see
the meat market section, but I wanted the prepared food
section.
I had a large chopped beef sandwich (no to pickle, yes to
onion), some
chips, and Diet Dr Pepper. It was OK, but I thought Joe’s
was
better. To be honest, I might not have been hungry enough
for it,
for it was indeed early (I got there before 11).
The drive along
290 was uneventful, and I made good time toward Houston.
After
stopping for gas in Waller, I headed into town. My
destination
wasn’t my hotel, not yet. I was in search of a book on
Houston
street names, and I knew that one of the stores that carried it
was on
Bissonnet (it was locally written and published, and it wasn’t
available at the chain superstores). So I followed 290 to
its end
at the Loop, then took the West Loop to the Southwest Freeway to
the
Kirby exit. I passed by River Oaks Chrysler-Jeep, where my
dad
had bought two vehicles, the second of which turned out to be a
lemon
and the last Chrysler he ever bought. Then I turned left
on
Bissonnet, and the Brazos Bookstore wasn’t far away. It
was a
nice small store, but they didn’t seem to have it, so I
left.
There were some other stores that had it, and I’d try those
later. Now, though, I would head to Nassau Bay and my home
for
the next week. So I took Greenbrier down to Fannin,
keeping clear
of the Metrorail trains along the way, then took the South Loop
over to
the Gulf Freeway. The biggest changes I noticed were at
Almeda:
the Foley’s was now Macy’s, which I expected, but the Penney’s
store
was closed, which I didn’t. I hadn’t been to Almeda in
many
years, and I expected that to continue.
Knowing there would be
construction on Nasa Road 1, I exited at Bay Area and stopped
for a
restroom break at the Barnes & Noble. They didn’t have
the
street name book, either, but I did get some magazines.
Then it
was over to the Extended Stay America in Nassau Bay. I
normally
stay at this hotel whenever I’m in town, but I didn’t last
November. The lobby and rooms had been remodeled somewhat
– new
carpeting, new chairs in the rooms, etc. I had room 107 on
the
first floor, with good southern exposure for my XM
antenna. One
of the first things I did was to set up the SkyFi radio near the
bed,
with the antenna placed above the screens in the window (it had
to be
above, otherwise the signal wouldn’t get through).
After
settling in and unpacking, it was time for supper. Now
where
would I want to eat? Barbecue was out of the question,
since I’d
had it for lunch. The obvious answer for me was Laredo’s
in
Seabrook, so that’s where I went. Southbound traffic on
146 was
very heavy as I turned in to the parking lot. But it
wasn’t very
busy inside, and I was able to order my regular Deluxe Dinner
and be
served very quickly. As always, it was very good. It
was
also lighter than some of the other Mexican meals I’ve
had.
Afterwards, I went to the Super Target in Kemah to get some food
for
myself (cereal, soy milk, nibbles) and some Halloween candy to
send to
my sister in Uganda. It was an expensive visit to
Target.
Unfortunately, when the time came to pay, my debit card wouldn’t
work. I had to have it processed as a credit, which meant
I
couldn’t get any cash back. On the way back to the hotel,
I
listened to the tiebreaker game between San Diego and Colorado
on
XM. The winner would move on to the post-season, while the
loser’s season would end. I was able to see some of the
construction on Nasa Road 1 before I reached the hotel and
called it an
evening.
Top
Tuesday October 2
I
woke up briefly around 4 o’clock, but I went back to bed.
I was
up for good around 6. I turned on channel 26’s (Fox) news
and
watched it for a while. This was the second day for new
anchorwoman Sibila Vargas; I knew this from reading the
Chronicle
website in the last few days. She was new to 26, not to
the
industry, and she was very easy on the eyes.
There were bills
that had to be paid; I wrote out 2 checks and paid a third via
the
Web. There was a package to Uganda that had to be mailed;
I
prepared the box and filled it with candy, magazines and
collected mail
that was coming to my house. But there was still a lot of
room
left, so I put in newspaper to fill up the space. I had
cereal
and Pop Tarts for breakfast, and at 9 I left for the Nassau Bay
post
office. It cost $27 to mail that package to Uganda
(actually, to
mail it to a mail collection point near Dulles Airport in
Virginia)!
Now
what would I do? I had thought about going to Galveston,
but I
decided that could wait a day. After not being able to
visit the
amateur radio store in Austin yesterday, I did want to go to the
one up
in Spring. So I headed westward on Nasa Road 1, which took
me
through the construction related to the bypass. Perhaps it
would
be complete by the next visit. Once I got through the
construction zone, it was smooth sailing through Webster, and I
got
onto I-45 northbound.
