I stopped and talked to Deborah Broadway and Don Bright at the Bright Lite Bait and Tackle Shop and Convenience Store on the west side of San Luis Pass 979-233-8115.
David Heard of Seabrook Tx owns Marine Taxidermy and was displaying these beautiful Saltwater Fish Mounts on FM 3005 between Jamaica Beach and the beginning of Seawall Blvd in Galveston. Here's the link to his website:
http://www.marinetaxidermy.net/
At Galveston Island State Park, I talked to a park worker named Chad who related his own and the park's experience with Hurricane Ike.
I also talked with David Gilliland, a man who works as a lawyer when he has to and spends the rest of his time touring the country in his Honda Pilot.
Here's a link to the Galveston Island State Park website:
Galveston Island State Park
On Day 2, I rode down Seawall Blvd and stopped in at Island Bicycles to pick up a couple of tubes and talked to the owner, Jeff. We exchanged information and ideas about bicycle tours. Here's the link to the Island Bicycle Company website -
http://www.islandbicyclecompany.com/
I took the Bolivar Ferry from Galveston to the Bolivar Peninsula and spent most of my time on the ferry talking to Nelson who had immigrated from the Phillipines. He had an interesting background working on large cargo ships that came in and out of the Freeport Tx harbor. He had just started this job working as a mate on the Bolivar Ferry within the last few months. Here's a link to info on the Bolivar Ferry -
http://www.houstontranstar.org/ferrywaittimes/
I met Pat Godwin, the owner of the Oasis Motel (409) 684-6152 @ 1010 Hwy 87 in Crystal Beach Tx. Pat also owns the Coconut's Restaurant across the street where I ate that night. Pat is a really interesting guy who is a licensed architect and also has a home construction business in the area. While I was eating at Coconut's, I talked to Tiara the waitress and Rhonda the bartender who made a really good margarita. Here's a link to info on the Oasis Motel -
http://www.crystalbeach.com/hotels.htm
and to the Coconut's Restaurant -
Coconut's restaurant in Crystal Beach Tx
When I was in Beaumont visiting with my dad, I took my Trek 1500 to Bicycle Sports (409) 860-5959 @ 2770 I-10E / West of 11th St and met the crew - Owner Eric Bender and Staci, Kelly and Scott. All were extremely nice and helpful and Scott did the best tune-up on the Trek 1500 I had ever had done. It made a big difference for the rest of the trip. Here's a link to the Bicycle Sports website:
http://www.bicyclesports.us/
and a link to another organization that Eric Bender champions - the Southeast Texas Hike & Bike Coalition:
http://www.funtrails.org/
When I left Beaumont, my next stop was at Village Creek State Park. I was fumbling around with my cell phone trying to set it up for a self portrait with my bike in front of the park sign when along comes Park Ranger Gene Cox who graciously took this picture for me:
I pedaled up to Park HQ and met Jan McAdoo who checked me into my campsite. While I was at Park HQ I started talking to another lady who shall remain nameless for reasons that will become apparent as you read on.... I'll just say this lady worked for a branch of the State Government and was in a position to know everything there was to know about the relief efforts, follow up and aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike... she related the following items (and I repeat I'm just reporting what the lady told me):
- during the first waves of Hurricane Katrina relief effort to New Orleans via Coast Guard Helicopters, the CG Helis were repeatedly fired on from the rooftops....the helicopters left and the Delta Force was sent in.... yes you read that correctly.... the terrorist response team Delta Force was sent in.... after a couple of days.... there wasn't any more shooting at the CG Helicopters....and there were a few more victims of Hurricane Katrina.....
- during Hurricane Rita, the Salvation Army, Red Cross and FEMA were not seen in southeast Texas for several weeks after the storm had passed through - basically there was little help from these "relief" organizations.... this lady stated that the only way people survived and did the clean-up (and yes - the people of Southeast Texas did most of the clean-up) was because the local churches provided hot meals day after day.
