Heading down to Galveston on Saturday

[burkazoid]

A co-worker and I are heading down to Galveston on Saturday, down highway 6 to I45 and straight down to Tiki Island. Then, shoot across the island, ride the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula. From there, to Montgomery and through the Sam Houston National Park. Stop at Dusty's for a beer, and on back to Bryan/College Station.

I'm really looking forward to this ride, to see the damage on the island for myself, but especially since we heard they are running the ferry again to Port Bolivar so we can cross over.

I'm taking the camera, but riding single, so any pics will be at stops. Still, I'll post what I get once we get back.

Best,
B.

[coloradontexas]

Good luck to you, watch out for pot holes

[nomad561]

I'll be heading that way next week.Might have to make a side trip over to the island if I have time.
Have a great ride and get lots of pics.

[dogdoc]

And watch out for nails! :-)

[waterman]

Have a good time and post what you see. Be interesting to see how far they have cleaned up since.

[lw]

I start a set of nights tonight or I'd hook up and ride with y'all. Have a good, safe ride.

[paul]

I start a set of nights tonight or I'd hook up and ride with y'all. Have a good, safe ride.

Hey, LW. I was in your part of town Wed. I was @ the new Napa store on Spencer hwy. getting their locks set up and noticed the great big bike shop just a couple of blocks down.

They had a nice 05 Nomad there and several Valks. Had to take a few minutes and check them out.

[lw]

Yup, that's "around the corner and up the street" from me; and is where I bought Lucille's front tire. Decent enough folks to do business with.

[rksaw]

Have a good time and post what you see. Be interesting to see how far they have cleaned up since.

Ditto. Be sure to take some good pics.

[paul]

Yup, that's "around the corner and up the street" from me; and is where I bought Lucille's front tire. Decent enough folks to do business with.

Had to resist the temptation to take one of those Valks home. And I don't think i've ever seen a larger selection on lids.

[burkazoid]

Ok, I got back last evening around 7PM. Traffic was bad, bad, bad coming back through Houston on I-45, and after the sun went down it was downright cold. :-[

The only real downside of the trip was that we really didn't take into account the scarcity of daylight hours. As a result, it was close to 4PM before we headed back. Due to the traffic in Houston on I-45, we got separated about halfway through, and I was so cold after awhile that I completely missed the 105 cut-off to Navasota from Conroe. Sooooo, I continued on to Hunstville came back home on Hwy 30 which added an extra hour to the ride back home. On the flip side, I know I'm getting straight up 35mpg right now.

As far as pictures are concerned, I have a few, but nothing that could do it justice. You literally have to see it yourself. The beach is literally gone. The seawall, although did it's job admirably, has damage as well. We went through one housing development near the beach, and it's paved roads are gone, destroyed and buried under sand. And that's another thing: There's a reason there is no beach; the sand is everywhere else.

I'm going to take the wife back down there next weekend, and try to take better, and more pictures. This is all I have for now:

http://picasaweb.google.com/steven.chester/GalvestonRide?authkey=-AwI5ez3p6U#


By the way, I just wanted to add that my co-hort is Bob Richards, a gentleman I mentioned on here some months ago having been hit by a car while riding his sportster. As you can see he is back in the saddle, and his bike has been completely restored. This is indeed the bike that had a car sitting on top of it not long ago.

[paul]

Burkazoid,

Glad you made it back alright. Thanks for the pics. I would like to take a ride down to the San Louis pass and check out my favorite fishing spot. May wait a while based on what you're showing us.

Man, too bad you didn't have my #. I could have hooked you up with some hot coffee and some warm silks. You passed right by the house coming up 45. We're not too far from it in the woodlands.

Thanks again.

[skeeter]

Good pics. Thanks for the post.

[waterman]

Great pics. Like you said, the pics probably do no justice to the damage done.

[scott2007nomad]

My bride and I took a ride down there on 11/8 to our favorite place, The Spot.
Your right, it is still really messed up.
There are several businesses open on the seawall though.

One word of advice for anyone going there - get gas before you get on the island, especially if you don't have cash.

It's still a fun ride though.

[burkazoid]

Great pics. Like you said, the pics probably do no justice to the damage done.

There is debris everywhere, but it's organized, if that makes any sense. It's going to be two, three years before that place is back to 100%.

We passed by some of those places where all of the homes were wiped out, and there was just nothing there, like it was always a field. But, the field just looked strange being empty, like something belonged there.

Oh, and funny story, as we were coming back on I-45, just maybe ten minutes from the island, over to the right of the Interstate there was a rowboat on the side of the road.

[rksaw]

Incredible. I think that most of us will never fully grasp the full effect until we see it first hand.