Navasota, Texas, Ride 2013

Thursday, early afternoon, the Missus and I set forth on a ride to the vicinity of Navasota, Texas.  The weather could not have been better, and traffic in the towns we passed through was light.
Once we made camp, she took her place on the Valk's  pillion, where she operated her camera with her usual skill.

We decided to ride into town to eat and get a few necessaries for the weekend;  we had to travel from off the beaten track to get to the State highway.

There are a few ranches and  a couple of very small, isolated, communities, out this way.

Once on the highway, we crossed the Brazos River.  Nearby is Washington-on-the-Brazos, site of the signing of our Declaration of Independence.

"The Filling Station" is our diner of choice, when in Navasota.  There's good food, friendly, competent waitresses, and decor I can relate to.

And, they are motorcycle-friendly.

On our way back to camp, we stopped at the local store  for supplies;  no giant grocery monopoly, here.  Jill found Dino, outside, but I told her she'd probably have to explain to the younger set that he was not "Barney".

We returned to the campground the way we came and settled in for the evening.

Friday, one of the neighbors had a little battery trouble.  His bud, being the conscientious biker he is, offer a jump start. .

 In spite of this help, the rider managed to get his bike road-worthy.  It's amazing what some  campers bring along, including generators, laptops, fans and battery chargers.
                                               

Saturday morning, we set off on a 140-mile poker run, prize: $1000, but, being lucky in love, I didn't expect to come away with anything more than a great ride with good company.

Cotton belt riding.












The old and the new.

Texas makes the biggest Ace bandages in the world.  Some are trucked to reducing plants in Louisiana and Arkansas.

Cotton modules, probably bound for Mexico.

Poker run stop.

The area roads were great, with  nice turns.  I wasn't quite sure how to deal with the lack of  fork seal-busting potholes, right at first, but I adapted.

Not interested in riding with the pack, we  rode along with a few people we'd met in years past.  

    

Circumstances, being what they were, this lady arrived late, by cage, and without a helmet.   I'd taken my half-shell along, to wear in the poker run, so I volunteered my road helmet for her use.  I told her she might have to shim it up with a baseball cap, but the darned thing fit her!

There are no coincidences.

Other happy campers.

We stopped at Yankee's Tavern, in Carlos, TX, and found this Harley-Davidson hanging from the ceiling.  No one could remember seeing one like this.

We continued on our way.

Back through Navasota town to our starting point.

We spent the remainder of our stay telling almost nearly true stories, and discussing whether time travel could be achieved by pressing together a certain number of nipples, but, that's neither here, nor there.

There was more music and dancing, till we finally called that night a day an found our tent.

On our return trip, we stopped for lunch at the Oakridge Smokehouse Restaurant, in Schulenburg, TX.  Once seated, I decide to move the bikes around to where we could watch them from our table.

Jill has a real knack for photographing me when I'm not at my most photogenic, as when I get my boot hung up on the luggage and  seat of her motorcycle.

The ride home  was cloudy, but we didn't encounter the heavy rain we'd anticipated, it must be all that clean living, paying off.

We're alive, and in Texas.

 

 

Windmills and Woodcocks

Well, to say that the year 2009 wasn’t exactly a bowl of canaries, for at least some of us, is to state the obvious. The New Year started out well, though, with the sun coming out after weeks of off-and-on drizzle, rain and general gloominess.

“Me and my ol’ lady, we like to, like, get outside.”

I hadn’t even had my minimum morning requirement of coffee before I was informed that there were three ladies who’d had enough of being indoors and were all HWQ* for a bit of saddle time.

Our daughter, the lovely and talented Olwen, reclaimed her position as Jill’s pillion, while Nurse Jo reserved the big yella bike’s “coochie couch”. Daughter took a turn as cameraman as we rode down scenic Ocean Drive around Corpus Christi Bay. Just before we merge into Shoreline Drive she took this shot of Cole Park.

A while back, Nurse Jo had expressed a desire to visit the Papalote Creek wind farm, on the other side of the bay. This day seemed like a good one for a follow through so follow through we did.

Daughter took this picture on the fly as we entered the area.

The wind driven generators are visible from miles away but only when we were in the farm did we truly appreciate their size.

The hub of the generator stands over 260 feet above the ground and the blades are reported to be 135 feet long.

