Every Super Neighborhood in Houston - Trip 10

It's been really hot in Houston. We generally are over - or at least flirt with - a 100+ degree heat-index every day. But even so, David kept bugging me to get out and do another bike ride. So we did a "short" 27 mile one and nabbed two Super Neighborhoods. See map.

David let me wear his cycling jersey just so I could check it out. I have to say, not having to wear a backpack definitely cooled things down.

We zipped through familiar neighborhoods and got a little turned around on the way to the first stop, so I decided to wing it. We came across this sign for #32 Braeswood Place:


Not my most attractive picture.

We again kind of winged it over to the Astrodome (which we could see almost all the way from where we stopped in Braeswood. We took a fun yet bumpy route along the bayou and then overshot our turn. We came to the back entrance of Reliant Center and the guard wouldn't let us cut through. So we went around to the Reliant Stadium side, hoping it would say "Astrodome" somewhere, but there was another guard station. So we rode allllll the way around to the east side of Reliant Center and the only sign we could see was actually on the Astrodome itself, way in the distance. We asked the guards if we could just go in to take a picture, and they said they couldn't let us, and even if they could, no photography was allowed (huh?). So we just took the best pic we could get using a cell phone camera:

Guards wouldn't let us get any closer

Even though it's blurry, you can just barely make out that it says Reliant Astrodome. Not to mention: I'm in front of the freaking Astrodome. So there you have it, #34 Astrodome.

So that was the last one for the day. Just for fun we rode back through downtown and along the Buffalo Bayou trail. It was getting pretty darn hot when we got back around 9:30am.

So my total is up to 270.1 miles and 58 out of 88 Super Neighborhoods.

Every Super Neighborhood in Houston - Trip 6

Trip 6 sucked. Let me tell you why. It's a long story.

A quick look at the map will show you how much of a mess it was (I'll throw the pictures in the map later). It was supposed to be 36 miles. It ended up being 51.5 miles.

It started with both people I was going to ride with canceling (both had pretty good reasons), so I had to do the whole thing on my own. It also started with a dead cell phone that I had to charge up a little.

Unfortunately all this meant I needed to bring my somewhat-heavy tripod so I wouldn't get nothing but face pictures, like Trip 1, and my nice camera as a backup in case my cell phone dies. I personally think my face is pretty, but I got a couple complaints about the lack of variety of the pictures.

I decided not to trek down to the bike lane on Lyons and just take Quitman all the way to "take 3" of Northside Village. Quitman actually turned out having a lot of room on the sides for cycling, so I think I'll make it a normal route when I need to go out this way. When I turned on Elysian, it really felt like a poorer neighborhood (see below)


I wonder how they keep them from running away/getting hit by cars?

I turned the corner to get to Northshore Redevelopment Center and saw a lot of homeless-looking people with garbage bags. When I got to the NRC, one of them was singing or yelling or something in my direction, so I decided it would be best not to take the time to whip out my tripod and good camera, so I snapped this one quickly with my cell phone and finally had #51 Northside Village.


I thought it was ironic that this building was for lease...

I went back down to Quitman and zig-zagged through Fifth Ward (where I saw two more Fifth Ward signs I never saw before, so I continued kicking myself for missing this the first time). I crossed I-10 and went the wrong way on Market Street (I was supposed to cross further east). Luckily, I ran into this post office just before the edge of the Super Neighborhood and got #56 Denver Harbor / Port Houston.


Nothing really special here, just a post office

Here is where it went downhill. Up until this point I felt like I could ride forever. Then the nonmoving train happened. I waited at the tracks (while checking my map) for about 5 minutes, then decided to go up to the freeway because it looked like the feeder went under the tracks. When I got up there, I found that the feeder actually dead-ended at the tracks and that in order to go underneath the tracks, you had to get on and off the freeway.

I seriously considered doing that, but my better judgment advised me against it. I even considered throwing my bike between the cars and climbing over, but my better judgment advise me against that as well. I rode to where the feeder dead-ended and started looking for an alternate route, because the train was still 100% completely stopped. It seemed the only way around it was to drive alll the way down Wayside to Clinton. If I didn't need to hit Pleasantville, this wouldn't have been so bad. Just as I was about to head out, the train started moving! (Elapsed time about 20 minutes). I rode down to the original crossing, because that crossing would be clear sooner than the one I was at.

