I found something on the 336 miles of Leg 3A... the Southeast Texas Loop

Let me begin this post by saying..... I'm biased.... I have preconceived ideas and perspectives on a lot of things.... based on experiences.... time.... events.... and comparisons.

Sometimes it's good.... Sometimes it isn't .... it is what it is....

For instance, I have or should I say HAD preconceived ideas / biases about where I live....

A lot of people think that where they live is the best thing since sliced bread.... and most of those "lot of people" are ignorant.... now I don't mean they're stupid.... I didn't say that.... I said they were ignorant which means they are uninformed.... they just don't know any better because most people live all their lives in one place.... they have nothing to compare their own little piece of heaven to.

That's the way I was for the first 35 years of my life... oh I went to a couple of places on short trips.... Mazatlan Mexico when I was 20.... to Breckenridge CO skiing when I was 25.... Disney World when I was 30.... but for the most part I was "untraveled".... until I met my 2nd wife.

Bottom line is that this lady has gone places and done things.... so it was kinda natural that she would "broaden the horizons" of this ole Coon Ass Redneck from Beaumont Tx.... and she did.

Within a period of a few years, I saw.... drove through.... hiked through.... backpacked in and out of.... some of the most remote and beautiful places in the United States.... Santa Fe NM, got married overlooking St. Mary's Lake in Glacier National Park and took a driving tour into Canada - Banff, Lake Louise and up the Icefields Parkway to Athabasca Glacier and Jasper for the honeymoon, toured Pacific Coast Highway 1 / Yosemite NP / Lake Tahoe in California, backpacked in Yellowstone NP several times, Rocky Mountain NP and Great Smoky Mtns NP and went to the Hill Country of Texas umpteen times..... and don't get to thinking we spent a lot of money doing all this.... we bought cheap Southwest Airlines tickets well in advance, shopped the Internet for the best rental car rates and then camped out and backpacked 75% of the time wherever we went.... Hell - I remember in 2001 my wife and 2 kids and I went to Yellowstone NP for a total of 9 days and it costs us $1800 total.... for all 4 of us... turnkey.... and it was the BEST VACATION  I EVER HAD.... we still talk about that vacation!

So what's the point here?

Well - let me just say it out loud.... before I did this little Southeast Texas Loop over the last 8 days....

I kinda felt like I lived in the armpit of the world.... Gulf Coast of Texas.... Southeast Texas.

I been to other places and talked / visited with the other people there.....and everyplace else and everybody in those other places seemed to be better, prettier, more scenic, happier, more talkative, friendlier... whatever.... everything was better elsewhere.... so I had proclaimed this little section of the world the last place on earth I would ever choose to live knowing what I knew up to that point ..... 8 days ago.

You know sometimes you can see things differently when you change your perspective.... for instance.... psychologists will tell you if you're having a problem solving a problem, change your perspective.... turn a picture upside down and look at it again.... climb up on a ladder and look down at the area of the problem,  slow down, speed up, change roles.... do something different to change your perspective....

You might end up seeing things differently.....

So that's what I did.... on Sunday, 02/28/10....

I took off from my house on a different bicycle...

With a different way of hauling my stuff...

In a different direction....

To see the same old stuff....

I'd seen for the last 47 years.

But you know what.... it wasn't the same....

Was it because I was on a bicycle instead of in a car?   Mebbe....

Was it because I was older and wiser now?   I doubt it....

Was it because something about me had changed?  

Hmmm.... might have to think on that a little bit...

You see, I left my house on my Southeast Texas Loop....

With Open Eyes... an Open Heart... and an Open Mind!

Holy Mackerel.... that's a revelation.... and a change....  for me.... an Open Mind....

I also left with an Expectation.... I expected to meet NICE PEOPLE and SEE BEAUTIFUL SCENERY!

Right here in good ole Podunk Texas - Gulf Coast - East Texas - the place they make all the jokes about...

Yep.... that was me riding the Blue and White Trek 1500 with the Bright Red Ortlieb Panniers hanging off of it (notice that color scheme - Red, White and Blue) down Bluewater Highway across San Luis Pass onto Galveston Island to Galveston Island State Park and down Seawall Blvd to the Boliver Ferry across East Galveston Bay to Hwy 87 across the deserted Rollover Pass and the devastated Gilchrist Tx to Hwy 124 and High Island to Winnie Tx to the Old Fannett Hwy (124) into the south side of Beaumont up 69/96/287 to Village Creek State Park in Lumberton Tx and then up 69 to Kountze Tx and to Big Thicket National Preserve and then west on FM 770 and Hwy 105 across the "Crossroads of Wealth" at Moss Hill and onto 59 South at Cleveland and down 59S to FM 1485 and into what used to be a Girl Scout Camp turned State Park turned city park - Lake Houston Park - and then down 59 through the heart of Houston Tx onto 288 into Angleton and then returning home in Lake Jackson Tx.

Yeah - that was me riding and looking and meeting and talking and listening and observing and DISCOVERING.....

Just like I'd been doing when I took off from Lake Jackson and went north and west into the Hill Country of Texas and up into Fort Worth and then west and north to Santa Fe NM....

and what did I DISCOVER on my 336 mile Southeast Texas Loop?

That I live in a BEAUTIFUL area of the world with widely varied terrain, scenery, features and wildlife that is populated with.....

the NICEST people I have ever met.... people with an indomitable spirit, a can-do attitude, who work hard and help each other through floods, hurricanes and more hurricanes.... and economic downturns.... and rain, heat, humidity, mosquitoes....

People that don't stand around and wait for government assistance or disaster relief.... people who pick up the pieces.... and put them back together.... and help their neighbors.... and go to work everyday.... and keep their heads up and smiles on their faces....

People who are proud of their heritage.... their homes.... their towns.... who take pride in living in Southeast Texas.... and rightly so!

That's what I found on my Southeast Texas Loop while I was.....

Discovering America on 2 Wheels

I'll talk more about the people I met and the stories they have to tell in my next post!