LURE OF THE HORIZON

Houston, Texas

Similar to several of my other work trips, the cool weather and rain were waiting in Houston to greet me. I think it was a combination of the weather, the destination, and my personal outlook on things at the time, but I proceeded from airplane to shuttle to rental car with overwhelming lethargy. And, in keeping with the overall vibe of the day, when I called the contractor to inform him that I was in town and would be stopping by the store for a visit, he responded gruffly, “I been waitin’ on ya’all all day and kane’t leave ‘til yer done, so get here.”

Houston… we are off to a rough start.

Rather than going to check into my hotel and easing into a nice relaxing lunch, I typed in the address of the job site into my navigation system and drove towards the job site that took me about a half an hour south of the airport. As I approached the site I noticed that it was in close proximity to the Johnson Space Center. Cooooool! In fact, it was taking me onto the grounds of the Johnson Space Center. I slowed my rental Jeep to a stop at a locked gate going across the road. Hmmmm…. A second look at my GPS showed the address I was given was not Wal Mart, but the helipad at the Johnson Space Center.

Great.

A quick call to mister friendly revealed that he was waiting on “us all” about thirty minutes NORTH of the airport, which put me roughly one hour away plus traffic.

I eventually made it to the job and disarmed the grizzly bear of a man with my wit and kindness. By the time I finished he was offering to lead me out of town so I didn’t get turned around again and would show me the best places in town to grab some food.

Me: 1 Bad Guys: 0.

Unfortunately that was the highlight of my brief visit to Houston, Texas. The remainder of the evening was spent in Frank N Steins bar eating fried pickles, drinking Grey Goose and tonics, and playing video trivia. Not exactly “experiencing” the city, but as I mentioned on my trip to Ohio; I don’t like cold and I don’t like rain and when the two combine into cold rain… I hibernate.

The next morning I defied the rain and my desire to just leave Texas and instead drove an hour south to the ocean. The nearest point I could find on the map was La Pointe, TX. Morning traffic was horrendous, the rain fell in buckets, and my opinion of Houston was diminishing every minute I was there.

I pulled into La Pointe and found that while I was near the ocean, there was a fenced off oil tanker field between me and the salt water. I shook my head and lowered it onto the steering wheel. Of all the things I WANTED to be doing in Texas, driving alone in the traffic and rain to get to an oil tanker field next to the ocean was NOT it!

I walked into the gas station/convenience store and asked the Hispanic gentleman behind the counter where I could find a beach.

“A beach?”

“Yes. A beach. With sand and water…”

“A beach?”

……………..

You get the point. I finally figured out that I was about a half a mile from a spot where I could actually access the ocean. I drove through the dreary little beach side neighborhood and found the sea. I stepped out into the steady downpour and walked in the rain along the beach. Why? Because I live in Kansas and, by God, I was going to spend a few minutes on the beach!

Overwhelming grey blanketed the ocean, the horizon, the beach, and my enjoyment of being at the ocean.

I took a few pictures, stole a little bit of sand, and turned the rental Jeep back towards Houston.

Next week I go to Austin, TX and am hoping for a little bit more inspiration to write about. Houston was… Well… We’ll see how Austin goes.