Day 231-237 March 17-23, 2017 Houston rest days, and ride to Hempstead, TX

The Adventure Cycling Association map across Texas stays well north of Houston, going from Silsbee to Coldspring to Navasota on their way to Austin. We elected to take a more southern route so that I could re-connect with my Aunt and my cousins. Some of these folks I have not seen since 1975.

My aunt Eleanor; my mother's sister.




My cousin Robie.

Yep, March 17.

From left to right cousins Mary Ellen and Candy, and Robie's son (my second nephew??) Travis.


All in all, a great opportunity to get back together. We resolved not to let another 40 years go by before seeing each other again.


Saw the battleship Texas while in Houston. To my knowledge she is the only remaining WW I dreadnought battleship still in existence. She was launched in 1912, fought in both WW I and WW II, and was decommissioned in 1948.




From the bridge. That is the San Jacinto monument in the distance.


Five inch gun position.


Margaret, being herself.


We also toured the Houston Space Center.


Saw Mission Control.


Went to the rocket park. This is a Mercury-Redstone rocket like the one Alan Shepard rode. It is 83 feet long, and has an initial thrust of 78,000 pounds.


This is a Saturn V. It is 363 feet long, and has an initial thrust of 7,891,000 pounds.

Into that little hockey puck on the left were jammed three human beings. Better men than I.


On to today's ride.

Our route today to Hempstead, TX: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19642311
We started the day with a SSE wind at 10 mph. By the time we got to Hockley at mile 30, it had built to something over 15 mph and clocked to due south, giving us more of a cross wind. We still averaged almost 13 mph for the day, so all is good.

On the way out of Houston.

I am still amazed at how car-centric this city is. On the news this morning, we heard a report that the city is going to double its bike path/lane mileage. Would be a good start.

Some of the residential neighborhoods we traversed north of Houston provided very nice streets for riding.






But sometimes ya just have to ride on the sidewalk.

A section of the frontage road on US-290 was under construction. The detour diverted the road's traffic onto the limited access highway itself. NO. We elected to try the closed frontage road.


Only had to walk one short section.


Another spaghetti bowl, this one over 24 miles into the ride.


Later in the ride, we crossed a very oblique railroad track. I thought the sign a good idea. Michigan could copy this one. Made me think of the woman rider on DALMAC about eight years ago who fell on a oblique RR crossing, and suffered permanent brain damage despite wearing a helmet.




Getting closer to Hempstead now. Must be a craft fair in the area.


We also spotted a really tall crane. Maybe it was involved in building that tower?


OMG! There are three people up there!


Tomorrow we ride just 24 miles into Brenham, TX. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19756820
We are hoping to get a few miles done early before thunderstorms move in with 15-25 mph winds.