The travels of the Rambling Roses: Winnie Tx to Crystal Beach March 3

39.12 in 3.5 hrs. All last week, the wind has been blowing out of the north. We had some lows in the thirties as a result, but we got through that, and that wind direction would be perfect for my trip to Galveston, which is pretty much due south to the Gulf, then southwest. Well, I woke up this morning, and the wind was blowing out of the #%#%##€£¥ southwest! The riding portion of the day got off to a late start, because I went to church in Houston, then we hooked up the Jeep and drove an hour and a half back to Winnie, where the ride commenced. The wind wasn't brutal, just a typical Texas wind, about 10-15 mph. It beats relentlessly on the legs and mind, but I already know that riding generally east to west in Texas, I'm in for about a thousand miles of headwind. It's okay, but I hate when the favorable wind changes to a headwind overnight, no matter what state I'm in! Enough about the wind. I headed out of Winnie at about one pm, and headed through the Texas bayou for about 20 miles, until I hit the Gulf of Mexico. I went over the Intercoastal Waterway once again, and had a beautiful view of the bayou, with the Gulf off in the distance. I took a short side trip through an old town called High Island,, which was cool, and when I got to the Gulf, I turned right, towards Galveston. The road should have also gone to the left to Louisiana, but it was wiped out by Hurricanes Rita and Ike seven years ago, and is still not repaired. The road from Winnie to the Gulf (Tx 124), and towards Galveston (Tx 87) was wonderful. In Texas, they don't seem to pave the shoulder very smoothly on a lot of roads, and even when they have a shoulder, I found myself riding on the road for a smoother ride. These shoulders today, however, were smooth sailing. It is so nice to have a smooth ride, especially into a headwind.
Tx 87 took me along the Bolivar Peninsula, with the Gulf on my left and Galveston Bay on my right. Between the road and the bay was either bayou, or grazing land for cattle, goats, or swamp donkeys. The beach, was not very big, and there were more piles of black sand, left from the BP oil spill, I presume. The area looked like much of the Gulf coast in Mississippi, and Louisiana-like it was hurricane ravaged and has never recovered. As I rode along, however, numerous nice beach homes began to appear, but businesses, gas stations and restaurants were conspicuously missing. The only businesses were related to the hurricane recovery industry ( lumber, landscaping, sand and dirt, hardware, paint, earthmoving, construction businesses). As I got to Crystal Beach, which is where we decided to camp, the homes were nice, with many still under repair, and much new construction. We stopped after only 40 miles because we have to take a ferry across the Galveston Bay, and go thru Galveston before we come to another campground, and due to my late start, it wasn't going to happen before dark. We had a little time to kill, so we took the Jeep onto the beach and cruised around until sunset. The beach was wide at Crystal Beach, and packed down like Daytona Beach, and there was quite a bit of activity, so there are people around, even though its only the beginning of March. We had spaghetti for supper, and stayed settled in for the evening.

As I got onto Bolivar Peninsula, I saw my first cowboys!!! Seriously, they were on their horses and were herding cattle! Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture since I was driving my new baby!