This ride was on an absolutely gorgeous day. We started out in the upper 40s and ended in the lower 60s. It may be chilly for just standing around, but it was just about perfect for cycling.
We took a path I've taken many times before when heading west. The first stop was actually a mistake stop in Spring Branch Central, not Spring Branch West:
And here is the picture from Trip 11b, completed in mid-January, which was a make-up trip solely to pick up the #10 Spring Branch West that I missed. It was completely uneventful and didn't deserve it's own writeup, but here is the photo:
[picture to be uploaded tonight]
We took a left on an extremely busy road (Gessner) and was looking for the Memorial Hermann Hospital to pick up #16 Memorial, but instead saw a sign for the Memorial City Mall across the way, which had a much better angle and light:
After taking a nice ride on a fairly fast road all the way through Memorial, past the beltway, we arrived at Highway 6, the furthest distance we've ever gone (as the crow flies). We crossed I-10 and found a giant duck. I took a photo to add to the "me and giant birds" collection:
Then just a block north was our furthest-point destination of #9 Addicks/Park Ten:
Went down highway 6 a bit (an extremely busy and scary road), and zig-zagged our way down a fairly large detour to pick up #17 Eldridge/West Oaks.
I scoured the internet for something that said Eldridge on it that was closer to our intended route, but couldn't find anything. Likewise, when we were at Eldridge and Briar Forest, two fairly large roads, there were shopping centers everywhere, and not a single peep of the word "Eldridge."
A quick jaunt down Briar Forest Drive got us to the Abbey in #18 Briarforest:
We took a quick breather at a convenience store nearby and crossed Westheimer into a very commercial area, and then at Wilcrest and Meadowglen we found #19 Westchase:
Then we barely clipped #20 Woodlake/Briar Meadow, but they were nice enough to put a sign up for us:
After zig-zagging through the Galleria area, avoiding major roads because it's one of the most traffic-ridden areas of Houston and it was getting to be Sunday afternoon (and so all the shoppers and post-church eaters were everywhere). Then, at the very far edge of the neighborhood, we got #21 Greater Uptown:
And after that it was a pleasant ride home on a pleasant day through Memorial Park, with the exception of the flight of stairs we had to carry our bikes up because of construction. Not the best thing when you've already gone 35 miles!
Stay tuned for next week, where we will be doing a very long and very straight ride down to Clear Lake. 66 down, 22 more to go!
