Some chores and a nice drive



Dickinson Bay this morning

I was up early again. I guess I simply can’t sleep when it is too quiet. After clearing my e-mails and checking my Facebook, I headed out for another 3-mile walk. This time I took my camera so I could show you the effects of a lack of zoning restrictions here in San Leon, Texas.

You can also see how wet it has been here as one building site (see photo of this and other residences in a post below this post) is pretty much underwater and it appears no one has been working on it for some time.

Because it was hard to see if anyone was looking out the windows, I had to snap my photos quickly so as not to offend anyone as to the reasons I was taking pictures of their house.

Just a little muddy

Back at the trailer we had our “cookie” breakfast and then headed to the showers. Following the showers, Joan went back to the Laundromat and got our clothes caught up and I worked under the trailer organizing it again so we could store the small picnic table we recently purchased. The reason for the purchase is that we have suddenly run into a few campgrounds that do not provide a picnic table at each site.

After Joan’s soap opera, which was quite entertaining today, we headed north on I-45 to see if there was a way we could visit the headquarters of the U.S. Army’s 75^th Division. Well, the GPS put us close, but once we got there we found that the road we were headed on dead ended into a fence with barbed wire on top.

Vomit comet, I think

That was not unusual because we were outside a military base and Ellington Field. So we went to the Visitor’s Center which had a sign on it that said they had served the required number of visitors for the day and were now closed. It was 3 p.m.

So we walked to the security gate for the base and were told it was not possible for a civilian without proper authorization to come on the base or visit any of the commands. I’m going to work the phones tomorrow morning and see what it might take for Joan and her sister to visit the headquarters of their late father’s former division.

Am I brave, or what?

There was a very interesting display outside the gate of a large airplane, that according to what I read on the plaque (again see the photos below to read the plaque) this particular airplane was used to train astronauts on operating in weightlessness. I think this may be one of the famous vomit comets, but my father will let me know for sure after he views the photos and reads the plaque.

Once done with our photo taking we piled back into the Tahoe and headed back to camp, but not before stopping and making appointments to get my hair cut and Joan’s nails done tomorrow afternoon. We also did a last minute shopping at Kroger.

Before we returned to the trailer we drove a little farther down the road where we are staying to see what is at the end of the road. Not much, but there are a couple dumpy looking restaurants and bars. I may walk that way tomorrow to get a closer look.

We're here too soon

Then tomorrow afternoon we will head to nearby Hobby Airport to pick up Joan’s sister and brother-in-law for their visit with us for the next week.

A couple notes from today: So many times on recent trips we have seen emergency road signs erected on highways and freeways warning "Damaged guardrail ahead."

One of those damaged guardrail signs and the damaged guardrail (in Oklahoma) was still there three months after we first saw it when traveling west this fall.

Yesterday, we passed a police car and a utility truck in front of a freshly damaged guardrail on a local highway near our campsite. The utility company was erecting the "Damaged guardrail ahead" sign when we were driving by.

Well today we drove by the same spot and lo, and behold, the sign was gone and a new guardrail was erected. We felt good that at least in one place they actually fix the guardrails instead of just erecting signs warning about broken ones.

The other end of my walk today

Also we passed a new subdivision north of here and there was a big sign that said "No MUD tax." Wow, we thought, they tax mud down here? 

A little research tonight showed that MUD taxes are actually a big deal in some communities, but it doesn't stand for what you are thinking. MUD stands for Municipal Utility District and in some communities you have to pay an extra tax for sewer and water if you are not part of the original sewer and water district.