This section will
document the journeys and travels of the SilverBandit.
During the first week
of February I will travel to Austin to start the photographic journal of
the Houston, Austin and San Antonio. The driving theme:
The Painted
Churches.
Feb 4, 2003
| Mar 2, 2003 |
Feb 4, 2003
I got ready for this trip. My bike was loaded up
Mar 2, 2003
Almost
a month after my encounter with an unlicensed, uninsured, cage rider, La
Fiera was saddled again. I decided to go ahead and face the demons.
I took the same route I took that day. Taking the South Loop (610) I
proceeded towards the 610-90 West intersection. I passed the contact
point with no problems.
I headed West on 90 looking for photo opportunities.
Along the way I came across and Erotic Cabaret next to a church. Good
contrast opportunity I thought. But then, the placement of the
buildings and their sign offered no real way to show them together in the
way I had framed them in my mind's eye. Further down the road I
crossed Stafford and was rewarded with interesting Mississippi Barbershop.
Those pictures are still in my camera.
Miles down on 90 West, the landscape becomes an exercise
in contrast. Cows and pastures, industrial buildings and small
business, all nest to each other in a wonderful landscape of contrast and
complement build this unique Texas landscape. I rode all the way down
to Rosenberg. This is actually a short ride since its only about 30
miles from Houston. When I turned back I had to stop and fix my
boots. The stopping point as a closed liquor shop called
Better
Spirits. I thought this was quite an appropriate name. Riding
always improves my Spirit.
From there it was back to Richmond, where I felt the
court house
should
offer some interesting opportunities. So, after circling around I
parked La Fiera next to the court house and started walking around looking
for some angles. My choices are always based on unusual angles,
obvious messages that people do not pay attention to, and often times,
shots that will get La Fiera into the picture, even when it is a minute
speck in the background. Therefore, the pictures below should talk to
you that way. I certainly hope they do, since as I walked around,
many of the locals stopped or turned around to look at this weird Latino,
striding, unshaved and with long hair, in full riding gear, and a camera in
hand.
Just a few miles up the road in Stafford, I turned back onto the West
segment of 90 and stopped by Hemphill's Barbershop. The colors and
the angles by the roadside held the promised of some some interesting
possibilities. So here is the Hemphill's series
From here it was back to Houston, as the looming clouds
promised to soak La Fiera and me. Fortunately they did not keep their
word and this ride ended up safely, followed by a home baked focaccia and a
warm bowl of tomato basil soup.
Mar 8, 2003
This 100 mile trip took me in the opposite direction from last week.
Taking 610 North and then East I hooked up with highway 90 East. The
initial segment of the trip took me through a basic industrial segment of
North East Houston that I will need to revisit soon since the interplay of
geometry and repetition hold the promise of some interesting images.
Along the road a large white egret challenged me to a game of chicken, what
an irony, by flying down the road in my direction, without showing any
intention of changing its course. At the very last moment it did.
A victory for the SilverBandit and La Fiera? I wish, but luck is
probably a better word to use here.
While my original destination was the Harley Cafe in Liberty, the
juxtaposition of lines, circles and time at the Baker-Hughes INTEK site on
the side of the road in Dayton called my attention and had me stopping to
try to capture the moment. Here are the results of my kneeling down,
crawling and turning looking for visual gold. The final pictures were
generated by a thought and a vision that was planted in my mind on Tuesday
and a promise that was living within me for later that day.
From there it was south on 146 with a fantastic view of the Baytwon
Bridge and then back to Houston on 225 and 610.
March 30, 2003
The weather had not been cooperating for the last couple of weeks. La
Fiera needed service and rain an cold kept me from riding for a while.
Finally, on Sunday, with first service completed and the sun out, it was
time for a ride. My initial goal was to just take a ride on 290 and
look for Texas wild flowers. As I progressed on this ride, I just
kept going and at some point decided to head for Round Top. This has
been one of the most rewarding trips. While I only snapped a few
shots (coming soon) the scenery was spectacular. One of the most
breath taking views came on SR-237, which connects Round Top with La
Grange. On the right of the road you can see a small lake with a
ground across the lake completely covered with Indian paint brush.
This view was worth the trip. I finally hit highway 71 and turned
south towards Columbus and I-10. From there it was a straight shot to
Houston.
In all it was a 250 mile run filled with rich with visual displays.
Next, Arlington, Texas via highway 6. That should be a 600 mile run.
April 27, 2003
This one started as a ride to Galveston and was supposed to
end the same way. Simple round trip from Houston on I-45 south.
Weather was nice as I followed the purple Rav down the freeway. Once
we hit the seawall we took the opportunity to experience a lot of what the
retreat has to offer. From the beach, to bicycle riding along the
wall, to a wonderful and unexpected air show by the
Canadian Forces Snowbirds
famous aerobatic team. From there, La Fiera took its first trip
on a boat as we crossed on the ferry to go visit friends near High Island
and Anahuac. The evidence of a 2-3 hour wait to cross back on the
ferry, made me look for an alternate route and I ended up taking 24 up to
Winnie and then I-10 East back to Houston. By the time I got in town
it was 11 pm but it was a day full of wonderful and enriching experiences,
including making new acquaintances.
This was a fantastic
trip with sightings that included a band of roseate spoonbills at sunset
during the ferry crossing.
May 5, 2003
This is was a much anticipated day. It was to be the
first day when we would go 2-up riding. Brazos Bend State Park had
been the chosen destination. You can reach the park via several
routes and this is a popular biker destination since it offers some mild
twisties. However, the preferred route for this was under
construction and would take us on HWay 59. Since this was the first
time on 2-up we decided to take the Almeda/FM 251 route to Rosharon.
