Cruising to Texas

We got an early start out of New Orleans, expecting a long day of driving.  Only 6 or so hours to Houston on the interstate. Big fun. We generally add a few hours to whatever the normal estimate so we figured we could do it in 8 hours – a good day’s work. I checked the valves in the parking lot just before pulling out at 7 am and the bus was running great.

It was the day before Thanksgiving – the busiest travel day in the U.S. – so on to the interstate. I’m not sure how the long-distance truckers can do this every day – it’s tiring monotony. At least we’ve got the added benefit of Bode providing entertainment, so one of us can sit in the back and work on art projects (we made elaborate airplanes and snowflakes today) and play games.

After 5 hours or so, we were able to cut down off the interstate and take the route through Port Arthur, TX to Winnie and then down to the coast and the Bolivar peninsula. If you recall, Hurricane Ike leveled this peninsula a year ago and the town of Gilchrest has pretty much been removed from the map. You occasionally see a new home poking up on the horizon – maybe one half-destroyed home yet to be demolished – but otherwise it’s barren with only minor evidence that something used to be there.  Despite the previous destruction in the back of our minds, it’s strangely pretty – a wide open sandy coastline recovered by Mother Nature. I hesitate to say the hurricane made some improvements.

At the end of the peninsula is a free ferry with service to Galveston – almost there! Signs remind the passengers to not abuse the employees and the pre-departure ferry P.A. reminds everyone to feed the seagulls at the back the boat. We obliged.