My first stop was the Quarter-Price Book
Store on S. Shepherd in Houston, which was just north of the
Southwest
Freeway. I didn’t stop there for long, though, because the
store
was closed. No hours were posted on the door, though I
recalled
seeing a web listing that said it opened at noon. That was
several hours away, and I wasn’t going to wait. My next
destination was the River Oaks Bookstore on Westheimer,
Unfortunately, I could not turn left on Westheimer, so I had to
make
right turns and go around the block to end up in the correct
direction. I didn’t know precisely where the store was,
but I had
an address for it. I passed by some familiar sights,
including
Lamar High School. But when I reached the Central Market
at
Weslayan without having seen the store, I was sure I’d passed it
by and
made a big loop. I went up to San Felipe and over, getting
back
to Westheimer by wandering through the River Oaks streets.
When I
went down Westheimer more slowly, I found that the bookstore was
in the
shopping center across from Lamar High School. It was a
small
store but a well-stocked one. Yes, they had it, and I
walked out
of there with a copy. I wouldn’t need to order it from the
Web
after all.
Next stop: Houston Amateur Radio Supply in
Spring. The best way to get there was to take the West
Loop to
the North Loop to the North Freeway and up one exit past FM
1960.
Traffic wasn’t too bad as I made the trip, and I eventually
found
myself at the Cypresswood exit. Spring High School was on
the
corner. Across the freeway was the shopping center that
contained
the radio store, a Super Target and a Best Buy. I went to
the
Target first for two reasons: one, I needed to go to the
bathroom, and
two, I wanted to get some sunblock as well as get some cash
back.
Unfortunately, I was thwarted again in my attempt to get cash
back: out
of network, it said. That wasn’t true last year.
Ticked
off, I cancelled the sale. I’d try Wal-Mart next.
Next came
the radio store. I ended up getting an inexpensive mount
for the
Hamstick antennas I’ve been using. It didn’t fold up like
my
regular one did, but it was inexpensive. For emergency
use, it
would do.
My next destination was one of two theaters that were showing
the movie Across the
Universe.
One was near the Willowbrook Mall, while the other was in town
near the
Katy Freeway and the West Loop. I decided on the one near
the
Loop, for that would be on the way home, more or less. I
used the
GPS to guide me there, which it did with plenty of time to spare
for
the first showing of the day. That was another reason why
I chose
this theater: the first showing was at 1, while the other
theater’s
first showing was after 2. There were several restaurants
in the
area, but there wasn’t enough time to go to any of them before
the
movie started. I ended up getting some popcorn, a hot dog
and a
drink. Across the
Universe
was a movie that was written around the songs of the Beatles, as
one
might gather from the title. Many characters were named
for
characters in those songs – the two leads Lucy and Jude, her
brother
Max, soul songstress Sadie and her guitarist Jo-Jo (evoking
Joplin and
Hendrix, respectively). No original Beatle recordings are
heard;
instead, the actors all sang their own songs, and they did a
good job
of it, too.
The movie was a little over two hours long.
When it ended, I headed homeward to avoid getting caught in rush
hour. Remembering my problems at Target earlier in the
day, I
stopped at the Wal-Mart at El Dorado to get the sunscreen and
attempt
to get some cash back. Once again, I couldn’t get cash
back due
to network errors. As I did indeed need the sunscreen for
my bike
ride in Galveston, I bought the sunscreen with cash, then
attempted to
pull cash from the ATM. That didn’t work either, and then
I began
to get concerned. Would I be able to get cash
ANYWHERE? Or
would I have to ask a friend to cash a check for me? I
stopped at
the Washington Mutual at Bay Area and El Camino to try their
money
machine. Fortunately, I was able to withdraw cash; I
wouldn’t
have to ask a friend to cash a check. But I was not able
to avoid
the double ATM fee that I could have avoided were I able to get
cash
back when buying other things.
The weather report had news of a
tropical disturbance of a gulf that could head this way for the
coming
weekend. The forecasters were uncertain if it would become
a
tropical storm or hurricane. If it turned into a
hurricane, I
would have to be prepared to leave quickly, more quickly than
most
residents because I wasn’t a resident. I would either head
back
to Austin or head back homeward. For now, though, I would
assume
business as usual. I got into contact with the Coneys,
friends of
the family from way back, and arranged to meet them for dinner
Thursday
night. It would be a late dinner because Linda Coney
taught
students until 8:30 or 8:45.
