Coastal Ride

[glstine]

Went on a ride with an old friend and a new friend this weekend. They are both Harley riders. Here we are meeting up in the morning, notice they are trying to block the Suzuki out of the picture

The plan was to go as far east as you can go and still have road access to the barrier islands and then travel as far west as you can go before having to head back north. This would take us from High Island through Galveston down to Surfside. We would get to cross a few of the tall bridges over the intercoastal waterways and take a ferry ride, it was going to be great. Weather forecast for Saturday, all week long (including Friday night), called for sunny skies low in the 50's high in the mid 70's. Oh that weather is a fickle thing.

Are those clouds getting darker

We stop in Liberty to get some camera batteries and feel a few raindrops. I pull up the radar on my phone and see that it is just a thin band of rain and it looks like it will pass through quickly. I assure the guys it shouldn't be more than a sprinkle and all will be fine.

Finally some nice roads

Could I have been wrong about the rain?

As you can see it starts to rain, but I am still convinced this is going to pass. I forgot the maps I had printed off so we had stop and try to figure where to go. Think the guys are starting to get a little annoyed with me at this point. I should point out that none of us has any rain gear, nor are we near anywhere that would sell any.

Finally we get out of the rain and we aren't to wet at this point. Riding through the coastal plains.

I'm convinced it's going to be all good. We stop for gas in Stowell, and of course it starts sprinkling again.

I pull up the radar on the phone again, and see that the rain has exploded all over the place. We are going to get soaked whichever way we go so might as well continue on.

 

[glstine]

The ocean is an angry looking place when it is cold and raining.

I don't know why but I like this picture.

The reconstruction efforts from High Island to Port Bolivar are coming along. This area was literally destroyed by Hurricane Ike. Not any pictures though it was raining too much. But we did finally make it to the ferry. Sometimes all you can do is laugh.

Of course we had to wait about 30 minutes or so in the cold windy rain for the ferry.

heh

Finally we got on the third ferry.

That's about it for ride pics, we had lunch in Galveston and decided to just slab it back up from there since we were waterlogged. I will leave you with a few pictures of Galveston.

Galveston is recovering nicely from Ike. This is the Historical Strand District

To give you an idea of the storm surge from Ike, check out the water line.

Getting ready to head back. The weather actually turned nice for the ride home, go figure. We are going to try this again in a few weeks, before it starts getting too crowded.

 

[glstine]

Here are a couple of cool rides I saw in Galveston, check out the sound system on the trike in the second picture.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Looks like a great day, despite the rain. Thanks for the pictures!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff