Glveston Island

by

TEXAS – PART 6 – LAST DAYS

A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. ~ John Steinbeck

I left Lake Jackson on a beautiful morning and headed to Galveston. Why did I want to go to Galveston? Well, first of all it is a coastal city, and I’m trying to stay on the coastlines as much as possible. But the other reason is in my younger days this guy named Glen Campbell recorded a song, “Galveston”. It’s weird how a song can get into you, and even at that tender age I wanted to go to Galveston to see what Glen Campbell was going on about. Of course it is a Jimmy Webb song and he wrote many songs that made me want to wander. Campbell recorded it in 1969 which means I was twelve years old when I first heard it. Twelve is such an impressionable age.

Finally, I was heading to Galveston. I rode past miles and miles of Dow Chemical plants. I used my first Buc-ee’s bathroom and I went over a huge bridge that connects the mainland to Galveston Island. From the top of the bridge I got a spectacular, first view ever, of the Gulf of Mexico. I’ll be seeing a lot of this water for the next month or so.

First view of the Gulf of Mexico.

First view of the Gulf of Mexico.

I won’t go into too many details about the ride except to say it was long and flat and straight and beautiful, and there were headwinds as usual. I rode past sunset and into the night, which was a bit hair-raising. But I finally got the apartment of my host for the evening, Dana. I was late and had missed dinner but she had leftovers – stuffed Spaghetti Squash – OMG – so delicious! We talked a bit – she is back in school studying permaculture. Well of course, I was fascinated.

Gulf of Mexico and wetlands in foreground.

Gulf of Mexico and wetlands in foreground.

I left early the next morning. I wanted to see a bit of Galveston, get to the bike shop to see if I could pick up a new front tire (I noticed the day before that I was getting a rip in it), and then get on my way to Winnie, TX.  Well, I never made it off the island that day. I spent so much time exploring and taking pictures, then at the bike shop – it was really too late to start out for another 47 miles to the first town with a motel (no couchsurfing or warmshowers in some of these tiny towns – sometimes no motel either). So I got a room at the Scottish Inn right by the ferry to Point Bolivar.

I liked Galveston – it’s a beach town, and I love beach towns. The whole southern edge is beach and in town there is a sea wall with a walkway and bike path. I saw more people on bikes in Galveston than in the rest of Texas combined. And yet the bike shop did not have a tire for me. It’s not like it’s a unusual tire size – it’s one of the most common sizes. Anyway, I rode around and explored and I was taken in by the contrast of old and new, the friendliness of the people and how the culture was a bit more beachy and a bit less Texan then the rest of Texas. I found a cool coffee house to hang out at for a bit, MOD Coffee, and a great donut shop that had delicious breakfast burritos. I confess, I also had a donut. It was good too. This donut shop was a place where the locals hung out, the counter lady knew everyone and kept the coffee coming and everyone happy even when there were twenty-two seated and four lined up for takeout. If you are ever in Galveston, you should definitely stop by Home Cut Donuts.

…..

After a good night’s sleep I got a decent start out the next day, only to miss the ferry by seconds. So I waited around and took some pictures. I love ferries and this was my first ferry ride of my trip. Finally it came and I was off again. I got dropped at the tip of Point Bolivar and started riding. Headwinds, of course. I’m beginning to think that tailwinds are just a legend – they don’t really exist. And the thing is, in all my research for this trip, everything I read said if you go east to west you’ll have headwinds and if you go west to east you’ll have tailwinds.

The ride was coastal and flat until I turned back north, then it was wetlands and flat and it started getting colder. I got into Winnie at sunset and turned the heat on in my room immediately. It was so cold that I didn’t really want to go back outside, but I needed some food. There was a convenience store next door and I got some filling, though less than healthy food.

The Lighthouse at Point Bolivar, TX.

The Lighthouse at Point Bolivar, TX.

There is not much to write about Winnie. It is a small Texas town that has more than the usual amenities because Interstate 10 runs by it. Still, it’s only another 35 miles to Port Arthur, or 25 miles to Beaumont, so it not that big a deal.

A barge being pushed downstream - probably to Port Arthur, TX.

A barge being pushed downstream – probably to Port Arthur, TX.