- Hurricane Rita was still a Category 2 storm when it went over Toledo Bend Reservoir nearly 150 miles inland!
- Sea Rim State Park as well as Bridge City (and several other cities and communities around Sabine Pass) were literally levelled in Hurricane Rita and then again, even worse, in Hurricane Ike.
- In Hurricane Ike, the Storm Surge went over I-10 at the Trinity River (that's 40 miles inland)!
- Human corpses and animal carcasses were found far north of there.
- Recovery is still continuing from the damage caused by Hurricane Rita in 2005 and that was compounded by the wipeout of all repairs that had been done by Hurricane Ike in 2008.
- Here's a link to the NOAA website with access to grid images after Hurricane Rita. Click on the picture and it'll bring up a grid of squares which are individual satellite photos of that square in the grid - http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/rita/
- Here's the one for Hurricane Ike (I clicked on the image to get the grid up on this one) - http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/IKE0000.HTM
- Here's the one for Katrina - http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikecentennial
The next morning I stopped by the Park HQ to say good-bye and met another nice lady named Donna Rammo. She and her husband were from Canada and were touring the United States pulling a small trailer. She said she had fixed Indian food (which is my 2nd favorite next to Mexican food) the night before and had come over to my campsite to see if I wanted to come over and share but I was out on my hike. We talked about cell phone service in Canada (Donna says there's basically a monopoly and Verizon Wireless can't get their foot in the door - too bad!), about cooking and eating (my favorite subject) Indian food and about travel in general, in particular travel security (which is always on my mind).... Donna talked about camping out and traveling alone - something she had done many times in Canada... I questioned her about this - her being a woman and camping out alone in remote areas.... and she said something that I'm just now beginning to realize....YOU CAN'T LIVE IN FEAR! It's so true.... I mean if I really thought about it and dwelt on it, I would never get on a bicycle and do what I do.... I'd always be afraid of getting run over or knocked in the head or something like that... but you can't do that... you have to live your life and your dreams.....
and Donna and her husband are doing just that.... God Bless them both!
I had made a reservation at the Big Thicket Super 8 in Kountze Tx so I stopped off there and checked in and met the General Manager Lawonda Tackett.... what a nice lady and an excellent site manager for Super 8.... you can just tell when you go into a motel if it's well-run.... first off the whole staff is nice and they look happy... I greeted Becky on the way to my spacious room (as I detailed in my video on the Big Thicket Super 8) and later I met the night manager Sharon and the next day talked with several of the cleaning crew who were taking a break out by the pool.... I would go to this motel just to stay and hang out with the Staff! They were that cool!
So I pulled all the Ortlieb panniers and Rack Pack (the ones I bought from http://thetouringstore.com/) off my bike and loaded the stuff I needed for hiking into one of the spacious rear Bike Packer Plus Panniers and donned the (scroll down a little to see it) Ortlieb Pannier Carry System and rolled the bike out of my room and realized how hungry I was so I headed back down 69 to Mama Jack's Restaurant -
http://www.bigthicketdirectory.com/restaurant/mjacks.html
OH MY GOODNESS!
This was like the best home cooking I have ever had in a restaurant.... they had chicken and sausage gumbo, red beans and rice, dirty rice, corn on the cob, a beautiful salad bar, broiled fish, fried catfish, fried shrimp.... I ain't done - homemade bread pudding, banana pudding, apple pie and peach cobbler.... I walked in there and I rolled out....
While I was there I met a real Miracle Man - H.K. Pitts - I could tell he was a cyclist cause he had the cyclist socks on and the reflective ankle bands.... H.K. was an older gentleman... I figured he was maybe 60.... I mean he was lean, fit, bright eyes, tall (probably 6'2" or 3), straight as an arrow and started talking about being here in Kountze to ride in the Continental Airlines Classic - a 1 day organized bicycle ride... with distances up to 62 miles... so we keep talking and turns out H.K. is 79 YEARS OLD! This guy is mixing it up on a group ride for 62 miles on a fancy road bike and he's 79 YEARS OLD.... got me to thinking.... cause I'm always doing that after I meet interesting, inspirational people like H.K..... I guess I'm just getting started.... there's a lot of life to live out there!
