Chillin' in the Big D

Things went pretty much as planned today as I made a "side trip" (I.e. off route by more than 100 miles) to spend a few days with Jimmy and Lisa. Lisa is out of town on business but she will be returning soon (she thinks she's coming home Friday but what does she know, other than her itinerary!). 

After stopping in the early afternoon yesterday about 20 miles south of Houston, in Webster, Tx, I briefly thought I had made a mistake. If I had pushed on to a position just north of Houston I wouldn't have to deal with morning traffic in the 4th largest city in the nation, while driving into the 9th largest city in afternoon rush hour. All turned out well however when I came up with a devious alternative:

Sleep in and leave after Houston arrived at work. Because of the distance I was traveling I was still able to get to and around Dallas by 3:30 or so, With relatively low temperatures and humidity (both in the lower 80's) the morning didn't feel nearly as brutal as yesterday! I rode under overcast skies all day and it never reached unbearable, which is an improvement.

Most of my day was spent on I-45 North with little to write about with only these two exceptions:

1) I saw a motorcyclist sitting at the top of an exit ramp on his crotch-rocket (we used to call them cafe racers). He was just looking around like he didn't know if he wanted to exit or continue. A short time later he came flying by me in the high speed lane all tucked in like he was racing someone. He was definitely speeding, but certainly not running top speed. He wove back and forth through light traffic until eventually I lost sight of him. Some time later (30 - 60 minutes?) I came up on a police car with his lights on, parked on the shoulder of the Interstate. His vehicle was angled somewhat so that I could not see until I passed him that he had stopped Mr. Cafe Racer. The bike was up on the kick-stand and the rider was sitting on the shoulder of the highway with his hands hand-cuffed behind his back. What crime had he committed? I guess we'll never know.

2) Along I-45 near Huntsville, Tx is a very large statue of Sam Houston, one of Texas' bigger than life heroes.

 I stopped to take a picture and see what I could find out about him. The name was familiar but he was not a focal point of history in the Wisconsin school system. I love the quote on the accompanying plaque. I can think of a few people in the national political spotlight that should memorize this paragraph!

So I'm in Sachse (a suburb of Dallas) tonight, have an appointment to get my bike worked on tomorrow, and a long weekend to regroup and recover from the heat and humidity, a welcome respite.