The Journal. Los Angeles to Daytona...

Day 9 – Death Alley Driver – San Antonio to Galveston

The great thing about riding a motorcycle is the freedom to occupy what I call a three dimensional space on the highway, the openness to the elements, that exposure to all that is around you, the weather and what Mother Nature will throw at you, the varying road conditions and sadly what I have come across mostly in Texas so far is the smell of death.  Road kill is in abundance and whilst you can prepare yourself when you come across a carcass but it’s the smell where there is no animal visible that catches you.

Everything is big here, the trucks, pickups, the farms
and the people. The roads are expansive and whilst we have deliberately tried to avoid the big interstate, primarily the I10, the roads we have used today being the 90, 181, 239 and 35 offer the rider a great opportunity to really see this state. Leaving SA, we headed towards Floreseville heading east then onto to Goliad where there was a delightful and colorful local Saturday market set in the town square.

We stopped to walk around a traditional market of arts and crafts, local produce and home cooked food. Set amongst town buildings that were built in the late 19th century, this surely was a great treat.

A market store holder asked if we were going to Galveston, we said we were heading that way but not looking to stop.

Heading past fields of longhorn cattle, lush green pastures we notice more bikes on the road, saluting each other as we passed, strangers, but with a common passion binds us. Stopping for gas we were asked if we were heading to Galveston for the bike rally, what rally we said, all would become clearer later.  Oil fields, training centers and drilling platforms, were followed by large refining operations were now noticeable as we left Port Lavaca for Freeport, this was planned to be our stop for the night, but with Galveston only forty miles we pushed on.

Yes there was an event on, the Lone Star Rally, apparently the largest in the Texas, I cannot comment as to whether that is true, but walking into town that evening I can see why the locals would boast that fact, so many bikes, RVs and traders, with bands playing opposite the pier front, this was a real treat, especially as we did not know about it. I guess that comes from making the trip us we go along, you never know what you will find.

Laner
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