So I finally get my bloated gut and butt loaded up on the bike and Miss America kinda growns a little bit.... cause I gotta be riding about 5 lbs heavier after my visit to Maja Jack's and I ease down 69 north to the Big Thicket Nature Preserve Visitor's Center where I met....
Paula Rivers.... this lady was obviously an avid outdoorsman.... outdoors person.... and she knew tons about the Big Thicket and the flora and fauna and bicycling and hiking and was very helpful in encouraging me to take the Kirby Nature Interpretive Trail - which was the right thing to do. Here's a link to the Big Thicket NP website - http://www.nps.gov/bith/index.htm and the trail system there - Big Thicket NP Trails
I returned to the Big Thicket Super 8 that evening and slept very well in the comfortable King Size Bed and took off the next day for Lake Houston Park.... about halfway there I stopped in Moss Hill which is at the crossroads of Tx Hwy 146 going north-south and Tx Hwy 105 going east-west....
I had gone inside the FitzPak Convenience Store for some Gatorade and snacks and had come outside to sit down and eat and drink next to Miss America (my Trek 1500) and looked and see this nice looking lady walking up the sidewalk just a smiling away.... so what do you do?
You smile back and say hello and meet a very interesting lady named Denny Fregia.... we get to talking there outside the FitzPak in Moss Hill Tx and Denny starts telling me about this intersection right in front of us.... looked like 2 roads crossing to me.... how interesting could that be?
Boy was I wrong!
Turns out Denny had observed over the years how charitable organizations and individuals seeking money would come from far and wide and stand at this intersection and collect funds.....
Seems like people pulling up and doing the 4-way stop thing at this intersection had more money and charitable feelings that most places and peoples.....
It got her to wondering what was different about this place and she started doing some research on this phenomenon....
The result was Denny Fregia's naming of the intersection of Tx Hwys 146 and 105 as "The Crossroads of Wealth".... here's the logic and conclusions resulting from her research:
- Highway 105 runs east to Beaumont Tx which was the site for a HUGE oil find at Spindletop - from the East comes Oil Money!
- Highway 105 runs west to Brenham Tx which is the beginning of the Dairy / Cattle industry (think BlueBell Ice Cream) and the Republic of Texas - think Washington on the Brazos 7 miles west on 105(reference Anson Jones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anson_Jones) - from the West comes Cattle Money and the Birth of Texas as a Republic!
- Highway 146 runs north to Livingston into what Denny refers to as the Cotton connection - from the North comes Cotton and Farming Money!
- Highway 146 runs south to Trinity Bay (north Galveston Bay) which is gives access to the Gulf of Mexico - from the South comes Money from the wealths of the Sea!
This is starting to get freaky.... kinda like some sort of Cosmic Convergence in Time (and History) and Space!
When I took a look at these 2 Google Maps, I have to admit I think Denny is on to something:
I was still scratching my head as I put my helmet on and started to roll out of Moss Hill trying to keep my bike from being sucked into the Black Hole at the middle of the 146 / 105 intersection when this really snazzy Midnight Blue Explorer Constable Vehicle rolls up and out steps a nice looking Peace Office name of Mark Dennison. I introduced myself and first thing I noticed was this guy looked like he could take care of all the crime in Liberty County.... I mean this guy was beefy and I don't mean fat... I mean STOUT! He asked me where I'm headed and I tell him the exact route I'm taking cause I'm hoping this guy will ride shotgun for me or something.....
So I finally break free from the magnetic forces present in Moss Hill and continue down 105 with a lot on my mind.... I'm thinking what a beautiful day it is and how many nice people I've met.
I get to 59 and take a left (south) towards my next destination - Lake Houston Park.
