Day 9: Mostly Houston

I forgot just how huge Houston is and it seemed to take forever making my 20 or so stops. Also just getting to Houston took longer than anticipated. Even despite speeding and getting my first ticket of the trip: 81 in a 65 = $200. Ouch. The last sign that I saw was 70 -- most of the interstates in TX have that speed limit. But I guess I was just close enough to Houston to rate a lower restriction. That cop wrote me up in record time and was right on to the next "customer" before I even pulled away. Ah well, part of the cost-of-living on the road. I usually get one speeding ticket per major trip which is well worth it. If I obeyed the letter of the law, I'd probably only get to half the things I want to shoot. Nevertheless, I'll be a little lighter on the gas pedal for awhile.

Weather was lovely for the second day in a row. Only I was stuck in the car way too much to put it to good use. I'm really going to have to scale back on TX stops at this point so I can arrive in CA with enough time to make the distance driven worth it. Hopefully, by next weekend.

The dogs got treated to an outstanding off-leash dog park today: the Harris County Dog Park. We've been to Millie Bush Dog Park in Houston before and this was just as great. Huge open grassy space, water for swimming (still too cold really), stuff to climb on, other nice dogs to run with. It was good to let Grem off her 50' tether for awhile and her recall is getting much better.

http://www.houstondogpark.org/
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4768749.html

On with today's pictures!

I made a few stops en route to Houston. The little town of Hallettsville had some fun & nice signs:



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I've been noticing just about every small town in TX has these sidewalk steps. What's the deal with that? Is there more flash flooding in TX than say PA? I don't recall noticing these in the Northeast.



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I'm not sure what business this Rubber Ducky is associated with. There was a Drury Inn behind him and a rental car company. I know Comfort Inn uses rubber ducks in their advertising (and leaves small ones in their bathrooms which Nik always finds and decapitates). But there was no sign of a Comfort Inn around (unless Drury Inn took possession of the hotel). That might have been awhile ago and explain Ducky's semi-flat tires. I don't know if he got dragged around in parades or what. Quite a mystery.



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These suspended traffic signals in Houston freak me out. They really blow around in the wind and I'm worried one will drop on my roof or worse on my windshield while I'm passing under them:



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A couple "art installations" in Houston within about a block of each other:

The Flower Man:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/TXHOUflowerman.html



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and "Field of Vision" with giant eyeballs on pedestals:



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And lastly, this little bit of specialness from the day. An abandoned sign on an empty lot. Long may it continue to survive!