This is scenic enough and we were rewarded with a wonderful view of fields
completely covered with yellow wild flowers. We also ended up covered
with LoveBug goo since it seemed to be swarming week for these six legged
creatures. The park itself was spectacular and it is still one of the
treasures of the Houston vicinity. We spotted all sorts of wild life,
including a new born white tail. These are some of the things we
believe to have spotted on that day:
-
Tricolored Heron (used to be the Louisiana Heron) is
the one with the purple neck and the blue beak
(apparently the blue beak is only present during
mating season)
- Whistling ducks
- Yellow crowned night heron
- Common Gallinule
- Purple Gallinule
- Coot
- Cattle egret
- Great blue herons
- American egrets
- Snowy egrets
- White tailed deer: adults and fawn
- Red winged black birds
- White ibis
- Crows
- Grackles
- Cliff swallows
- Turkey vultures
- Blue jays
- Paper wasps (Polistes metricus and Polistes
exclamans)
- Dragon flies
- Carpenter bees
- Honey bees
- Screech owl (captive)
- Lady bug
- Long horn beetle
The round trip was about 170 miles and a total delight.
May 18, 2003
Approximate riding distance: 95 miles.
We joined this one as part of the
Cruzin to Cure cancer benefit ride. This was a poker run also.
So this was our first in both cases. With five possible starting
points we chose the one closest to us, which ended up being in South East
Houston. It was a gorgeous Sunday morning and we proceeded to collect
the 5 stamps at each of the stopping points in the League City, Clear Lake
and down town Houston area. Along the way we were exposed to hawks
perched on road signs, stores with unique personalities, including one
where birds seemed to make it their mission to ruin shiny chrome jobs, and
parks we were unaware of. To say that this was a 'cultural'
experience is an understatement. We found ourselves being some of the
very few riders of color on a sports bike in a sea of cruisers.
Still, the atmosphere at the end point was friendly, and a combination of
BBQ, raffles and an impromptu game of pool where a lucky roll of the
8-ball saved me from total embarrassment made for a terrific day.
[pictures coming up]
May 24, 2003
Approximate distance: 220 miles.
This was another trip that had been in the planning for a couple of weeks.
Having taken a new interest in bird watching, we wanted to visit the High
Island bird sanctuary and still catch some of the nesting birds in the
area. The day was mild, considering it was late May in South East
Texas, and sporting matching jackets and helmets we headed down to the
Galveston Bay area. Rather than taking 45 South, we decided to avoid
the beach going crowd of Memorial Day and took the 610 loop south and east
towards 225. 225 East took us to 146 south and after making a short
stop in La Port for a pleasant visit with some good friends, we headed back
to 146 and made it down the Galveston via de causeway. La Fiera took
her second ferry ride that day and after landing on the other side we
proceeded on to 87. This segments took us all the way to 124 and
reached High Island. Turning right on 7th street. left again on xxx
and then onto Old Mexico put us on to Smith Oaks. After a brief but
nice rest for lunch in an oak grove we started walking around the ponds and
lakes. This 3 hour walk was full of amazing sights and discoveries.
From birds, to armadillos, to strings of dragonflies waving in the wind,
the afternoon passed by quickly.
While the bird sightings were plentiful, the rookery at Smith Oaks was
the most spectacular. Having adults, babies and eggs all concentrated
in a small island made of an amazing symphony of color, sound and movement.
Sighted there were:
- Roseate spoonbills (adults and immatures)
- Double crested cormorants
- Black crowned night herons
- Yellow-crowned nigh herons
- Tri-colored herons
- Snowy egrets
- Great egrets
- White ibis
- Common gallinules (moorhen) with babies
- Bull frogs
- A 'tribe' of 6 9-banded armadillos
After that La Fiera was in for a new experience as it found its
way to the beach, only to find itself stuck in the sand. Thankfully,
a very friendly individual at the beach came over to help us get it out.
The sun was setting and deciding we deserved a good dinner we set out to
one of the local restaurants. From there it was back to 124 North to
Winnie and then I-10 West back into good old Houston. This was a day
that managed to wrap in it the joys of bike riding, with a spectrum of
experiences, all enhanced by wonderful company.
[pictures to come]
June 28, 2003
Approximate round trip distance: 52 miles
This was a short day trip that we decided to take since we had not been on
the road for a while. It was a warm Houston summer afternoon, and
after a satisfying fried chicken lunch, we hopped on La Fiera and headed
north of town. The safest way to get to the Mercer Arboretum is to
take I-45N to 610 N, head west and take the Hardy Toll Rd. to FM 1960.
From there we proceeded East to Aldine-Westfield, where we headed North
again. A couple of miles up the road we came across the botanical
gardens section on the right and the arboretum on the left. We
proceeded to explore the botanical gardens on this occasion. The
gardens, which are beautifully set presented us with some exquisite purple
water lilies, various types of gingers and herbs. But the purpose of
the trip was to find the pileated woodpecker so we proceeded down one of
the paths. We came across and nice pond, where we later sighted a
green heron foraging. After that we came across a wonderful section
where the park managers have created a collection of a number of varieties
of bamboo. This leads into a forested area where we finally were
rewarded with several but brief sightings of the pileated woodpecker.
On the way back to the entrance of the gardens we also managed to spot
several female red bellied woodpeckers and their young.
While this was a short ride and no pictures were taken, it was memorable
for the shared moments and the experience of the open roads.
On August 29, 2003 La Fiera was
stolen. That event put a stop to the journey, but only
temporarily. On August 19, I got a new ride, El Jaguar. This is
a 2003 V-Strom, yellow, and you can catch the continuing journeys here.