When I got to the crossing, the train stopped, again. This time the end was only two cars away, so I hopped off my bike and carried it around. Two other cyclists who were stuck there had the same idea. When I turned around to look at the train, I saw this weird sign on one of the cabs:




"Do Not Hump"

Apparently they have a train humping problem... Anyway, after that bit of pansy time, I was on my way to Pleasantville.

Pleasantville was a bit of an anomoly. I was riding along, completely surrounded by factories and warehouses, and then all of a sudden, I was in a really nice little 50s neighborhood, complete with a run/bike trail. I pulled out my trivia printout and found out that Pleasantville was just that... formed after WWII and maintined their identity as a neighborhood despite warehouses popping up everywhere. I went to Pleasantville Library and found it had a bad word tagged on it, so I went up half a block to the Pleasantville Elementary school to get #57 Pleasantville Area.


I have an eye on the tiger

After leaving Pleasantville, I was out on the East Loop in a very indusrial-looking area (again). When I hit I-610 I knew I missed something. I looked at my map and apparently this truck docking area was called "Industrial Way" on google maps (see below). It didn't look like a street to me, but it was better than riding on the feeder with no sidewalk, so I cut through it.


Industrial Way

It wasn't much further after when I turned on Mississippi, went under the freeway, and was in #59 Clinton Park / Tri-Community


The elementary school across the way was for lease...

After taking the Clinton Park photo, I went through the Tri-Community area up to Market Street. It was a really really weird layout for a neighborhood (take a look at the map while I explain this). There were 50-foot high levees on either side of the road, and the entire neighborhood was in some sort of weird levee-valley. There was one main road that went all the way through, then each side street was a dead end. The history page says the neighborhood was settled by black men to work at the Port of Houston, and is still predominantly black to this day. It also said that "Large holding ponds containing materials dredged from the Houston Ship Channel are located adjacent to the residential areas. The high earthen dikes surrounding the ponds are distinctive forms on this flat coastal plain. The wetlands created by these dikes offer open space that permanently buffers many residences." Interesting!

Ok, now comes the downhill slope part of my trip. I spent about 2 hours and 15-20 miles in detours just to get the Northshore neighborhood.

It all started when I trusted Google that the name of this park was North Shore park. When I got there, I found that it was called something completely different. I remember checking Google Street View and seeing a sign. While I couldn't make out the words on the sign, it looked like it could have been Northshore. I don't remember what it was called, but it started with an 'S.'

I figure since I'm in the area, I would give the bike path in Herman Brown Park a try, since I was pretty sure it went through to Maxey Road, so I could look for something else that says Northshore on it. While biking through the park, I called Pam and she gave me some info on the best place to find something that says Northshore on it. Turns out the park does not exit to Maxey, so I basically rode aroundin a circle and exited very close to where I entered.

I tried to get over to Maxey, but the roads kept pushing me towards the freeway, until I actually got to the freeway. Where the bayou went under the freeway, there was a bridge on the feeder with no sidewalk. So I had to walk my bike across the bridge, staying as close as I could to the edge, with cars zipping past me at 50-60mph. As soon as I crossed the bridge I took myself back into the neighborhoods and out to Maxey Road.

I took Woodforest out to Uvalde and saw a bus sign that said Northshore on it, so I took a picture as a last resort. I try not to take photos of road signs or bus signs because 1) it makes it too easy, and 2) I don't consider those to be in the super neighborhood, but rather going through the super neighborhood, if that makes sense. Still determined to get something that says Northshore on it, I rode down Uvalde.

Then I found it, at long last, #58 Northshore was complete with Northsore Marine, on the far eastern edge of the map.


This is a mix of really tired and estatic.

On the way back up to Uvalde, I saw Northshore Auto parts :-/ The sign was blocked by a tree the other way and I rode right past it.

Since Uvalde was a busy road with no sidewalk, I tried to take neighborhood roads, but it proved difficult and I ended up on Uvalde anyway. I took a left on Wallisville, picked up a headlight for our car at the auto parts store there, and then stopped for lunch.