Then I took a drive over to Fry’s
in Webster. I took a little bit of a “scenic” route, going
through League City, for I wanted to see what had changed along
Main
Street. Not much had changed there. But there was
now an
overpass crossing Highway 3 (the Nasa 1 bypass), and there was
now an
overpass on the freeway just north of Fry’s, where the bypass
feeder
roads will cross under the freeway. Different,
indeed! At
Fry’s, I picked up 2 DVD’s and the latest issue of Wired
magazine, and
then I thought about what to do for supper. Cheddar’s was
right
there, but it was too busy, so I went up to Baybrook. My
first
stop was their new Apple store. I wasn’t immediately in
the
market for anything, but that will be changing in the future (my
Powerbook is 3 ½ years old and is showing its age). As for
supper, I stopped at Luby’s, but nothing on the menu appealed to
me. Nothing at the food court struck my fancy, either, so
I ended
up going over to Denny’s. I hadn’t been to a Denny’s in a
while,
not since the one close to me at home closed up. After a
good
burger and salad, I went back to the hotel and called it an
evening.
Top
Wednesday October
3
I
awoke around 4, went to the bathroom, and then went back to bed
(fortunately). When I woke up for good, it was 7:30.
I had
cereal for breakfast while watching channel 26’s news.
Today, I
was going to go down to Galveston and rent a bicycle to ride
along the
seawall and through town. But first, I wanted to install
that HF
antenna mount on my trunk lid. It took me around half an
hour to
remove the old mount and install the new one. I’d have to
examine
the old mount more closely, but I could see signs of corrosion
on the
terminal connecting to the antenna. That could explain the
loss
of signal I had seen (but it didn’t; I would later learn that
the
terminal crimp had gone bad). There was no loss of signal
with
this new mount, though; I was pleased to hear more signals than
just
the noise of my car’s engine.
I got on the freeway and headed
towards Galveston. It was quite messy south of Webster
with the
bypass construction, but after that, there was no more
construction
until I reached Galveston. South of FM 518, I saw Alex
Rodriguez
Mercedes-Benz and wondered if that had anything to do with the
baseball
player (it sure did, I learned later; A-Rod did in fact own that
dealership). Further south on the freeway, near FM 646, I
saw
even more signs of construction and growth. There was a
Best Buy
near the Wal-Mart; a sign on the side said “Opening Soon.”
I saw
a Home Depot that was open and a Super Target that was under
construction. Hard to believe that all of these new
businesses
were opening up in my hometown. What would my late parents
think
of all this?
At the Causeway, construction resumed. All
traffic was using the northbound bridge, while the southbound
bridge
was being rebuilt. Traffic wasn’t backed up because three
lanes
in each direction were available, the same as usual. I
stopped at
the Target on 61st Street to use the restroom, then headed
towards 18th
and Seawall and the Island Bicycle Company. I had found
them on
the Web when searching for dealers that rented bikes. I
found a
parking spot along the seawall right across from the store and
went
inside. They had several models available, but I ended up
renting
a basic beach cruiser – one-speed, coaster brake, balloon
tires.
I hadn’t ridden a bike like that in a very long time. In
some
ways, it was difficult to get used to it. I couldn’t spin
the
pedals to put them in the best place for my feet when taking off
from a
stop, and I frequently found myself grabbing for the hand brake
levers
that weren’t there. But it worked. I rented it for
two
hours.
My first destination: my car, where I retrieved my bike
helmet. Then I set off towards the northeast along the
seawall,
in the direction of Stewart Beach. There was a decent
headwind
the whole time, so I was getting a good workout. Once I
got to
Stewart Beach, I kept going. I had to watch for glass on
the
sidewalk, and of course I had to keep clear of the edge. I
didn’t
stop until I reached the end of the seawall at the site of Fort
San
Jacinto. Here, you could see all of the traffic heading up
and
down the ship channel, out to sea or into the bay. The
Bolivar
Peninsula was clearly visible. I spent some time here
taking
pictures, and then I hopped back onto the bike. Heading
back,
though, I rode on the north side of the road, up another seawall
of
sorts. No glass up here! And the wind was at my
back, so I
found it a very enjoyable ride. I then turned down the
road for
the Bolivar Ferry, but I didn’t take the ferry. No, I
turned onto
Harborside Drive and road through UTMB, the University of Texas
Medical
Branch, and John Sealy Hospital. I then rode along the
Strand in
downtown, stopping to take some pictures here and there. I
passed
by the Rosenberg Library, which was undergoing renovation in
preparation for its centennial. I can remember their
bookmobiles
that would visit our subdivision before the League City library
was
built. Only the original building had scaffolding around
it; the
newer building was untouched.
