Connecticut and back to Galveston

A few days before flying out of Connecticut, Ben spent several long hours on the Internet, trying to figure out how to get us a ride from the Houston airport to Conroe, TX to get the motorcycle where we'd left it at Katie's parents house. His last ditch effort involved posting onto the Adventure Rider forum and asking for a ride. Surprisingly, despite numerous other attempts on rideshare websites to no avail, we had over five phone calls one after the other with offers from folks to pick us up. At one point, while still in Connecticut, Ben turns to me and asks, "Hey--tomorrow. Do you want to get picked up in a BMW?" and I, thinking he is joking, replied, "Yeah, totally." He was serious and we were picked up in a BMW the next day by Billy, a member on Adventure Rider who was exceptionally flexible (or as the joke became, "pliable") in picking us up, taking us to Conroe to get the bike and then inviting us back to his house in Humble, where we met his wife (and the better half of the motorcycle duo), Anna.

They were wonderful and funny and best of all had a lot of good advice about what to see, particularly in Mexico, and some times for maintaining the motorcycle. All I gathered from it was: white lithium lubricant for the chain. I will swear on this tip until the day I die or until it locks up our chain and we go flying from the bike. The other advice I received was from Anna; she told me to go to Guanajuato, Mexico,

and you could tell by the way she recommended it that it was more than just a destination for her, but a place she really, really loves. They showed us some of their photos, and they are definitely the crazy adventure riders types that I aspire to be.

We spent a few hours in downtown Houston in the Museum District. The de Menil Collection was pretty amazing--it is a multi-building museum free to the public and created around a private collection of art spanning from the prehistoric all the way to the 1990s (with new acquisitions). The docents were jerks (running around, tapping their pens, chatting and staring at you like you're about to steal something), but that doesn't detract from the quality of what we saw there.

What kills me is that I didn't realize that Houston had such an outstanding museum district. When you Google 'Things to do in Houston' the first two things that always come up are 'The Galleria' and 'The Houston/NASA Space Center.'

The Galleria is a SHOPPING MALL. The Space Center isn't really in Houston, or if it is, it is only because Houston is the size of many former Soviet countries. Ben and I also ran into the Houston Children's Museum for the hour that it was open, but we were treated like creepy, second-class citizens because we didn't have any children in tow. I am only 22. I am obviously still interested in how phones work and other industry-sponsored exhibits about oil, money and engineering. If you're ever in Houston, don't be turned off by the illustrious Galleria, although I secretly wanted to go see it, because I can only imagine how fabulous this place must be if it is THE BEST PLACE IN HOUSTON.

Now, we're back in Galveston; which is more and more like home everyday. This is bad when you are on a road trip, but good when you really like the place and the people. We're here until Tuesday, because the bike needs some er, maintenance and so we can do a couple of days of glorified yard/hurricane work for, as Ben likes to proclaim him, "the legendary Rex 'Wrecks' Bell." It's like doing yardwork for Bob Dylan or Lucinda Williams, I guess.

Kisses, Jennifer