photo credit: verdi

Long distance relationships, while undoubtedly worth the effort, have their share of caveats. High phone bills, long drives, and tired Mondays all contribute to the stress of extended love affairs. Thank goodness however, on the trek from Austin to Houston, there is a welcome reprieve in Giddings, Texas: Buc-ee’s Gas Stations.

For those who have yet to experience this oasis, imagine if you will the following scenario: Having traveled down the highway late at night, filled with sadness at having to part yet again, you glance down at your gas gauge and notice it’s close to empty. You decide to stop, to refuel not only your vehicle, but perhaps yourself as well, but the thought of stopping at the gas stations you commonly pass makes your stomach turn: seedy, dirty stations with cobwebs on the gas pumps, unsanitary restrooms and unkempt personnel are not the respite you’re longing for. Then, you notice a billboard for a Beaver Crossing, and before you can formulate your quandary, you see another and another – catchy slogans, all touting a place named Buc-ee’s. Then, off to the distance, glowing lights reveal this ramblers refuge.

Intrigued, you venture forward…the outside of the station looks distinctly different, clean gas pumps (and plenty of them), manicured lawns, brick buildings, all welcoming you warmly into the Buc-ee’s store itself. Upon entering, you do a double, and then a triple-take…is this really a gas station? Was I really just greeted by an attendant who was pleasant, well groomed and polite?

The Buc-ee’s experience is a phenomenal one. Where else except the great state of Texas can you find a gas station that offers fresh sandwiches, homemade jerky, jams, jellies and gourmet snacks, meat smokers, souvenirs and hotel quality restrooms, besides proffering the traditional gas station fare. With 24 locations around the state, it’s possible (and highly encouraged) to plan your next adventure with strategic stops at the closest Buc-ee’s to your route.

[ed. This article was submitted months ago, but -- having never experienced a Buc-ee's -- I thought it sounded too much like an advertisement. I recently stopped by the new Buc-ee's in Madisonville, and now understand what all the hubbub is about. My apologies to sojourner.]

Tell me I’m not the only person who thinks that all the traffic police hired to “aid” the flow of traffic around the Galleria during Christmas aren’t making the problem worse! Yesterday, it took me 15 minutes to go travel between Sage and Post Oak on West Alabama because the several officers along the route were stopping traffic at random intervals to allow cars to exit the garages. I would bet that over the course of a day the unpoliced flow of cars down West Alabama and in/out of the garages exceeds that of the policed flow.

photo credit: Alex Steffler

t

photo credit: PhilipsPhotos

The Chronicle has a cool page where you can plug in a potential vanity plate to see if it has been taken. “DWT” has been taken. Sadly, “DRCHEM” is taken, but “MRCHEM” is not. I wonder if the world is telling me something.

Ah, man! How’d I miss the 24 Hrs of LeMons in Houston last weekend? Did anybody go? Wanna tell us about the experience and post some pics?

Since Hurricane Ike seems to be heading this way, I thought I’d post the story of my nightmarish evacuation experience for Hurricane Rita. Believe me, I have no intentions to evacuate this time.

So far as I know, I hold the land-speed record for driving from Houston to Dallas, Texas. My fiance, Angela, my parents, and I did it in a little over 44 hours. We started out at 3:45 on a Thursday morning. At the time, a category 5 hurricane named Rita was heading for someplace between Galveston Island and Matagoro Bay. Nobody knew what the hurricane would do to Houston — the mayor hadn’t even ordered voluntary evacuations yet — but we weren’t sticking around to suffer through the end of summer without air-conditioning, working toilets, and decent BBQ. So we packed our most cherished possessions, including two cats, into our two cars and headed inland. When we left, the online traffic report showed a stop-and-go mess on I45, but clear sailing out of town on 59.

That clear sailing came to an end just outside of town. It took us two hours to cover the distance between Houston’s two loops, a distance we normally drive in about 5-10 minutes. Once we got to the outer loop, Beltway 8, we were really wondering if the hurricane wouldn’t just clobber us on the freeway less than 20 miles from home.

I have never been stuck in gridlock like this before. It took us 5 hours to cover 9 miles of highway 770.

On the radio, people were calling in with their secrets for getting out of town in a hurry. Somebody called in just as we were approaching the beltway and said that I10 East, was wide-open all the way to Louisiana. So we decided to loop around on the beltway to I10, and shoot out towards Saint Charles. It was a good plan, and would have worked if Rita had gotten with the program. About the time we were approaching Beaumont, TX, the forecasters changed their predictions. Rita would now strike land further east at Beaumont. Civic leaders in the area immediately called for mandatory evacuations, and we suddenly found ourselves stuck in a traffic jam for life and death.

I grew up in Los Angeles. I know traffic. I had an hour commute through downtown L.A. to get to my high school. I have never been stuck in gridlock like this before. It took us 5 hours to cover 9 miles of highway 770. We would move the car a couple of car lengths, then turn it off for twenty minutes. We couldn’t run the car constantly because we were hearing on the radio that people and gas stations were running out of gas. It was a mid-September day in Texas, triple-digit heat, and we were without air-conditioning.

We weren’t happy, but the cats were worse. Cats aren’t amenable to travel in the first place. These cats were stuck in unbearable heat and frightened out of their minds. They weren’t eating or drinking. This all created a huge strain on my fiance who feared she might very well lose both of them before they even got a chance to face the hurricane.

One guy said he’d labeled some duct tape with this name and address and wrapped it around the tails of his cows so he could find them after the hurricane.

We thought about turning back or finding another highway, but the folks in the other vehicles assured us that the other highways out of here were as bad or worse. We weren’t familiar with the area, so we had no choice but to stick it out. The amazing thing was that everybody seemed in such good spirits. Some boys were tossing a football around while wait for the next opportunity to advance their car. People called into the radio station to tell jokes. One guy said he’d labeled some duct tape with this name and address and wrapped it around the tails of his cows so he could find them after the hurricane. Another guy called in offering his radar detector for sale. If you were interested, just wrap on the window of the red Tacoma pickup in lane two.

Eventually we got through to highway 105 and were able to make it west to highway 146. All lanes on 146 were open for northbound traffic, so things were at least moving in the direction of Livingston. We got to Livingston around 10 pm, and that’s when I first realized I was living in a Mad Max movie. There were just so many cars, trucks, and people milling about. Cars were parked on both sides of the road. They were either broken down or out of gas. Little communities had sprouted up in gas stations where people were camping out waiting for the next shipment of gasoline. Supposedly gasoline tankers were going to show up at 6 am, fuel up all these cars, and send them on to safety. I have no idea if that really happened.

“Yeeeeeeehhaaaaaaa!!!!!!” everybody just took off over the median and started down the other side of the highway. I felt like a cowboy in a stampede.

By midnight, we had passed through Livingston and made it back onto highway 59 North. 59 had the same bumper-to-bumper traffic we’d been dealing with all day. Throughout the day, we’d been hearing reports about how citizens had taken it upon themselves to impose contraflow traffic on 59. To outsiders, that might seem to be a drastic measure, but it’s very Texan. Since moving here, I’ve learned that traffic laws aren’t absolute; they are prudent advisories except when they aren’t. So it didn’t surprise me at all, when a few good ol’boys decided to instigate their own contraflow on 59 that night. It started with a police car running down the other side of the freeway escorting a few buses. People around us seemed to take that as an invitation, and “Yeeeeeeehhaaaaaaa!!!!!!” everybody just took off over the median and started down the other side of the highway. I felt like a cowboy in a stampede. Cars charging down the highway without any motivation but north. Occasionally, we’d encounter the unfortunate driver who thought he might slip by in the other direction. He would flash his headlights at us in protest, but eventually realize that a column of cars was in his lane and there would be no arguing.

Continue on to Day 2…

I’ve been meaning to hitch a ride in one of these cool new green electric cars that are roaming midtown and downtown. They’re run by a Houston-based startup called REV Houston. Apparently, they’ll take you anywhere in the downtown/midtown area for free–all they want in exchange is tips.

I’m happy to see more public transportation in Houston. Especially cheaper and greener transportation. I am, however, a little concerned about REV’s legal troubles. The city has been ticketing REV for operating a taxi service and electric vehicles without a license. REV argues that they’re not a taxi because they don’t charge fares and their cars only go 25 mph. Sorry, REV, I don’t buy it. But I wish you luck in getting the city ordinances changed. I’d love to see your service and others like it cover the entire inner loop!