So, the next morning, on my way to Port Arthur/Nederland, then Orange. I was stopping in Nederland because a bike shop there had a tire on order for me. The weather had deteriorated considerably over the night. I was facing headwinds of twenty to thirty miles per hour, and rain was in the forecast.  Instead of riding at nine to ten miles per hour, I was riding at six to seven miles per hour. It became clear that I was not going to make it all the way to Orange that day – fifty-five miles. By the time the icy rain started I was wondering if I would even make it to the bike shop before it closed, only a thirty mile trip.

By three o’clock I was so cold and wet and miserable, I couldn’t feel my toes or my fingers and my face was windburned. I was still at least three hours away from Nederland, if not more, so slow was my progress. I finally just stopped and got off my bike, took off my helmet and started thumbing a ride. After about forty-five minutes and old guy named Al, in a big shiny red truck, stopped and said throw the bike in the back. He drove me all the way to the bike shop, even though it was out of his way. He told me hitchhiking in Texas was illegal. I said I was aware of that, but I was desperate to get out of the cold and rain. After a few miles, we passed a cop going the opposite direction. Al told me if he hadn’t picked me up the cop would have, and then he’d give me a $150.00 ticket. But, he said, illegality didn’t keep him from picking up hitchhikers. Guardian angels are out there.

Now that I was at the bike shop, it turns out my tire hadn’t come in yet. So, I went to a hotel across the street and checked in, then soaked in a hot tub for about an hour. I ended up staying there three days. Three miserable, rainy days. Days not fit for cycling. I transferred some money to my checking account, because I was down to thirty three dollars. By Monday I had a new tire, but my transfer hadn’t come through and I needed to get some rain gear because the weather was only slightly better. I contacted Priyesh on couchsurfing – he lived in Port Arthur, about a mile away – and he accepted my request for a stay over.  Priyesh is from northern India and he is an engineer working for Shell Oil. Lake Arthur was the center of chemical production and Port Arthur is the center of oil refining. We went out to dinner and then he drove me around and showed me the refineries and explained what it means if you see a flame coming from one of the stacks. It’s not good. It means that something went wrong, but it also means that they are dealing with it.

My friend, Melissa reminded me that Port Arthur was the hometown of Janis Joplin and suggested I go on a tour of J. Joplin sites. I got on the computer to see where I may look, and there is a museum that has a picture of her and her high school yearbook, and nearby there is a barbershop that has a new clipping of her. That’s about it. No house where she was born. No clubs or bars where she played. Priyesh told me that when hurricane Rita came through, a bunch of people moved north to Beaumont. Later, when hurricane Ike came through, even more people migrated north. Old Port Arthur is a dismal place of abandoned houses and businesses. Janis’s home no longer exist – it is gone, along with hundreds of others.

I stayed two nights with Priyesh, got a long sleeved shirt and a light weight, waterproof, self packing, windbreaker. When I started out the next day for Louisiana I was much warmer and much dryer.

I have only one picture of the previous days – that’s how miserable I was!

Priyesh in Port Arthur, TX.

Priyesh in Port Arthur, TX.

Of course, three blocks from Priyesh’s house, I got a flat tire! But having just changed a tire, I was quite adept and I got out one of my spares and fixed it in less than a half hour. After that I had a good breakfast and I said “Hasta la vista” to Texas. On to Louisiana!

But before I say goodbye to Texas… I liked it much more than I thought I would. I met some wonderful people and saw some beautiful country. People told me I should come back in the spring, when the wildflowers and bluebells are blooming – and I’d like to. But being here in the winter, I saw grassy fields blowing in the wind, cows, horses, sheep, and goats all stopping what they were doing to watch me ride by, and one day as I was riding to Blessing, I heard a racket of quacking and honking and I thought there must be some geese sitting in the fields. I stopped and looked long and hard, but I couldn’t see anything but the grass. Still the noise continued and finally I looked up. Hundreds of geese were flying by in long, graceful Vees, calling out to each other as they fly south to a warmer  winter. I started riding again, looking up at the geese more than down at the road, but they were making much better time than I was. No time to even get a decent picture, but I’ll never forget that sight.

I will come back!

I will come back!