The place I stopped for lunch was the highlight of my entire trip. It was a little trailer called "Tacos y Pollos 'El Ray'". You could order one of two items: a bifsteak taco (con y sin queso) or half a chicken. I got two tacos with cheese for $2.50 and they were the best tacos I have had in my life! It came with fajita beef, seasoned to a perfect spicyness, and montery jack cheese. Then you got to put onions and cilantro on it along with a home-made green sauce. And it was all on a hand-made tortilla. It was extremely yummy!

The next leg had even more problems, as there was heavy heavy construction at Wallisville and Lake Houston Parkway. It looked like they were building an overpass. They had all traffic go on a two-lane road with no shoulder, and I tried my best to ride along it, but cars were getting very close to me at 50 mph. I finally got off that part and got #54 Hunterwood.



They must have had high vacancy rate, they were advertising $100 first month and no deposit.

There were no construction workers around, so I took the beat-up closed road back to Wallisville. Other than a 2 foot drop halfway through that I had to step down, it wasn't that bad. By this point, however, I was feeling a little sunburned and very dehydrated. I picked up a gatorade from the conveinence store and continued down the horrible Wallisville sidewalks.

Next up was my horrible judgment call that cost me about 4 1/2 miles. The neighborhood was called El Dorado/Oates Prairie. I was a little skeptical about my scheduled stop at El Dorado Taco, because when I double checked the street view, it just looked like a gas station. I got to Wallisville and Oates and decided to ride up Oates to see if I could find any business with "Oates" on it. That was a big mistake. There was nothing but trucking companies along that road and not one of them was named after the street they were on. I continued alllll the way up to Hwy 90 then took Hwy 90 all the way back to the loop, then took Wallisville alllll the way back to where El Dorado Taco was supposed to be. And there it was... as part of the gas station. El Dorado Taco for #53 El Dorado / Oates Prairie.


You can see the look of self-loathing in my face right now.

So that was it! I got to go home! I was tired and thirsy so I bought another Gatorade and had some Gu for energy. I looked at my map and it looked like Wallisville turned into Libery, which turned into Quitman, which turned into White Oak near my house.

Turns out it doesn't turn into Liberty. I got to where it was supposed to, and it required going back riding up a massive train bridge, then turning around again to hit Liberty. I was too exhausted to ride up one of those hills, so I zig-zagged through neighborhoods until I was eventually forced onto the bike path on Lyons. Luckily, while on Lyons, I got to see where the proposed future site of St. Arnold's brewery was. I liked the fact that it's closer to me than the other one, and it's on a marked bike route.


Future site of St. Arnold's; it definitely needs a lot of work.

From there I took the bike route all the way home. I collapsed, drank a lot of water, and ate some food. At least now I know I can do a 50+ mile bike ride. Hopefully the 41 miler this weekend will feel like a walk in the park. I left at 7:20am and got back around 2:25pm. It was a very long day.

So now I'm at 36 out of 88 Super Neighborhoods. They are going to come fast and furious now.

Every Super Neighborhood in Houston - Trip 5

Ok, now that the excitement is over from Alabama, I can finally finish up my Trip 5 post from two weekends ago.

This trip was the best one we had ever had. Since we're doing the trips within some kind of close frequency, our endurance levels are definitely getting up there. At the end of this one, we even took a detour to try to pick up some missed neighborhoods because we had so much energy left.

Anyway, here is the route we took.

The day started out with a knock at the door. It was Drew. My alarm didn't go off. I apologized, rushed around and got ready, printed out maps, and we left about 20 minutes later.

We decided to remedy three mistakes we made on the last 30-miler. The first was the butt soreness. We both went out and bought $70 bike shorts to wear under our regular shorts (we're a little self-conscious). The second was sunscreen, but it was cloudy and threatening rain, so we didn't bother. The third was extra water, which we brought. And the last was to actually draw the neighborhood boundaries on my printed out map so that we won't have a repeat of last time of not actually being in the neighborhood.
It was long straight ride all the way down cavalcade before we turned on Hirsch, and it wasn't long before we at #48 Trinity/Houston Gardens.


So far no rain

As we get further and further out, we have to deal with fewer and fewer bike-friendly roads as we leave the marked bike path area. I anticipated this and had us drive through many neighborhood roads to stay off the main thoroughfares with fast vehicles and no room for bikes.