As I pedaled around, a
couple drove up to me and asked if I knew where St. Mary’s
Cathedral
was. I didn’t know, unfortunately. Guess I must have
looked
like a local – well, I almost had been at one time. Then I
took
23rd Street down to the seawall, passing by O’Connell High
School
(Catholic) and the site of an old Buick dealership that was now
hosting
a T-shirt company. I would later learn that this was
originally
Pennington Buick, built in 1950, and later Bill Brown
Chevrolet.
Once I reached the seawall, I headed southwest. I passed
the
Flagship Hotel and rode up onto its parking deck, planning to
ride all
the way to the end – until I saw the sign for no bicycles or
skateboards. I did ride on a rock groin that stuck out
into the
Gulf, though, and took some pictures. The riding was
difficult,
and in some places, I had to get off and walk the bike due to
the rough
surface. I even rode on the beach briefly before I
attempted to
pedal back up to the top of the seawall. I say “attempted”
because I couldn’t make it with the one-speed. I
eventually
pedaled all the way down to the San Luis Resort and the site of
Fort
Crockett before turning around. At one point, I thought I
would
want to ride the entire length of the seawall. Perhaps I
will at
some point, but not today. I made it back to the rental
place and
returned the bike.
The bike did not have a speedometer or
odometer, so I had no way to know how far I rode today (I keep
track of
that). Fortunately, the route was such that I could drive
it with
my car and get a good approximation of my distance. After
stopping at McDonald’s for a milkshake, I drove the route as
best as I
could. It came out to 14 ¼ miles, not a bad ride at
all.
Heading back towards the hotel, I saw that the new Best Buy in
League
City had a sign “Now Open”. I made a note to come back
here later
in the day. But first, I wanted a more substantial lunch
than
that milkshake, so I stopped at Cheddar’s in Webster. It
wasn’t
busy now, unlike last night. It was a casual dining
restaurant
not unlike Ruby Tuesday, O’Charley’s, Max and Erma’s, etc.
I
didn’t want anything too heavy, so I went for a grilled chicken
and
pasta Caesar salad. It was quite good, but I didn’t finish
it
because it was quite large. Then I looped back to the new
Best
Buy, going through League City on Highway 3 and FM 646. I
thought
I could get to it by going through Wal-Mart, but I couldn’t, so
back on
the feeder I went. Inside, it was just like any other new
Best
Buy, well-stocked with the latest consumer electronics and
media.
They even had a special area set aside for Apple products – Macs
and
iPods. The clerks seemed to be a little too helpful, in my
opinion, continually asking me if I needed any help.
Frankly, I
got annoyed by it; this wasn’t the norm at other Best
Buys. In
retrospect, though, it may have been first-day jitters, for this
may
have been the store’s very first day open to the public.
I
didn’t get anything at Best Buy, so I went back to the hotel,
but not
before stopping for a pop and a paper at the nearby CVS.
Back in
the room, I drank the pop and read the paper (better than
reading the
pop and drinking the paper), and I also started to charge my
cell
phone. I even did a bit of work on this travelogue.
For
supper, I walked over to the Luby’s next door and had a chopped
steak
dinner. It was OK. One thing that was different,
though,
was how you paid for your meal. Before, you’d pay as you
exited. Now, you paid as you left the serving line, before
you
sat down to eat.
Before going to Luby’s, I tried listening in my
car for transmissions from one of the amateur radio satellites
that was
retransmitting signals from the original Sputnik 1 in honor of
its
launch, the anniversary of which was tomorrow.
Unfortunately, I
was not successful in hearing it. I did hear the time
signal
station WWVH from Hawaii on 15 MHz, though; normally, I would
expect to
hear WWV from Colorado on that frequency.
Top
Thursday October 4
Once
again, I awoke briefly around 4 o’clock then went back to
sleep.
I woke up for good around 6:30. Today, I would go
someplace I’d
never gone before: the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, which
was on
the other side of Galveston Bay. Now there were two ways I
could
go to reach it: the southerly approach, going through Galveston,
talking the ferry to Bolivar and going up to High Island, or the
northerly approach, going through Baytown to Anahuac and
down. I
chose the northerly approach, so I was able to go up 146 through
La
Porte and Baytown and experience the major construction on I-10
east of
Mont Belvieu. I stopped at the 2 gas stations at the
Highway 61
exit looking for insect repellent, which I had been told would
be a
necessity at the refuge. I also got a bottle of water, for
no
drinkable water would be available out there (the animals that
live out
there could drink it, but not us humans). After a
drive
through the Chambers County countryside, I found myself at the
entrance
to the wildlife refuge. I signed in, picked up an
information
flyer, then set off on my investigations.
My first stop was the
area known as the Willows, a stand of willow trees that is an
important
rest area for all sorts of migratory birds. I got out to
walk
around on the boardwalk. This may have been a
mistake. Even
though I had applied –liberally applied – Off to my body, the
bugs
still flew around me. It was incredibly annoying. At
one
time, I knocked the hat off my head trying to chase them
away.
They chased me back into the car. I wasn’t bit or
anything,
fortunately. I then drove around Shoveler Pond, an area
known as
an alligator hangout. After the incident with the bugs,
though, I
felt content to stay in the car and take some pictures of the
birds I
saw through the windshield. I then drove down to the East
Bay
shore, encountering a big flock of cranes in the middle of the
road. They flew off when I approached, only to set down
again a
few feet down the road. Eventually, they flew off the
road, and I
could pass in peace.
The bugs weren’t too bad along the
shore. I could see Bolivar in the distance, possibly see
High
Island and Smith Point as well, and I saw a cloud on the horizon
that I
think came from the industry around Baytown. By this time,
I’d
seen enough and decided to head homeward. So while Rush
Limbaugh
played on the radio, I drove back the way I came, after driving
briefly
through the town of Anahuac. I briefly considered stopping
for
lunch at the local Dairy Queen, but I kept on going. I
ended up
having lunch at Laredo’s in what would be my final stop on this
trip. I wouldn’t feel like eating there again until after
I left
for home. I got a paper in La Porte, so I was able to read
that
during lunch. The weekly local section was for La Porte,
though,
while I would have preferred the Clear Lake local section.
Later
on, I drove over to the Borders on Bay Area and happened to find
a book
on the Natchez Trace Parkway. At one point, I had planned
to
drive down the parkway coming to Texas, but my plans
changed. I
could still drive it on my return trip, though, so I bought the
book
and went back to the hotel. I then took a shower and hung
around
until it was time for dinner. Tonight I would be visting
the
Coneys. I drove over to Newport, still a familiar drive
for me
(how could it not be, having lived there for 20 years and
visited
frequently thereafter?), passing behind our old house along the
way (I
didn’t stop or drive past, though). Dinner tonight was
ribs and
baked beans, along with cole slaw. Unfortunately, I
thought the
cole slaw was mashed potatoes, so I took a large scoop.
One taste
told me otherwise, and the scoop remained untouched thereafter
(I am
not a fan of cole slaw). The ribs, though, were great,
even
though I wasn’t normally a rib person (unlike my dad or my
grandma). We talked for a while after dinner and got
caught up on
events. They’d just taken a vacation in China and traveled
all
over the country (didn’t get to see pictures,
unfortunately).
Daughter Diana is still in West Hollywood; I could have seen her
while
I was out there last spring, but I wasn’t aware she was
there.
Son David is buying or building a house in eastern League City
near the
new schools out there; this will allow his children to attend
Clear
Creek High when they’re old enough, rather than being forced to
attend
Clear Lake due to where they live now.
Top
Friday October 5
Problem:
I woke up around 2:30 this morning with a funny sensation in my
throat. I instantly dissolved an Airborne tablet and drank
it
down and started sucking on Cold-Eeze lozenges, fearing it was
the
start of a cold. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep
the rest
of the night. I also noticed a bit of sinus congestion,
which had
me wondering if I was coming down with a cold or being afflicted
with
allergies. I had an allergy flareup the last time I was
down here.
After
breakfast, I walked over to the nearby drug store and got some
allergy
medicine along with some decongestant tablets, some throat
lozenges,
and a nasal inhaler, along with today’s paper. I was going
to
attack whatever this was hard, for I didn’t want to miss the
football
game and Tookie’s tonight. I had nothing planned for the
morning,
so I stayed in my room and took it easy. For lunch, I
remembered
my chiropractor’s recommendations for Chinese hot and sour soup
to
combat colds, so I drove over to the Pei Wei restaurant on Bay
Area. This was run by the same folks who operate P. F.
Chang’s,
so I felt confident that it would be good. The spring
rolls and
the soup were indeed good; the main meal, though, wasn’t as good
as I
thought it would be. Or maybe I was too full from the
spring
rolls and the bowl of soup, which felt good going down my
throat.
Afterwards, I went across the street to the Barnes & Noble
store,
where I happened to notice the next edition of “The Complete
Peanuts”,
covering the years 1965 and 1966. I also saw another
collection
of cartoons from Charles Schulz; these were originally done for
church
publications of the Church of God (Anderson). Naturally, I
picked
up both of them and planned to read them back at the hotel.
