Remembering

Texans drive like maniacs.

At 8:45 a.m. we headed toward San Jacinto on Interstate #45 to #610 to #10 East around Houston. Technically, it was rush hour going into the city; the cars wove past us, cutting in and maneuvering around each other, as well.

"I'm doing 70, and that's not fast enough," complained Andy.

"It's not the speed so much as the rude behavior," I said.

"Right," he answered. "It's a mentality of Get-Out-of-My-Way. I-Count-More-Than-Anyone-Else."
Independence Highway needed some serious cleaning up. A white egret stared into the muck by the side of the road. "He's fishing," I said. "He's looking for breakfast."
"Yeah, in that gunk," said Andy.

Later, once we drove by petrochemical company property, the road was spotless. I wonder what incentive prompted the private industries along Independence Highway to keep the public roadway clean.

"Welcome to the Lynchburg Ferry, blared the loudspeaker as we pulled away from the dock. "We ask that you turn off your engines and set your parking brakes."

"They must do this stretch by ferry, since it's such a long way around. It doesn't really pay to build a bridge, because the traffic flow doesn't justify the cost," explained Andy. At 9:30 a.m. there were only four cars coming across the channel.

"See, I spare no cost," said Andy. "I even take you on a cruise!"

"It's trying to clear up," said Andy. We walked the quarter mile around the reflecting pool at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Site. "I don't want to pay for the tower view until the skies clear." A couple more cars pulled into the parking lot.
In the museum we read about the history of Texas. The park and monument, dedicated in 1936, commemorated the centennial of the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, when Sam Houston's Texan Army surprised the army of Mexican General Santa Anna, killing 630 and capturing another 730 soldiers. Although Houston's soldiers had pleaded for a chance to avenge the deaths of about 200 at The Alamo, he kept retreating and waited for a strategic opportunity. When Santa Anna split his army in thirds to go after the rebels and moved far ahead of his supply columns, Houston struck. The interpretive sign credited the victory as one of the world changing battles of history. Defeat of Santa Anna led to the relinquishing of Texas to the U.S., as well as all or part of nine other states, a quarter of our country's territory. Even though Texas later seceded with other southern states during the Civil War, Houston remained firmly opposed to the division and sacrificed his governorship as a consequence. He died, never knowing we would be one nation, indivisible.

We waited for blue sky. The breaks looked promising. "Let's drive around the park," suggested Andy. "Then we can walk part of the Marsh Trail."

"We'll have to watch for alligators," I said.

"Here? Alligators here?" he argued.

"Read the sign," I said.

"Oh," he answered.

Mud was more of a problem than alligators though, and we avoided all the little mounds chucked up from the tunnels of crawdads.

The pathway seemed clear, but underneath the vegetation all sorts of debris had collected.

"I'll bet it is remnants of Hurricane Ike from 2008," said Andy. "This area was probably under water."
Petrochemical companies and oil refineries puffing smoke lined the marshland along the horizon. But the sign explained that since the 1980's and 1990's, a new awareness of the environment by Texas Parks and Wildlife had prompted greater marsh preservation efforts in the San Jacinto River tidal area. We walked back toward the monument. Barges guided an oil tanker toward the refineries.

"Now I understand why the ferry," said Andy. "A bridge would have to be incredibly high to accommodate a tanker like that. It would cost a fortune."

Walking around Battleship Texas, commissioned in 1914, gave the clouds more time to clear. The Texas is the only surviving battleship to have served in both world wars, the last surviving Dreadnought, the predominant type of 20th Century battleship with two revolutionary features: an "all-big-gun" armament scheme and steam turbine propulsion. The Texas served as flagship for the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II. I counted the anti-aircraft guns, 42 placements on deck; they were added after World War I when aircraft from above became a greater threat than torpedoes in the water.

San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Site included graves of the nine men killed or mortally wounded during the battle with Santa Anna. Legend has it that during this battle, soldiers screamed the famous rallying cry, "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!" Colonel Sidney Sherman, commander of the Second Regiment of the Texas Volunteers, usually gets credit for the famous call to arms.

When we returned to the monument the third time, the skies stretched deep blue and the two busloads of eighth graders had departed. We paid our admission and rode the elevator to the top at 567 feet, the world's tallest memorial tower with a 220-ton concrete Texas star overhead. From the observation deck, we saw Houston, the battleship, refineries and an expansive marsh.

"We'll walk the boardwalk through the marsh as far out as it goes before we leave," said Andy, pointing to a tan strip through the bayou. "We can look for marsh birds."
The ferry crossing, a two-minute trip, involved a much longer wait. Two full trips of cars ahead of us and then a container ship and two double oil barges pushed by two tug boats in the channel stalled our crossing. But what a lovely day to watch the world go by!
Then, once loaded with ten vehicles on board, our ferry stopped part way across to allow a double barge with liquefied natural gas to pass in the channel. Pelicans swooped overhead and a tug pushing a barge crossed paths with Lacanau Marseilles, an oil ship, going the other way. Finally, the horn sounded, and we headed across, rocking gently over all the waves.

Waitress Laure served us a special Mexican dinner at Molina's in Houston with college friend Bob, whom we hadn't seen in 25 years. It was an evening of reunion, remembrance and reminiscence.