We went north to #47 East Little York/Homestead. It would have been very easy to snap a photo of Little York road, the major street through the neighborhood, but I was really trying not to do that. So we went all the way up to Homestead Barber Shop. One of the patrons or possibly the owner was standing outside. We threw the "scavenger hunt" excuse at him (which works very well) and he smiled and said go ahead and take the picture. I had a great impression of this neighborhood. It's and older, nicer, black neighborhood (82% black). This is basically where the poorer people from inside the loop come to when they can afford it.


I was very tempted to get a haircut at this point

Next we took some more neighborhood roads and went over our first of many 80 foot railroad crossing bridges. We went past an elementary school where East Houston middle school was supposed to be. Right as we were about to turn around and look again, I spotted this sign for #49 East Houston.


There was a guy behind me that didn't pay much notice

We took a wrong turn (but still in the right general direction) and it wasn't long before we were at the small community of #50 Settegast. I had planned to go the Settegast apartments further down, but a "Welcome to..." sign always gets more cool points.


I'm willing to bet that civic club isn't so new anymore.

So that was it. We hit the four that I had planned to hit and we started riding back to Cavalcade. The next picture shows you what much of the area near Cavalcade and Homestead looks like. Plus I had to get at least one pic with Drew in it.


There was an eerie sound coming from out west, like a whistling ghost or something

After we had a medicore breakfast at a donut place at Cavalcade, I said to Drew "I still have a lot of energy... we only have 6 miles left." He said, "yeah me too." I can't remember whose idea it was, but we decided that we were so close to 5th ward, that we would give it another shot. On the way into 5th ward we went over our 3rd railroad bridge for the day. At least this one had an awesome view.


Drew, trains, and Houston.


I love this town!

So when we were on our way all the way to nearly I-10 to see Fifth Ward Library, this sign caught my eye right as we entered #55 Fifth Ward. It wasn't too far from the library, but it did save us a few blocks. At this point it was getting really sunny and we regretted not listening to ourselves and putting sunscreen on. I ended up a little burned at the end of the day.


Take two successful

Not knowing exactly which way I was going to Northside, we went back over the train bridge (my legs were finally starting to get tired after that one) and took a left on Liberty. As we were riding along, trying not to stare at all the poor people that were loitering on the street and giving us dirty looks, we turned the corner and saw a crowd of people and flashing police lights. Given the location we were in, we assumed the worst. As we got closer, we saw a podium with a City of Houston and a bunch of well-dressed people sitting in chairs. It turns out it was a dedication ceremony for a new historical marker for "Frenchtown". I asked Drew if he wanted to stop, and he said sure. It was a really great presentation, with live Zydeco music and accounts of residents who had lived in the area nearly 80 years. City councilman Jarvis Johnson was there, as well as a representative from Sheila Jackson-Lee's ofice. It's a good thing we went back the bridge way!


Jarvis Johnson speaking


Right after the unveiling


Closer picture with all the politicians and organizers.

After the great break listening to music and watching a historical marker be unveiled, we continued on to find Northside Baptist Church. The first church we went to (where my map said Northside Baptist was) was actually called something else. Drew took the woman's way out and asked a guy there if he knew were it was. I have to admit it beat spending 5 minutes looking it up on my phone. We went down 5 blocks and saw it. Unfortunately, it was not in Northside Village, but it was still in Fifth Ward. I though Jensen Dr. was the border, but I was mistaken.


If only I knew, I wouldn't be smiling.

Even after we were riding back, we passed a construction sign that said Northside on it. But we didn't stop because I thought we already had it. We'll just have to do take 3 this weekend when we go out to the Galena Park area (way out east).

We took a break and grabbed a celebratory beer at Onion Creek on the way back, and were home just before noon, when it started really raining. The final distance for the trip was 31.4 miles

We're now up to a total of 29 super neighborhoods totalling 89.2 miles on the bicycle.

Next trip is trip 6 on Sunday, all the way to the furthest reaches East and back.

I've re-routed the proposed trips, because of our increasing fitness levels. So take a look at the changes as http://careyj.com/sn/ We're now down to 12 trips instead of 13.

Every Super Neighborhood in Houston - Trip 4

Well, it's a long time coming, but it's finally here. Trip 4. Now that marathon season is over, I'm hoping to do these at least every other week. Drew and I have all the way up to Trip 11 by the end of April scheduled.

