Days Twenty-Three through Thirty-Two

Windmill, Palacios, Matagorda County, Day 20

. . .

I am currently in Houston, living large with my cousin Cat. When I showed up to Galveston, I was limping a little from the four or five blisters I had picked up along the way. Normally, my calluses are enough to stave off any nasty, bubbly blistery trouble, but I pushed a little extra hard to get there, walking around 50 miles in two days. Maybe the previous days' wanderings contributed too. Here they are in brief:

Day 23: Somewhere just shy of Old Ocean, about 14 miles

Day 24: Brazoria (via the back roads), about 15 miles

Day 25: A zero day in Houston

Day 26: Quintana, 20 miles

Day 27: Just shy of San Luis Pass (I went back up to Freeport for mail), about 25 miles

Day 28: Galveston, about 25 miles

Days 29 - 32: A zero weekend in Houston

Wetlands Project Sign, Matagorda County, Day 21

(Note: The domes in the background belong to a nuclear power plant on 521.)

. . .

I am taking full advantage of having family in the area. My parents swung by on Day 24 because my dad had some business at MD Anderson in Houston. I went to a hospital class with both parents (and tweeted about it) and was later taken back to where I left off. I then got picked up by my cousin in Galveston on Day 28, and we've been hanging out since. Also, a huge thank you to Nate and Fatma who let me crash in their garage in Bay City on the night of Day 22.

Truck on Pier, Galveston, Galveston County, Day 28

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Triangular Beach Houses, Surfside Beach, Brazoria County, Day 27

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A few thoughts in the last week:

* There are two types of interactions on this trip, my virtual ones (family and friends via phone, email, and texting) and my real life ones. The difference is stark. The presence of someone - even a stranger - is sometimes preferable to a virtual contact simply because that person is right there. This kind of interaction and communication has a more profound impact for reasons I have yet to understand.

Since breakfast with Nate this morning and a short conversation with a fellow at the donut shop, I've had no other meaningful face-to-face conversations with people all day. I've mostly talked on the phone (five conversations) and texted (over a dozen). I'm subsisting on a virtual community, but I need the one I'm in.

Cross on Telephone Pole, Matagorda County, Day 21

. . .

* It's been great to see my folks during the trip, but I wonder what it's doing to the trek's continuity. I suppose you could argue that it is what it is, that there aren't rules to this thing. But I feel myself getting yo-yoed back and forth between the two worlds.

I was a homeless person to the Sonic staff today. That is, until my parents showed up, gave me hugs and kisses, and reduced their idea of me to a large, dirty

boy scout. Not that a person should think one thing or another, but whatever reality we're creating is getting disrupted or in this case abruptly redefined. I don't know how I feel about that. Then again, it is what it is.

Texan Mailbox, Matagorda County, Day 23

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Stone Hedge?, Brazoria County, Day 27

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* How much am I really learning about Texas? I read a few books, talked to a few people. There's too much! It's too epic! I'm a little kid begging for tales, and there's no time to hear them all.

But I am learning something. There's a heartbeat around here somewhere.

Fresh Seafood, Matagorda County, Day 23

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Church, Matagorda County, Day 21

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That's all for this installment. There is much much more coming up. Please stay tuned.

Beach Landmark, Brazoria County, Day 27

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Until next time, readers...

Faces of Texas

"I pray to God to give me work."
- Maricela Ayala on running her business, Maricela's Cafe.
She is pictured taking the needles off
of cacti, or nopales, a task in which I helped out.
Palacios, TX
. . .
"They're a lot of people without jobs...
but God won't give us something we can't handle."
- Nicole Saldierna on the local economy.
This statement was taken from a casual
conversation with other patrons of Maricela's Cafe.
Palacios, TX
. . ."They hear a calf in another pasture, they go crazy.
They'll bust the fence down to get to that calf. It's instinct."
- Brad McClelland talking about a cow
that had gotten hit by a car that morning.
The cow had recently been separated
from its calf and had already busted
through one fence the day before looking for it.
Wadsworth, TX
. . .
"When they made me, they threw the mold away."
- Charles Hargrove on himself.
Charlie talked, laughed, joked, insulted,
chased women around, drank, smoked, told stories,
and interacted with every person that came into the store.
He then went on to give me a place to camp
for the evening, a five count, a flashlight, food, and water.
He even went so far as to introduce me to a couple of his neighbors.
Wadsworth, TX
. . .
"It was real important to us that she knew both languages."
- Nate Glenn, holding daughter Jasmine,
on his and his wife's desire to have their child
speak both English and Turkish.
During the family's last trip to Turkey,
Nate observed that Jasmine, age two,
understood which language was expected of her.
Bay City, TX
. . .
"I take that corner a little bit slower now."
- Robin Short on a particular stretch of road
between her home and her workplace.
Several months ago, Robin took a curve
on her motorcycle, leaning into it at fast speed,
and missed a large pothole in the road.
She did $5000 worth of damage to a $7000 bike.
The motorcycle pictured is a brand new replacement
with a little extra work done by Robin herself.
Old Ocean, TX
. . .

"When they discharged me in Oregon and
asked me where I wanted to go, I said,
'Aw, hells. I gotta go back to Texas!'"
- WWII Veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor William Eckel
on getting out of the service. Currently a resident of East Texas,
Eckel worked his entire professional life in South Texas.
When I found him, he and his family
were vacationing on the coast.
Surfside Beach, TX
. . .

"We met sophomore year, and we've been friends ever since."
- James Baskin, shown right, with E.J. Eckel
after relating a story about a kid in math class
who was throwing a pencil at different students in the room.
As the story goes, E.J. grabbed the pencil,
broke it in half, and gave half of it to James.
They then simultaneously threw the halves
back at the troublemaker, who cried foul.
The incident spawned their forty-year friendship.
Surfside Beach, TX
. . .
"We had enough washers and dryers in our yard
we could have started a landromat."
- Dennis Nichols on the state of his family's home
after Hurricane Ike. The entire bottom half of his home
got washed away, including his own washer and drier,
which were nowhere to be found.
Jamaica Beach, TX
. . .