Galveston Bay (Kemah, Texas)

We continued the next day, March 6, on I 10, passing through southern Louisiana and crossing into Texas. We see by the off ramp markers that it’s close to a thousand miles to the western border of Texas. Our destination is the Galveston Bay area which is approximately 100 miles west of the eastern border of Texas. We lived on the Galveston Bay from 1967-1969. John was employed at the Johnson Space Flight Center and Pris taught at two local high schools.

There are no convenient state parks in the area so it was another private RV park. This one we liked. The Kemah RV Park had sites that were spaced fairly reasonably apart, had large oak trees and was not close to any major road and was quiet.

We spent one day visiting the Clear Lake/NASA communities of Clear Lake, Webster, Nassau Bay, Kemah, Seabrook and La Porte. It was fun tracking down our old residences and haunts. The area has grown tremendously since we left. We particularly enjoyed the Kemah area with its boardwalk and outstanding seafood restaurants. This area is known for its boating and fishing. The fish market that we use to buy our shrimp from for 75 cents a pound is still down on the bay.

We drove north of La Porte, approximately 10-15 miles, to visit the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. This is where Sam Houston defeated Mexico’s Santa Ana to gain Texan independence from Mexico. This battle occurred on April 21, 1836 and was concluded in less than 20 minutes. The battle cry was “Remember the Alamo”, which had fallen on March 6. There is a 570 foot limestone obelisk marking the spot. It is said to be the world’s tallest poured concrete column. See the photo.

This entire area (upper Galveston Bay) has lots and lots of oil refineries where they produce our cheap (?) gas. Large oil tankers transport the oil down Galveston Bay to Galveston and out into the Gulf of Mexico.

Galveston Bay (off of LaPorte) is where John and Pris first learned to sail and where they owned their first sailboat-a Flying Scot. John was racing the boat even in those days. We remembered a sail down to Galveston with Jane and Jack M. where we sat adrift with no wind and sweated in the Texas humidity.

We enjoyed meeting up with Marcy and Jack F, friends from our days in the area. We spent a wonderful evening with them at their lovely home on the water, and then a dinner at their yacht club. We were surprised to hear that they do their touring of the country on motorcycles. They are more adventurous than we are.

John enjoyed a lunch with Mark C, a friend from JPL/JSC days and more recently activities in the American Astronautical Society.