May 2003
I came here in May 2003 for a job and didn’t think it was too hot when I first stepped out of the truck, but I was covered with sweat after setting up the trailer…a relatively simple job. The foliage in Houston is very pretty where you can find it within the largest industrial area I have ever seen. It seems that every square mile of waterfront property is covered with some kind of industrial plant. I thought that the driving lanes were pretty narrow when I drove in and figured that maybe I was just paranoid until I caught a teaser for the new story on the nightly news about the ever shrinking lanes in Houston. There was less traffic than I expected until I tried to go to the beach. I ended up turning around at the island of Tiki because there was no way I was going to wait 2+ hours in bumper to bumper traffic to look at water I had no intention of entering due to the obvious pollution.
The whole experience including iced beer in every store, mysterious insect bites, BBQ turkey legs under heat lamps in the gas stations, Toll Roads, to the never ending heat gave me the impression that I was in a foreign country.
I visited this battleship one afternoon and it was tres cool. This ship was built in 1914 and was the most powerful ship in its day and has served in every major US conflict from 1914 to 1950. It probably just missed being snapped up by the Canadian Military and I kept congratulating myself for turning down the offer to join the Canadian Navy while I was walking through it. Check out the living conditions.
Here’s the pics (Click on the picture to see full size):