I'm going to have to stop doing a regular google map, because there are too many points to fit all in one. You can still view the Super Neighborhood Map of the trip.

The day started off with Drew and I messaging each other that we both wanted to start about 30 minutes late, so that's what we did.

The first stop was an easy one, I drive by this sign almost every day. It's for #14 Lazy Brook/Timbergrove, right across from my grocery store.


Less than a mile from my house

The neighborhood was a lot nicer than our previous rides through impoverished Houston. The small two bedroom houses around here go for about $280k.

Our next stop was at Houseman Elementary, which is in the Spring Branch school district. We rode up and down and all around the school and didn't see a single sign that said Spring Branch ISD on it. Since it wasn't that far from my house, I wasn't going to freak out about having to pick it up later. We continued on down the route and came across the sign below practically smacking us in the face. I wasn't completely sure it was in #86 Spring Branch East, but when I got home, I verified that it was.


I hate deed restrictions almost as much as I hate zoning

We decided to take a shortcut on a busy road instead of taking the marked bike route. The shortcut saved us about a mile and a half, but we had to ride on a 40 mph road (where people go 50) with no sidewalk or shoulder. We survived, but I don't think I'll be doing that again unless I have to. In one of the detours from the main road, we went up to Langwood Baptist church, which was supposed to be in Langwood, but was actually a block away from Langwood. We're going to have to revisit this one in trip 6 when we go up to Willowbrook.


It took us a while to figure what the sign meant. Stupid church not being in Langwood.

Along the main fast road, I came to a screeching halt when I saw this place, since we were supposed to be looking for #4 Fairbanks/North Crossing. I wasn't sure if it was actually in Fairbanks, so we continued on to Dean Middle School, which had "Cypress Fairbanks" ISD in the title, like schools should have (stupid Spring Branch). So we got this one twice.


There was actually a guy hauling trash behind the fence, but he didn't seem to take notice of us


This is about the point where you can see me progressively getting more and more tired

After a serious wrong turn which added about a mile to our trip, we got to Carverdale Community Center in #3 Carverdale. We were starting to get really tired, because the 20mph winds were no longer at our backs, but we were going directly into it. You can tell from the next picture, I look a little more worn out.


"I can't believe we're only half way"


Drew pointed out this sign was more interesting, so I took a pic of him with it.

Back into the wind, we went south toward #8 Westbranch, intending to go into the subdivision and look for the Westbranch Recreation Center, but luckily found this sign early and saved a little bit of precious milage.


Is it over yet?

We definitely needed a break to recharge, so we rode down Gessner (on the sidewalk, because it was very very busy road) and looked for a place to eat. We found a little donut shop called Donut World, which had amazing donuts and good kolaches. The donuts were all warm and soft but not undercooked *drool*. Although we made the mistake of both of us getting orange juice, which was not a good choice with 12 miles into the wind to go.

We went back to kempwood, seeing Spring Shadows signs everywhere (but I didn't feel like stopping because I knew there was a school ahead and I knew it was in the superneighborhood). After getting nearly all the way through the super neighborhood, we came across Spring Shadows Elementary in #84 Spring Shadows.


Wildcats, rwar!

It was an uneventful quater mile to the next stop at #85 Spring Branch Central


Getting tired again.

And just for good measure, I got this one on the way back in Spring Branch East, just in case.

My sweat pattern looks like Kazakhstan

The ride home was brutal. We had a wrong turn which took us to Ikea (all in 20mph head winds). At some points it felt like if we stopped pedaling, we would roll backwards! But we finally made it, crashed on the couch with a lot of water, and that was it.

It took about 4 hours and 30.1 miles to pick up these 7 new Super Neighborhoods. Next trip is going to be roughly the same distance, but only 3 new Super Neighborhoods. It's also going to be back out in the east (low-income) area.

Every Super Neighborhood in Houston - Trip 3

This past Saturday was Trip 3 of Every Super Neighborhood in Houston, yay! Sorry it took so long to update this, I was sick earlier this week.

Here are Google Maps and Super Neighborhood Map for this trip.

As with all trips, each is longer than the last. This one was scheduled to be 22 miles.