The Chronicle has more.

photo credit: ultramega

This is good news! Apparently Mayor White has a plan to remove 800 billboards from the city streets by the end of this year. The 100th billboard was removed last Thursday. I’m glad to hear these eyesores are going away.

Now if only we could bring down those big billboards sitting on the highways. Unfortunately, they’re protected by federal laws for reasons I’m afraid to ask.

There was an amazing 50-minute car chase through North Houston this afternoon that ended when the fleeing pickup hit a parked car. The driver of the pickup jumped out of the car and tried to run away, but was hit head-on by one of the pursuing police cars. It didn’t look like the driver was injured too badly since he was able to limp to the back of a squad car.

photo credit: pusgums

I wanted to address a trend I’ve noticed developing in Houston over the last couple of weeks: cyclists riding in the middle of the street.

I’m a big fan of cycling. I used to be an avid road and mountain biker. I’ve had my fair share of road rash, and I once broke my arm going endo on my mountain bike. When I was growing up, I cheered on Greg Lemond, Miguel Indurain, and Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France.  And I once spent three weeks living out of saddle bags while cycling around France.

It’s also understandable that as gas prices have risen, more and more people have taken to riding a bicycle to work. It’s good for the environment too.

My problem is that on four occasions in the last two weeks, I’ve encountered cyclists riding not just in the middle of their lane, but in the middle lane of a multi-lane street. Rather than sticking to the right side of the street, these cyclists were riding as if they had a right to ride in whichever lane they pleased.

Not only is this dangerous, it causes a whole mess of traffic problems as cars try to get around the cyclist. This morning, a lady was riding her bike slowly down Fannin during the morning commute into the medical center. Fannin is particularly narrow through Hermann Park, and she was taking up an entire lane. Traffic backed up as all the cars in her lane had to merge into the next lane, yet she was oblivious to all the trouble she was causing.

Sharing the road means that cars and bicycles need to be considerate of each other.

I’m going to give these riders the benefit of the doubt and assume they’re not familiar with the rules. Yes, bicycles are a vehicle. Yes, we’re supposed to share the road. But sharing the road means that cars and bicycles need to be considerate of each other. Bicyclists should try to ride as close to the right side of the street as possible, and they should pay attention to what’s going on around them. If they’re fouling up traffic, they should cut over to a less busy street. It’d be safer for them anyway.

I wish Houston was a better town for cycling. There’s nothing we can do about the weather, but I wish there were more designated bicycle lanes and that drivers were more aware of cyclists on the road. Thoughts?

UPDATE 1: Here’s a great resource for those commuting by bike.

UPDATE 2: Here’s a map of the bikeways through town.

This sign is so dumb it’s funny. The speed limit here is 30 mph, and I don’t think anybody driving up to this sign for the first time at that speed can figure out what the heck they’re supposed to do. There are three lanes on Fannin approaching this sign, even though it only shows two. That little lane way off on the left side of the road is obscured by the Metro platform I’m standing on to take the picture. So if you need to make a left, it doesn’t look like there’s any place for you to go except on the tracks. But then there’s that no driving on the tracks sign below.

Fortunately, nobody seems to pay any attention to the sign: they realize that the lane abruptly ends and they find a gap in the next lane over. The only people that get in trouble are those trying to turn left onto Hermann, and I’ll bet nobody even tries to do that anymore.

This kind of nonsensical signage is typical of the convoluted traffic solutions Metro devised when figuring out how to run the light rail through the medical center. Remember what a disaster the first months of the light rail were? There were 63 accidents in the first year of operation (25 times the national average for light rail!). They reworked the signage in the Medical Center how many times? Now that Metro is planning to expand Houston’s light rail system, I wonder if they’re really up to the task?

On a related note, there’s a post over at the Gulf Coast Institute about a town in Germany that is trying to improve pedestrian safety by removing signs. Without signs, they say, people will pay more attention to their driving. That might work in Germany, but I don’t know if it’ll work here. Our signs are already ignored.