We woke early to get ready to leave Austin, but first we headed up to the 18th floor of our hotel to eat breakfast and take in the spectacular high-rise view of downtown Austin!
Soon afterward our bikes were packed and we were on the road again...another beautiful sunny day! Another short travel day, too! Just a little short of 200 miles to our next destination of Baytown, a suburb of Houston. Again, traffic was light and polite......until we hit downtown Houston. Ugh. Houston drivers must not have received the memo that the rest of the state got about being courteous! Luckily we were at our hotel before too long, early enough to give us a chance to shower and decompress before meeting our good friend Don and his lovely bride Terri! Don invited us to dinner at their place that night.
OK, this may sound weird to some of you but Tom and I have been "Facebook friends" with Don for a few years now but have never met in person. And we've NEVER met Terri before this...not even on Facebook! To be honest, I was a little nervous! I mean, we seem to have everything in common...guns, bikes, musical tastes, political views... But what if he doesn't like us? What if we don't like him? Wait a minute...does Terri even KNOW we're coming over? What if she hates us?!?! So many thoughts going through my head! Before I knew it we had ridden across town and were standing on their doorstep. And when that door opened all my doubts disappeared! Don welcomed me with a humongous hug and introduced us to Terri and their rescue poodle mix, Nay-Nay. We hung out on their back patio listening to music, chatting, and drinking *tiny* Coronas while Don smoked our dinner. (Don accidentally bought a case of 7 oz Coronas instead of the full size Coronas and he will never live it down!) On the menu was stuffed bacon-wrapped jalapeños for an app, then a main course of smoked ribs with a side of a cheesy, potato, onion, bacony goodness! Don definitely knows his way around the kitchen and grill! After dinner we went back out to the patio to drink tiny Coronas and smoke cigars. It felt as if we'd known them forever!
It was getting late too soon, and we had to ride back to the hotel, so we said farewell with plans to meet back at their house the next day to do some riding and sightseeing together!
The next morning Tom woke extra early to do a couple loads of laundry before heading back over to Don & Terri's. Free guest laundry at this hotel! I've never seen that before. We've only seen coin machines! Well, the free dryer took FOREVER to dry so we ended up being almost an hour later than our planned 10am meet time! Ugh. I felt so bad!
We all saddled up as soon as we got to Don & Terri's and headed off to see the San Jacinto Monument.
On the way we passed refineries and crossed over the Fred Hartman Bridge. This Bridge is beautiful! Of course, my camera was in my tour pack instead of around my neck! Dammit! That's OK. Tom got some good shots!
Before long we arrived at the San Jacinto Monument. This was built to commemorate Texas' independence from Mexico and the brutal battle that preceded it.
The history was engraved on all sides of this towering monument. I took lots of pix.
Inside there was a museum with a lot of artifacts and more history to be told. There was also an elevator we could've taken to to the top of the monument. Tightly jammed in an elevator with a bunch of strangers? Going waaaaaay up there?
No thanks, we'll pass!
We took more pix before motoring down the road...
From the monument we headed down to Galveston for some lunch, some 40 miles away or so. Along the way we picked up a dude on a crotch rocket who was headed down there, too! When we got to Galveston, riding alongside the beach reminded me of riding along the shore in New Hampshire near Massachusetts.
Lots of beach goers, traffic heavy but moving, everyone looking like they're having a good time! (Of course there are no beach-goers in these pix! Ahhh aha!). We pull up and park the bikes in front of a place called "The Spot". Our crotch rocket friend parked along side and thanked us for letting him ride with us before parting ways. He just moved to the Houston area from Mississippi.
The Spot had a bunch of different levels, both inside and outdoor seating. The lower levels were packed so we went upstairs and grabbed a table near the rail so we can watch the goings-on outside! Not many people up there. It seemed like a different place than downstairs..different decor...more of a Mexican restaurant theme. Or maybe Carribean. The menu offered only appetizers. Hmmm. Odd. When the waitress came to take our drink order we asked about ordering food. We were told that they didn't t serve up there but we were welcome to go downstairs to get our food and bring it up ourselves! What the...?!?! No wonder there wasn't anybody sitting up there! OK. Nevermind! We'll just find a table downstairs! So back down into the madness we went! The place was packed! Lots of groups too. Teenage groups. Looked like sports teams. The boys ordered our food while Terri and I grabbed a table. Tom and I split a burger and some bacon-wrapped, cheese-stuffed shrimp.
Deeeelish!
Don asked if we wanted to go to a Honky Tonk later....listen to some music...do some dancing...sounded great! (Except for the dancing part! I'll just watch! Much less embarrassing for me!) He offered to pick us up at our hotel so we didn't have to worry about riding our bikes back for his house late at night. Sounded great! So that was the plan for Saturday night! But we had a lot more Saturday DAY left, so after lunch, we headed down the street to a place called "Woody's" for an icy cold adult beverage. Woody's was a great place! No frills, a small indoorish bar area in front and a large covered deck with lots of picnic tables overlooking the bay out back! I loved it!
There was a band doing their soundcheck when we arrived. They sounded pretty good! There was a nice breeze blowing, making it delightfully cool! (Tom and I were comfortable but I think Don and Terri were cold! Hahaaaa!)
