Day 10, Time to Turn Back, Kerrville to Winnie, TX.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Well it's time to head back east! We didn't rush out the door to start our return trip. We had breakfast in the Inn's dining room and I wandered around saying farewell to my Canadian friends, again. I'd already said my good-byes last night, but then I saw them all at breakfast so I repeated my sad song, boo hoo.

Lynne packing up her bike. She keeps her camping utensils in her saddlebags!

The weather reflected our mood, it was gray and dreary. It started to drizzle as we left. We were all a bit down that our great adventure was coming to an end, and so fast. We filled up across from the hotel, and at about 8:50 we were off to 10 East to journey back to Florida. The clouds followed us, but it didn't rain. It was cool enough, we had to stop so Janet could put her jacket on.

Mileage (KM) leaving Kerrville. Raindrops on my odometer.

We drove to Sealy and we stopped for lunch at Hinze's B-B-Q. We had fun in there, like almost everywhere we went. Janet and I were waiting for our food and this little girl, maybe early 20's, came up to us, after reading Motor Maids on Janet's shirt and said, "You ride motorcycles?". We told her we did, and Janet told her we'd just come from Kerrville and were heading back to Florida. She said "Wow, you rode all that way to clean a house?" What? She said, "You're Motor" and then emphasized the word "Maids" on Janet's shirt. She thought we rode motorcycles to clean houses, too funny. Bah ha ha. Janet and I laughed so hard....Every time we thought about her, we'd crack up again!

I got me some pecan pie, since Billy Gene's wasn't open in Kerrville when I went there for pie. Elizabeth reminded me, it is not pe-can (rhymes with man), because a pe-can pronounced that way is something that goes under the bed, (a pee can, ha ha ha). She said it's pe-khan! The weather stayed cloudy to Sealy, so it was very comfortable riding weather, not too hot, but when we came out after lunch, the sun was out and it was HOT again.

We kept going south, then went East/Northeast for a bit, we stopped in Alvin for the cheapest gas we saw on our trip, at $3.29 per gallon (the highest we saw was in the Panhandle of Florida at $3.71). We continued on 6 S until it ended at 45 (the same 45 we traveled on north of Houston last week, luckily here it wasn't as hectic). We went south on 45 into Galveston, (if you break out in song singing "Galveston", no worries, Janet sings a song about everything), our destination for the day. Galveston has some gorgeous old mansions we rode by. Maybe something to visit on another trip at another time.

I wasn't sure where the ferry was, but having looked at the map earlier, and seeing Galveston was a strip of land and we needed to keep going east, I just kept driving figuring we'd hit the end of the strip at some point. We came to a beach and asked the attendants where the ferry was, turns out we were less than 1/2 a mile from it! Yay.

We got in line, and it was hot. A few minutes later, Gracie and Roger pulled in behind us! Surprise! They had come through Houston, where it was bumper to bumper, so even though our way was a bit longer distance wise, I think we made the right choice to avoid riding through Houston on a Friday afternoon.

We had to wait for about 30 minutes before our lane could ride onto the ferry. We chatted, and Tricia talked to the lady in the car in front of us, begging to be let into her car for some A/C. LOL

Waiting in line at the ferry.

Please let us have some A/C! LOL

Gracie and Roger (and her iPad) on the ferry.

US Naval Museum near Galveston.

Bikes on the ferry.

Another ferry going back to Galveston.

These birds were people watching.

Going to check out the sea after we got off the ferry near Crystal Beach, TX.

We saw a sign after the ferry that said "Local residents can now get sewer services." From the smell of the area, I'd say it was about time.

These birds were so cool. They flew in ribbon like formations.
Very surprising to see that they were actually pelicans!

The seashore. It was very, very smelly, and littered. YIKES.

There wasn't anywhere to stay overnight, and with the smell, we didn't really want to stay in that area. We found 124 N, which we'd need to be on to go north and pick up 10 E again. When we stopped for gas, we talked to a guy and found out that it was only 17 miles to the interstate. We were tired, but we could definitely drive a bit further for a decent room for the night. We rode north, found a LaQuinta in Winnie, TX and that was our home for the night. I decided not to unstrap my luggage, I wasn't really liking that whole pull it all off the bike, lug it inside, do the same thing in the AM, and then again in the PM. I took only what I'd need for the night, then put my bike cover on the bike to deter would be "looters". Time for a cold shower, after a long day of riding, still one of my favorite things at the end of the day!

We were discussing where we'd head for the next day, and looking at the map I saw the town Pascagoula. What a funny name. Well it just so happened, Janet knows a song about Pascagoula. Seriously. She was sure I'd have heard it, but I hadn't, so when singing it didn't jar my memory, she pulled it up on You Tube. It was funny and I'll never forget that town, or that song!
You can hear it here (The Day the Squirrel Went Beserk):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16fG1sDagU

Tomorrow we'd be half way home, so we needed to get some rest for another long day of riding in the heat, and now that we'd be leaving Texas, we'd probably be back in the humidity again.