I
alternated between those two cartoon books while I continued to
take
care of whatever I had; I didn’t really feel like doing anything
else,
frankly. And so I passed the time up until 5:30 or 6,
which is
when everyone was meeting at Tookie’s for a pre-game meal.
I got
there first; Skip Hartley arrived several minutes later with his
sons,
followed by Rob and Amy and her son. We got the first
table
inside the door and proceeded to order our drinks and our
meals.
I ordered a large Diet Coke, a #99 burger and a plate of
fries.
Rob took a picture of my burger as well as his before we started
eating; he was going to post these online to our Yahoo group to
make
the non-attendees jealous (he succeeded). As we ate,
though, the
rains came. This was from a weak tropical system that was
coming
ashore. There were no strong winds; it didn’t even qualify
as a
tropical depression. That was good, for if it had
intensified
into a named storm, I might have had to evacuate. There
was no
lightning, which meant that the football game would continue to
be
played. However, we in the bleachers would have been
drenched. I had my umbrella, but no one else did.
Amy’s son
was just getting over an illness, and I was starting on
mine. We
decided that we would forego the game. It was
disappointing, but
it was for the best. Perhaps we could get together
someplace else
this weekend, Skip suggested. And so we all headed for
home. I got into the car and turned on KACC Alvin,
figuring they
would be carrying a game. They were indeed, but it was the
Alvin-Clear Brook game. There was no rain in Alvin yet,
but our
rain would be heading their way soon enough.
Back at the hotel,
I tried to monitor the results of the Creek-Lake game. I
found
that in the third quarter, it was 21-7 in favor of Creek
(good!).
Then I got tired and prepared for bed. By the way, we won,
21-14.
Top
Saturday October 6
I
didn’t get a good night’s sleep, for my illness had
transitioned.
The sore throat was gone, but it had become stuffed sinuses and
a
cough. This told me that what I had was not
allergies. No,
I had a cold. It’s never fun to get sick on
vacation. I now
had to go and get different medicines, which I did when I went
to the
Kroger’s on El Camino. I also got some more cookies and
another
box of cereal for breakfast. What I didn’t finish here, I
could
always take home. I got some Kroger equivalents to Nyquil
and
Dayquil, alternating between them when appropriate.
Feeling like
this, the best thing for me to do was to stay in and get some
rest. XM helped keep me company. I listened to a
repeat of
an American Top 40 broadcast from October 1971, just before I
started
listening for the first time. I found it very
enjoyable.
Then I turned on the Michigan State and Northwestern football
game,
which was a close game that went to overtime.
Unfortunately,
Northwestern won, which I did not find very enjoyable.
Then I
turned on the TV and watched the Texas-Oklahoma game. Longhorn
fans did
not enjoy the result, for the Horns lost to the Sooners by a
touchdown.
By
this time, I was hungry. I hadn’t had lunch, so I went
over to
the McDonald’s across the street to pick up some Chicken
McNuggets. It seemed chilly to me in the hotel hallway as
I went
to my car; if I weren’t sick, I would not have been
chilly. I
probably had a bit of a fever. I went through the
drive-through
lane and brought the McNuggets back to my room. I didn’t
go
anywhere else that evening; no, I stayed in to recuperate and
listen to
the great Saturday night programming on 60’s on 6: Here and
There, CQ
USA and a little bit of Wax Your Woody. By this time, I
was
falling asleep off and on, so I took my Nyquil and went to bed.
Top
Sunday October 7
I
slept through the night without having a bout of coughing (a
good sign,
I thought). I got up, showered, had breakfast and checked
my
e-mail. I also started to pack up, for today would be my
last
full day in Nassau Bay. But with the off-and-on rain and
my
ongoing cold, I didn’t figure I’d be doing a lot today.
Now there were two things I wanted to do before I left. I
wanted to see the movie In
The Shadow Of The Moon,
and I wanted to go to Joe’s Barbecue in Alvin. Now I could
most
likely see the movie when I went back to Detroit (and I did),
but there
was no realistic way I could have Joe’s back in Michigan.
Well, I
could have some shipped up, but that wasn’t realistic. So
I
decided I would go out to Alvin for lunch. Now normally
when I
went to Joe’s, I would get a big baked potato topped with
barbecue (and
a lot of other things, too!), but I didn’t feel like that
today.
No, I contented myself with a chopped beef sandwich, a bag of
jalapeno-flavored chips and some Diet Dr Pepper. It was
all
right, though I might have enjoyed it more were I not ill.
As I
left Alvin, I noticed some new restaurants (Kelley’s Country
Cooking,
Chili’s), and as I drove through Friendswood and League City, I
couldn’t help but marvel at the ongoing development – the new
subdivisions, the new high school, etc. I stopped at the
Amegy
bank to get some money for the return trip, and then I went up
to
Baybrook for a while. I didn’t buy anything, but I did try
out
the MacBook and MacBook Pros at the Apple Store. Soon, one
of
those will replace my Powerbook, still going strong after 3 ½
years but
showing its age. As I left and drove back to the hotel, I
listened to the broadcast of the Lions game on Sirius. It
didn’t
sound very promising for the Lions as they were playing and
losing to
Washington. After stopping at CVS for a pop and a box of
Kleenex,
I went back to the hotel to continue to pack and to catch some
football. The Lions game was not on (mercifully), but the
Texans
game was, and they were doing all right. In fact, they
came from
behind to beat Miami with a last-second field goal! After
the
game was over, I continued to pack, and I also did some work on
this
travelogue. I even found some time to start watching one
of the
DVD’s I got from Fry’s last week, the one on the Byrds.
Now what
did I want to do for supper? I wasn’t sure, not until I
had the
idea to go to Fuddrucker’s. I could always go to the ones
back in
Michigan, but the one down Nasa 1 was the very first one I ever
went
to. It was the one that got me hooked. So I went
there for
a burger. It was rather busy, I thought. But the
food was
good, as usual. After I placed my order, I filled up a
small
serving cup with some pico de gallo and nibbled on that
for a
while until my burger was ready. On the way back to the
hotel, I
saw a kittycat on the road near St. John’s Hospital.
Top
Monday October 8
I
got up around 5 in the morning for the trip home. I still
had
most of a box of cereal left, but I had dumped the milk, so no
cereal
today. Instead, I had a Pop Tart for breakfast (actually,
2 Pop
Tarts – one packet), then finished packing and loading the
car. I
couldn’t check out until after the front desk opened at 7, so I
watched
the channel 26 news until I was ready to leave.
It was a
little after 7 when I checked out and headed east on Nasa
1.
Since today was Columbus Day, the space center would be closed,
so
traffic was probably lighter than normal. But there were
contractors who were still working, and I talked to someone
(WA5ARI)
who was heading into work. I mentioned that I worked for
Ford,
which prompted praise from him for his 1993 Explorer, which has
over
260,000 miles on it with few problems. I had to end the
QSO when
traffic got heavier and I needed to concentrate on
driving. By
this time, I was on 146 heading towards Baytown and I-10.
I went
up Garth Road to get onto the freeway, remembering my driving
experience from last Thursday. This took me by San Jacinto
Mall,
home in the 1980’s to a restaurant in its food court that sold
baked
potatoes. It was all quiet now at this time of the
morning,
naturally.
When I left, it had been mostly cloudy. Now, as
I drove through Chambers County, it became foggy. The fog
had
lifted by Beaumont, but clouds remained. And so I drove
into
Louisiana, listening to a mini-marathon of episodes of “Yours
Truly,
Johnny Dollar” on XM’s Old Time Radio channel (mini-marathon
meaning a
strip of a week’s worth of 15-minutes episodes). Now as I
drove
along, I had a decision to make. Did I want to attempt to
drive
the Natchez Trace Parkway, or should I drive straight on through
and
try to make it home as quickly as possible? There would be
no
decision necessary were I healthy; I’d drive the parkway.
Did I
feel up to it now, though? I thought about it as I
continued to
listen to the OTR channel – “Tales of the Texas Rangers” and a
“Cavalcade of America” program about Bob Hope’s first WWII trip
to the
troops. By Baton Rouge, I’d made up my mind: I would
try
the parkway. I drove through Baton Rouge on I-110 and out
of it
on US 61. In St. Francisville, I stopped for lunch at
McDonald’s
hoping to check e-mail. However, I couldn’t, for I was out
of
T-Mobile range.
I soon found myself in Natchez. I didn’t
visit the historic areas in town along the Mississippi (no
time),
choosing instead to immediately pick up the parkway. I had
the
guidebook I bought last week to tell me what sights I would be
seeing
as I drove along the highway. With the speed limit of 50
and my
stopping at many of these sites and sights, I didn’t make
a lot
of time on this segment. But that wasn’t the point.
I got
to see and walk sections of the original Natchez Trace, the old
trail
blazed by animals, then used by Indians, boatmen walking home
after
selling their non-powered boats in the days before the
steamship, and
by soldiers heading to the Battle of New Orleans. I walked
up an
ancient Indian mound used for ceremonies. I saw old
springs and
the remnants of a waterfall.
