Weekend Road Trip - Southeast Texas Tour
A little shameless self promotion - I am taking a solo ride south of the city this weekend in preperation for a much longer ride I am planning for next year (and because it will be fun). Here is my route and plan.Saturday morning, Depart from my house around 6:00am and head towards my parent’s home in Sugarland for breakfast with them and my Grandmother. Even at this point, I will have gone further from home on my scooter than I ever have previous. I hope to be back on the road headed towards my next destination by 8.
From Sugarland, I will take some county roads deep into Fort Bend County until I reach the George Ranch. I’ve been here before, in High School, but haven’t returned as an adult, especially not as an adult with an interest in History and Texas. I don’t have a sense for how long the ~14 mile trip will take, but I anticipate being there by nine. I will give myself an hour or so to enjoy the park (I think I will stick to the air conditioned plantation manor for this trip) before heading out to Brazos Bend.
Brazos Bend is, in some ways, how this whole drive-around-Texas thing got started. A while ago, I had a dream than I had organized a scooter ride down to the park, and that one of the resident Alligators ate my scooter. No clue what that means, but it is what got me thinking about riding outside the city, exploring. The park is a further 15 miles or so down the road and, again, I will give myself a couple hours there (while the sun is at it’s peak, so I think I have little to fear from the Alligators, who will be too busy sunning themselves). I also consider Brazos Bend to be the ‘point of no return’ in that, once here, I will evaluate both the weather and my comfort level before proceeding.
From Brazos Bend, I will take FM 1462 East and then 521 and 288 south to Angleton. The old Brazoria County Courthouse is located in Angleton, and it has the museum of the county’s historical society inside, which I would like to visit. The museum closes at 3, and so I would like to make the 30 mile trip in good enough time to be there at 2.
From Angleton, I will take 523 and then 332 to Freeport. The first ever capital of Texas was a town called Velasco that was destroyed by the Galveston Hurricane, somewhat rebuilt, but eventually annexed by Freeport. I am not sure what, if anything, remains of the old Capital, but I will investigate to find out.
Just outside of Freeport is Surfside Beach, which has a number of small hotels, at one of which I will spend the night.
In the morning, I will try to get on the road again early and will take the Blue Water Highway up the coast towards Galveston. This 40 mile stretch hugs the coast the entire way, and eventually becomes Seawall Blvd. It is the part of the trip that I am most looking forward to, though I am not sure what the crosswinds from the gulf will be like. After some sight-seeing on the island, I will head out towards the mainland, crossing (in what will surely be the most harrowing few miles of the trip) on the I-45 bridge before immediately exiting to the frontage road and then making my way up to the Old Galveston Road. I will follow that road most of the way back into Houston, eventually ending up on Telephone as it winds towards the third ward towards home. The second day will definitely be a speed run – lots of Urban riding, which I am not really looking forward to, but it cannot be avoided. I had tried to find a route that would let me take the Bolivar Ferry and then approach the city from the East, but there aren’t any routes that avoid I-10.
It is about 90 miles of travel a day, which I think is more than manageable and will give me plenty of time to sight-see and take pictures. I will take good notes and write about the trip when I return.
posted by a d r at 4:39 AM
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