I do about 20 miles down 59 South and take the FM 1485 exit and it's getting late.... probably an hour of daylight left.... and I'm thinking I'm hungry again cause I haven't eaten anything except a couple of Trail Mix bars and a muffin since Mama Jack's and that bloated belly is looking pretty flat now and starting to growl cause that's what 70 miles on a bike does to ya. I get off on FM 1485 and I see a little Taco Shack up on the right...
So I fill up on a Beef Fajita Burrito - one of the best I've ever had - cause I don't want to get to the park and have to break out the cooking stuff.
I get to the park and go to Park HQ and check in with Paul and get a screened shelter for $26.50 / night which is really cheap for a screened shelter and they're brand new.... just built in Sept 09.
By this time it's dark and I head off down the gravel road toward the shelters and I remember Paul telling me about this pedestrian bridge they're doing handrail repairs on.... I didn't think much of it because I'm pretty tired so I get to the bottom of this hill and see the bridge and it's pretty narrow and it's got some of that plastic orange netting on the side attached to the superstructure of the bridge and I don't even hesitate.... I'm so freakin' tired I just shift Ole Miss down into low sprocket about 4th gear and head over this bridge.... and I wake up real quick....
Cause this bridge is about 3-1/2 ft wide and it has only this orange netting for handrails and it's going over Peach Creek - about 30' below - the Pucker Factor kicks in cause I'm thinking I'm clipped in.... I got about 60 lbs on this bike....and I'm rolling pretty good over this wooden bridge...
If I waver one way or the other or lose my balance I can see myself crashing through this netting and this bike and all the panniers on it and all the stuff in them acting as Cement Shoes.... like Tony said "He sleeps with the Fishes tonight!"
Holy Sh*! Batman - I get over the bridge and mumble a "Thank You Lord!" and head off in the dark with my Bell Bike Light and my Petzl Tikka Headlight on.... and find the Screened Shelter area.... and roll into Shelter #5 with this guy's help..... he kinda just randomly offered to help me find my shelter.... nice guy.... then he says.... we're having chili at the next campsite over.... and I'm invited over.... and I'm belching beef fajita burrito and about a half a bottle of taquera sauce.... and I say....
Hell yeah.... I'll be over in a minute... always got room for some free homemade chili!
So I go over and meet Brandon and his wife Erin and Micah and his wife Lisa - and Brandon wasn't kidding.... I mean they got the whole 9 yards, the kitchen sink, the food and all the comforts of home and every camping gadget and convenience ever made right there set up and in full assembly line operation....
Brandon's stirring the chili in a Dutch oven over a bed of coals and Lisa's flipping corn cakes like an IHOP short order cook and Micah's setting up the table and Erin's sitting in a chair cuddling the 2 dogs and trying to stay warm and what am I doing.....
Not a damned thing...I'm plopped down in Micah's camp chair, popping a top on a 16 oz Bud I bought at a convenience store next to the Taco Trailer and I'm watching this finely oiled and tuned Camp Machine in front of me cranking out this chili and corncakes and thinking.... Good God - I did fall off that bridge on my bike - I've died and gone to heaven!
I mean - think about this - I done rode 75 miles hauling 60# of gear - 20 miles of it down a busy interstate with bad shoulders - not to mention my knee.... I'm done up.... I couldn't lifted a finger to do nothing but I could lift that beer and fill up that paper bowl with homemade chile about 4 times with 4 corn cakes to go with it.....
Am I worthless or what?
Oh well, somebody's got to do it... might as well be me!
So I'm sitting there stuffing my face with chili and corn cakes and listening to Brandon..... and let me tell you right quick.... this guy was a talker.... but let me tell you even quicker.... this was one smart dude!
This guy had all the answers to all the questions I been trying to find out from about 20 different "experts" over the last 4 weeks.... first off, Brandon is a computer programmer / software engineer with a great passion and knowledge of the outdoors and all the equipment it takes to be in the outdoors. He's currently working on building custom applications for an IPhone if that tells you anything.