My XM tuner got a workout
today. For a while, I listened to Sonic Theater for the
tail end
of a reading of “The Twelve Caesars”, the start of a reading of
“Carry
On, Jeeves”, and episodes of Sherlock Holmes and Harry
Nile. Then
I put it on MLB Home Plate for a while, then flipped over to
Fine
Tuning and Escape. Escape played beautiful music, what one
would
have heard on KODA in its prime. I wouldn’t have been
caught dead
listening to this music in my school days, but it was
soothing.
It was until I got tired of it and changed the channel, that is.
As
I neared Jackson, I decided to exit the parkway and stop for
gas.
I exited onto I-20 and found the first gas station. After
filling
up, I checked for hotels in the area, mainly Microtels and
Hampton
Inns. The closest Microtel was on the other side of town,
but
there was a Hampton within 2 miles of where I was. I might
have
been able to go a little farther, but the next town along the
parkway
was farther way than I would have liked. So I called it a
day and
made a reservation at the Hampton Inn in Clinton, MS. When
the
time came for supper, I drove towards an Applebee’s that I had
seen
driving in, but when I arrived there, I saw a local restaurant
next
door, the Froghead Grill, and decided to go there instead.
I
could go to Applebee’s any time (I live a half-mile from one),
but this
might be my only chance to go to the Froghead Grill. I
wasn’t
disappointed. I had what I thought was a French dip
sandwich but
which I later learned was that evening’s special that I’d been
given
accidentally. It was still good. The homemade chips
that
came along with it were substantial and filling. I
couldn’t eat
them all. Then it was back to the hotel to watch the
baseball
playoffs for a while before I called it a day.
Top
Tuesday
October 9
Top
Wednesday
October 10
On
this last day of travel, I woke up around 5 or 5:30 and got
ready to
travel – take medicine, check e-mail, etc. I loaded up the
car,
then had breakfast in the lobby (cereal and a muffin) before
checking
out and hitting the highway. It was 6:42 when I left, and
the sky
was rapidly brightening in the east. It was clear, so
eventually
I put on the sunglasses. I turned on XM 2, which today
featured
the latest episode of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour (today’s
theme:
California). Somewhere south of Elizabethtown, I crossed
the
boundary for the Eastern Time Zone and reset the clock in the
car (I
wouldn’t reset my watch until later in the afternoon). I
stopped
for restroom and refreshment at the Love’s Truck Stop south of
Louisville, then took I-265 around Louisville. I had last
been
here in May on a business trip to Ford’s Kentucky Truck
Plant.
Today, though, I drove right on by and got onto I-71. I
stopped
for gas in the little town of Glencoe off the freeway. As
I
continued driving homeward, I listened to CNN and occasionally
tried to
tune in WJR for news about Chrysler. Would the union go on
strike? Around 11:30, the answer become clear: they would,
and
they did.
As I went farther north, the air got chillier.
Goodbye, shorts and Hawaiian shirts; hello, pants and
jacket.
Near Cincinnati, the skies were still clear; near Dayton,
though,
they’d clouded up and would remain cloudy for the rest of the
way. At one point, I turned on Sonic Theater and listened
to a
reading of The Twelve Caesars
(a major source for the novel and miniseries I,
Claudius).
Eventually, I stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s in
Findlay. The
remainder of the drive was uneventful, and after successfully
navigating through Toledo and Monroe, I arrived home at 4:20 PM.
The
unpacking started. But not all at once, though; I brought
a few
bags in and dumped some garbage. I then retrieved my mail,
where
I had a big pile waiting for me. I looked through it for
three
bills that had not arrived before I left but which I knew were
coming
due shortly. I found them and set them aside for later
action. Then came more unpacking and the emptying of
suitcases
and the filling of laundry baskets.
Unlike previous trips, I
would be going to work tomorrow. Ordinarily, I would
arrive home
on a Saturday or late Friday, giving me Sunday to rest up.
This
time, though, I couldn’t take advantage of that third weekend of
the
trip. However, tomorrow would be an unusual day, because I
would
be at SAE offices in Troy all day, either chairing a committee
meeting
or summarizing what happened at the meeting. Friday would
be the
first “real” work day, and then I’d have a whole weekend to
recover (ha
ha).
Top
THE END
Top
Back
to Travels page
©2007 R.
W. Reini.
All
rights reserved.
Map images based on Google
Maps.
Written
by Roger Reini
Revised
May 12, 2014
|
