September 29, 2010

Riding In Contemplation


8/27/2010- 165 miles
 
This ride report is short and probably too much to the point.  The Ms. ended up going in to work this morning which left me up early to an empty, silent house.  After the usual blast of coffee and a quick look at the tube to see what the weather had in store for the day, I packed up the Cypress 86er and headed out.  No plan, no place in particular to ride to, I just knew I wasn’t gona sit around the house and be a TV zombie today.  Reaching Barker Cypress Road the world was in full swing. Traffic congestion was in full swing for the usual school morning rush madness. That made grabbing some fuel and getting out of town a top priority.  With that completed I cruised west out FM529 into the cool morning air and contemplating where would my journey be to today. Bellville? Nope. Maybe San Felipe? Too far. Anderson? Been there to many times. Pulling on the cruise control at a comfortable 65mph, a thought came to mind.  A run by the father-in-laws, 1488 ranch would be a good ride. Yep, that'll be the first point  to drive to and figure the rest out from there.The ride through Waller on Hwy 362 was peaceful with little to no traffic. Turning west on FM1488 the run past the ranch proved that neglect had taken its toll on the place. But I guess that can be expected when no one’s been there for several months. Ranching ain't never been something you can do at your leasure or in between out of state vacations. But I can't complain, it's been as source of extra money for about four years for me. Continuing out 1488 I came upon a Historical Marker sign just before Wyatt Chapel Rd.  Back at the beginning of this summer I started a haphazard ride plan to visited and photograph as many Texas Historical Markers as I could. So here was one more I could chronicle.  It turns out this marker is located at the entrance to the Liendo Plantation. History of the plantation can be found at this web site, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/LL/ccl1.html  
Let’s get back to the historical marker.  It explained that after the civil war General George Custer and his wife had spent time on this plantation.

 
                                                            

After some staging and photographs it was back out on FM1488 to US-290.  A few miles up 290 turning north on State Hwy 6, I remembered several FM (Farm to Market)roads that headed out west that I’d never been on.  I also remembered a sign about some sort of Texas Prison Unit out there.  So that became the next phase as I headed north, up Hwy 6. The first major street I came to was FM 1736.  Since I didn’t really have a planned route I turned left onto 1736 into lands unknown. This turned out to be a nicely paved country road with a few twist and turns and easy to ride at slower speeds without getting run over from behind. Just a little ways down 1736 there’s another Historical Marker for the Old Salem Cemetery. It describes interesting local history of the area.
  
                                                            
 
A couple of photos and a cool drink and I was ready for the road again. But wait, I hadn’t checked my anchor (cell phone) in a while so let’s see if the world even knows I’m alive. Yep, two missed calls from my lovely wife. a simple push of a button and I’m connect to the world again. Normally our conversations begin with the usual introductions, Hi Honey, Hi Babe”, and of course the mandatory questions, “What are you doing, where ya at”? But this time her tone of voice sounded a bit different, kinda hurting bout something. “I’ve got some very sad news and some good news”, she said. “Let me have the sad news first”, I replied.  She began to tell me the news of the death of one of our family uncles.  Seems last night he was out working on his ranch up in the Texas Hill Country and when everyone began waking up this morning no one could find him. After several hours of searching the ranch and pastures he was found dead underneath his (still running) tractor. The news seemed to hit me right in the core of my gut and I could hear her begin to tear up over the phone.  Even though I didn’t know him well the news of his death grabbed hard at my soul.  Our conversation ended in kind of a blur leaving me sitting numb on the bike. Never did get the "Good News". Wasn't real interested in it anyway! The rest of the ride through Brenham and out on FM 105 to Navasota was a mixed bag of thoughts and emotions.  Riding through Navasota I turned right on old Business Hwy 6.  I’d never traveled down this road so maybe the new sights and scenery would be help detour my mind a bit.  Something to take my mind off the tragedy which was unfolding this day.  I seemed to crawl out of Navasota not paying much attention to anything.  My mind was consumed with thoughts of the grief and shock our first daughter-in-law must be feeling righta bout now.  Getting to the intersection of Business 6 and the new Hwy 6, traffic congestion had begun to pick up and I wasn’t in any mood to deal with any highway jerks so I opted out for a slower, less conjested ride back into Cypress via FM 1736 east.  By now it had begun to get a little hot outside so a quick, short drink stop and maybe a road photo would do me some good at this point.

                        
 
I can’t say that I paid particular attention to anything for the rest of the ride in. Just my mind's contemplation of, “Why, How Come, Who’s Next, What’s Next, Why Him”?  I don’t know if I’ll every get the answers to those questions or see a glimpse of God's plan for us here on earth.  I’m sure its better that way.
A Heavy Heart in Gods Hand’s

Chigger

1 comment:

  1. Never knew that General Custer lived here in Texas. Sounds like a good idea to ride to different Historical Markers.

    ReplyDelete