I ask him about high resolution video camcorders and the difficulty of editing m2ts files (which is the file type for the AVCHD format cameras) .... in layman's terms, the latest high resolution consumer video cams are capable of near broadcast quality video with 5.1 surround sound and they weigh less than a pound and you can put them in your pocket all because they use this compressed formatting known as AVCHD.... anyway Brandon gives me the bottom line - the only reason you buy a high resolution video camera is because you want to watch it in high res on a big flatscreen capable of high resolution - anything else - like when you edit the file or upload it to YouTube or whatever, the original High Resolution is gonna be downconverted somewhat.... it's still gonna look great but it will not have the original high resolution quality......
Then we talk about all the camping equipment and the Coleman portable tables and stoves and 9 million other things..... and I find out Micah is a computer programmer also and he and Brandon have been friends since High School and Micah's wife Lisa is a nurse and they got this cute little boy that was 20 months olds that I swear talked in grammatically correct coherent sentences.... it was freaky how clearly and how well this kid talked..... I mean I was sitting there having a simple conversation with him... 20 months old.... somebody's doing something right with that kid, cause he's eating chili and corncakes and laughing and talking with the rest of us... and I notice that the picnic table is like decorated with pine branches and pine cones and I found out Brandon's wife, Erin, is quite the interior decorator....
So I'm kinda humbled a little bit... basically I don't say too much... I just kinda listened partly cause I was eating for about an hour straight and partly because I realized real quick this was a group of people that I could learn something from.... it was kinda like Mensa in the Park or something.
By about 10 I'm bloated again and about to fall asleep in Micah's chair (I'm so sorry I wouldn't even get up) sitting in front of a nice campfire with a group of great people so I excuse myself and go crash in the Coleman sleeping bag till about 6:30 the next morning... man I needed that.
I wake up and brush my teeth and get my coffee water going and about that time I hear some chanting and cheering from the common area across the road and then a loud shout.... shatters the silence of the morning and the woods.... turns out it's an ROTC group doing morning whatever they do in the morning....
I eat my last Knorr's side dish and jerky and about that time Brandon comes over and says sausage, scrambled eggs and hash browns will be ready in 5 minutes and come on over and eat.... can you say busted bicycle shorts!
Hey - I grew up poor so I learned to eat when I can.... so I went over and had some breakfast and found out about all kinds of neat camping equipment like North Face sleeping bags, Patagonia jackets, SAS tents and MSR Dragonfly multi-fuel stoves..... and I find out Brandon is a certified instructor for a 10-day course called Wilderness First Responder - WFR - which is a a nationally recognized program that trains participants to respond to emergencies in remote settings.
http://www.nols.edu/wmi/courses/wildfirstresponder.shtml
Basically, they train you to be an EMT withoug having the aid of a doctor to help you. As I said it's a 10-day 80 hour course that costs $600 that is accredited through Lone Star College. It is administered through NOLS - National Outdoor Leadership School. I am considering taking this course.
I said good bye to my camp neighbors and packed up my bike and went on a short hike on the Magnolia Interpretive Trail and then headed to Park HQ where I met and talked to a lady named Theresa coming to the park with her grand kids and told here about the Screened shelters.
I left too late to make it all the way to Lake Jackson but had a great time mixing it up with the highway traffic down 59 South past downtown Houston.... everybody was really cool.... they let me into the flow a couple of times when the shoulder pinched down and I hit 34 mph at one point before the 288 exit off 59S.
I stopped and ate at Chili's in Pearland after dark and pedaled another couple of hours to my sister's house in Angleton and visited with her till midnight.
Got up the next morning and left in the rain and made the last 14 miles into Lake Jackson.
As said in the previous post, I met some of the nicest, most interesting people in my Southeast Texas Loop.
I'm gonna do this route again sometime and take more time with the route and the people....
Life is too short to not stop and smell the roses....
And make New Friends!
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