The huge blades made a soft sighing sound as they turned that would be like a sleeping pill for those of us who like white noise when we turn in at night.

If you look behind the three beautiful trespassers you can see a maintenance hatch. Inside, a ladder leads to the computer controlled, liquid-cooled generator. I’m told there’s quite a view from up there. I'll stick with the one at ground level.

There are 109 wind-powered generators in this project that, together, produce enough electricity to power 54,000 homes in San Antonio, 140 miles away.

Windmill watching accomplished, we hauled our sweet behinds back to Corpus town "with songs in our hearts and smiles on our faces", as the saying sort of goes.

We weren’t alone enjoying the sunny skies and brisk temperature, either. There was an unusual number of motorcyclists out, this weekend, even considering that Friday was New Year’s Day.

Snake Road is a name some of us natives remember hearing from our elders.
The name was derived from the twisted configuration of the road itself, rather than from the reptiles living in the brush, nearby. Whether that was ever the actual name of the road is neither here, nor there, but the fact that the brush it runs through surrounding the estuary called, “Oso Bay”, has been kept out of the clutches of developers, is.

Hans and Pat Sutter Wildlife Refuge is a favorite of birders (bird watchers), the Sexy Granny, one of which, is. That is, she watches birds, as do Daughter and Nurse Jo. We walked out the long "boardwalk" that elevates visitors above the marsh to check out the many water birds, some local, some migratory.

Across the bay is Ward Island, formerly part of the Naval Air Station, and now home to Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

It was time to mosey, the afternoon was turning cooler and hot chocolate was calling to the ladies. We admired the local flora on our way to the parking lot, taking a couple of parting shots before getting in the wind once more.

* Hot, wet and quivering

Parading Around

Sunday, December 6, Jill, Nurse Jo and I putted on over to Texas A&M, Corpus Christi where the 25th annual "Toys for Tots" parade formed up. The parade is "old home day" and we get the chance to visit with folks, some of whom we haven't seen since the previous December.
The weather was cool and damp, not as good as last year, but a whole lot better than some previous years.

We parked our bikes and commenced to people and scooter watch. We spotted this Suzuki parked near some Winger friends. I like the looks of it but the last time I threw my leg over a sport bike both legs cramped, immediately; I'll stick to just looking.

While I invited my passenger, some folks just went ahead and purchased one (not that there's anything wrong with that).

One thing you can count on in this part of the world is the presence, rain or shine, hot or cold, of the Christian Motorcycle Association. They brought hot coffee and hot chocolate out in this very cool truck, this year.

There was the usual variety of bikes, of course, but I think I may have seen more new Harley-Davidsons, this year, as well as more Gold Wings.

At or about 11:00 am the lead bike moved off and we motored around Corpus Christi Bay.



An old concrete plant turned concert venue is the toy drop-off point, also the point to drink beer (or CMA coffee) and eat barbecued brisket while listening to live music and admiring the graceful strides of fine biker women.

It's good to see the little ones at this kind of event where they are exposed to the very best of the sub-culture. Not till after we got home did I see the way the banner in the background showed up over the lad’s head. It says it all.

The early afternoon wore on and we decided that, while we had liked listening to the band, the auctioneer wasn’t moving us, so we moved ourselves. Consensus was that a ride around the bay would have more therapeutic value than returning home the way we came.

To ride around the bay, one must cross the ferry at Port Aransas. As the ferry left the landing an empty oil tanker, the Overseas Beryl, was making her way up the ship channel, bound for open water.
When a ship is moving her bow forms a wave called, appropriately enough, a bow wave. Dolphins often swim in these bow waves and we spotted several doing just that.



The lettering on her stern indicates she is registered in the Marshall Islands.



The sight of the dolphins in the ship channel inspired us to make a stop at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, in Port Aransas.
During migration season, bird watchers (“birders”) from all over the world come to our area of the state.

This Tri-color Heron moved aside for us to climb the observation tower.



This reserve shelters various coastal and migratory birds, wrens, sparrows and finches as well as nutria and alligator.



Jill is a knowledgeable birder and she and Nurse Jo enjoyed spotting and identifying the birds.



I took a turn at the telescope and spotted a crane. It was way over at one of the construction yards where drilling platforms are built.

Directly, the call of the wild was replaced by the call of coffee and we answered it in a leisurely fashion. It was that kind of day.