We started out going the exact same path at Trip 1, down Heights and across Washington to Downtown. In fact, we passed the first three stops of that first trip. Once we got to downtown, I already got confused and missed our turn. After going a quarter-mile off-course, we turned around and went back towards Minute Maid Park. Once we crossed under the freeway, we were in #63 Second Ward. It didn't take long until we saw the sign I was looking for.


I wish it was open, I really need a haircut

The last trip was a ride through a predominantly black neighborhood, and this one was definitely predominantly hispanic. There was a Taqueria on nearly every corner (the entire street smelled SOOO good). But it was still pretty early, so we decided to wait and maybe hit one on the way back.

WhenI was hispanic, I mean really hispanic. For the most part, all the signs were in spanish only, no english. The only people we saw were hispanic. It was like we were transplanted to Mexico, only a little nicer.

The houses in this area were not in that good of a condition, but after going down Navigation for a while, the quality of houses and the neighborhood got better. After a fairly long, straight ride, we entered #82 Magnolia Park. We turned and crossed a busy street and stopped at the Magnolia Services Center for the photo.


I don't know what that face was for

We rode through a residental neighborhood and before long, we were in #88 Lawndale/Wayside. I got my photo taken in front of this cemetary, even though I wasn't completely sure about the boundaries (it wasn't a scheduled stop). I later found out it counted, woo!


They had two signs in two languages, one on each side of the entrance to the cemetery, this one was in spanish.


My 'victorious' pose

Since, at the time, I wasn't sure if the cemetary was actually in Lawndale, we continued down to where I knew Lawndale Dental was. We found Lawndale Dental, but right next door was a much better sign to take a photo of.


Mmm.... fried chinese seafood burger....

And then, I really screwed things up. First of all, I missed my turn to get to Pecan Park. We went a little bit too far, but for some reason, I thought we headed in the wrong direction altogether. So we turned around, passed Lawndale Fish Market, passed Lawndale Cemetary, passed the Bayou, and I stopped and checked my map again. I apologized deeply to Drew, and told him our stop was right around the corner from where we turned around before. So we turned around again, past the bayou, past the Lawndale Stuff, back across the railroad tracks, and was able to find the Iglecia de Cristo in #70 Pecan Park.


I think this is my "please don't kill me, Drew" smile

And so along we went. Next up was our last Super Neighborhood for the day, Greater Eastwood. Out of nowhere, the Eastwood post office pops up. I'm a little suspicious about it, since I thought Greater Eastwood started on the opposite side of the railroad tracks a few feet down the road. I took a photo, but I was going to continued to my scheduled Eastwood stop. Turns out I was right, leaving us with our first false alarm.


Faker! You're not in Greater Eastwood!

Drew made a crack about just trying to find a video store so we could take a photo of the box of Outlaw Josey Wales or something, ha ha. After we turned the corner, we saw a fun building that was called Drew's Corner. I ordered drew to pull over so I could get a photo of him in front of it. He uncomfortably obliged.


"That's right, it's my corner!"


"No one can park here but me!"

It was just a couple short blocks after the fun stop before we came up to Eastwood Academy in #64 Greater Eastwood. There were actually some students and parents outside, but they oddly didn't give much notice to the two white guys on bicycles taking a photo of their school. I guess that's a good thing.


Texas Recognized 2004/2007. Carey Recognized 2008.

So that was it for new Super Neighborhoods. We made a quick stop at Center Bakery for some breakfast tacos and oddly-shaped pastries. Then we stopped by Target on the way back to try to get a replacement tire repair kit for the one that broke last time. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have any. Then on our way out, we saw something that Drew had been talking about all morning, a Zeppelin in the sky! So here it is, one of only three working Zeppelins in the world. Sorry I couldn't get better photos, I only had my cell phone camera today.





Is it made of Led?

The final count for the day was 25.2 miles (roughly three miles longer than anticipated) and about 3 hours 15 minutes including the stops for breakfast and Target. At that rate, the final trip to Lake Houston will take about 8 hours. Even though we only had 5 new super neighborhoods, we "touched" on 9 total.

Next weekend we're going to be going through a mix of warehouse and suburban areas at about 30 miles. We're also going to set a record 8 new Super Neighborhoods in one day. Should be fun!