We REALLY planned this trip perfectly, weather-wise! There hadn't been any days yet that were too unGodly hot and no rain besides the sprinkles when we left our house and the pissy, drizzly, foggy ride when we left St Louis. Neither was enough to warrant a rainsuit. Lucky us!
After enjoying our icy cold adult beverages, we decided to head back to Don & Terri's. I really wanted to stay a while longer and listen to the band, but...we had to get back and leave enough time to have dinner before heading out later. So we said farewell to Woody's and pointed our bikes back toward Baytown. There was a pickup truck with a U-Haul trailer next to us as we were preparing to enter the interstate. Suddenly, the truck and trailer start to buck and sway wildly next to us! We heard a some clatter of metal on concrete, sparks flying, chunks of concrete and metal parts flying..... The hitch on the truck broke and dropped the trailer!!! Luckily the safety chains were keeping it from coming free! Don zoomed past all the ruckus but the way this whole thing was swaying, I thought for sure I'd get creamed, so I backed way off, pretty much coming to a stop until this guy did the same. WOW! What a scene THAT was! Scared the bejesus outta me!!!
Crisis averted....back on track! On the way back to Don & Terri's we stopped in Kemah to buy some fresh shrimp for the shrimp boil Don had planned for us! 5 pounds of shrimp should do, no? The seafood shop we stopped at was on a street lined with about a dozen other seafood shops, and they were all hopping! Pretty cool! We opted to put the bag 'o shrimp in Tom's saddlebag as opposed to Don's leather bag or my tour pack. Much easier to hose out if things got leaky & stinky! After one more stop... at the tequila store, to buy tequila and full-size beer, we were back at the Looney's.
We sat on the back porch again while Don got the boil boiling. We were chatting and I was visiting with my new BFF Nay-Nay!
Suddenly we hear a sharp "whap whap whapping" sound. Down the road comes a car driving on a flat. A very definite flat! Like, driving-on-the-rim flat! A young lady is driving this car down the road at a good clip, hands gripping the steering wheel tight and a look of determination on her face! She was on a mission! What the...?!?! Does she not notice she's driving on a flat? Does she think it's normal? Here's the topper...Don said she drove by earlier that morning on that same flat while they were waiting for us to come over! Hahahahhaaaa! Wow!!!
As we sat on the back porch relaxing, Tom and I enjoyed our full-size beer while Don enjoyed his tiny beer...
I was beginning to get quite comfy. Comfy to the point that I was re-thinking our plans to go out honky-tonkin'! But I didn't want to be a killjoy so I didn't say anything!
We sat outside and chatted some more. "Whap whap whap whap whap". There she goes AGAIN! Hahhahaahahaaaa! She ended up driving by 4 times that evening, each time a little more slowly than the last! (AND, she drove by again the next day! Don posted a video of it on facebook and I just about died laughing!)
Soon it was time to eat!
I'll tell ya what...Don does a kickass shrimp boil! It helps that the shrimp are fresh from the ocean, but everything was perfectly seasoned and the corn was incredibly sweet! After eating way more shrimp than I should've, we hung out around the kitchen table and chatted some more. The conversation turned to clambakes and the leaves changing colors in Fall. Don had never seen either! Well Hell! Don and Terri just got themselves an invitation to come up north to do so! I'd love to return the warm hospitality they've shown us!
Don then asked if we still wanted to go out. I was honest. "Not really! I'm beat!" Whew! So was Don and everyone else! We were all in a food coma! Nobody wanted to move!
Unfortunately it was soon time for Tom and I to head back to the hotel. This was our final farewell (for THIS visit!). We had one more day in Baytown but we had plans to spend it with other friends in the area. So after big hugs and a sad goodbye we headed back to our room.
Friends for life! Don & Terri are damn good people!
Sunday's agenda included plans to head over to our friends Mike & Gabi's to watch football and eat a lot of food! Mike & Gabi are from my hometown of Solon. They relocated to the Houston area a few years ago. When Mike saw that our itinerary included Baytown, he was excited to invite us over! Their place is only about 1/2 hour from our hotel! So we saddled up and rode on over! The route took us back over the Fred Hartman Bridge. I had my camera ready this time!
We stopped for beer & munchies, and we were soon at Mike & Gabi's door! It was soooo good to see them again! And their new baby! And their dog Gunner!
Soon they had a houseful of neighbors and friends, mingling and watching football.
And the food?!?! Holy Cow! Food, food, and still more food!
We were all so stuffed that Mike didn't even bother breaking out the scallop dish he had planned for us!
It felt like a typical Sunday with my family, everyone gathered around and eating!
Too soon the day came to an end. We said our goodbyes and motored on back to the hotel.
Sure was good to see them again!
So our Baytown experience was an awesome one! We hung out with new friends, hung out with old friends, and ate REALLY well!! I can't wait to visit again! My dear friend George owns a trucking company and one of his routes brings him to Baytown quite often. He LOVES it! He gave me a good list of places to see and things to eat but we were so busy we didn't get a chance to get to any of them! So it looks like a return trip is definitely in order!
Stay tuned for the next stop.....NEW ORLEANS!!!
