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Riding the Ferry to Lone Star Rally
Riding the Ferry to Lone Star Rally
By: Ken Foster
12-30-09
We had been making plans for several months to attend the famous Lone Star Rally. My cousin Steve was driving in from Wisconsin, meeting my wife and I in Dallas where we intended to ride through the scenic roads of east Texas to Houston meeting my brother David and his wife Melinda somewhere along the way. But Mother Nature doesn’t seem to care about how much effort has been put into any planning as she does what she wants.Because of wind and rain Steve didn’t get to our house until late Thursday afternoon. The weather reports all agreed that the rain and cold was going to continue through Friday. A quick decision was made to load my bike into the trailer beside Steve’s and we were on the road. Forget about the nice scenic ride as we were now driving south on I-45 towing the bikes. A quick call and our plans were to meet David and Melinda at our parent’s house in Spring.
Friday morning we unloaded the bikes and moved the truck and trailer out of the way so my parents had access to their vehicle in the garage. All packed up and dressed for the weather the five of us mounted and said goodbye to our host. It was cold and the streets were still wet when we left their house. All three bikes had been detailed in the days prior to the trip and before we could get out of the subdivision they already had lost their shine. Oh well its only elbow grease and they’ll cleanup again, at least we’re finally on our way!
But David still had a plan to provide an extra treat. He took the lead and we worked our way over to then around beltway 8 to the east side of Houston. Then took I-10 east for a short distance and turned on Crosby-Lynchburg Rd. We came to a stop at the end of this road at a ferry landing. This was neat, as we’ve never taken a bike on a ferry before.
During the short wait for the ferry to arrive for one of its many launch’s of the day we read the historic landmark sign and learned the original ferry crossing was a short distance away from this one and was opened in 1822. It played a vital role in 1836 by helping as many as 5,000 Texas settlers escape the oncoming Mexican Army led by Santa Anna after the massacre at the Alamo. Right across the Houston ship channel is where General Sam Houston leading the Republic of Texas troops decided to stop and fight. The battle of San Jacinto is where the Mexican Army was defeated and Santa Anna captured. This battlefield is known as the “Birthplace of Texas” and the Lynchburg ferry will carry us west across the Houston ship channel to Battleground rd. There we find both The San Jacinto Battleground and the Battleship Texas.After the ferry docks the crewman allows us to board first. Once stopped all five of us get off for pictures and quickly realize it might be safer if we stay on the bikes to keep them from moving with the lurching of the ferry. The last thing any of us want to do is see our bikes lying on their sides on the deck of the ferry. The crossing is only 1,080 feet across and only took about six minutes. I don’t remember what the temperature was but I do recall it was very cold crossing that open water with the wind blowing. Of course we were up front and received every icy blast of salt water as the ferry cut through the waves.
Approaching the west side I suddenly recall every trip I’ve been on a ferry with ended with a banging of the ferry against the dock. With the wind and the tide we drifted against the port (left) side several times before bouncing into the dock head-on. This impact was easily hard enough to have thrown all bikes forward off their side stands if we hadn’t been seated and holding the brakes.
Again the crewman directed us off the ferry first and we quickly rode to the Battleship Texas for a needed break. Once relieved and refreshed we looked around the massive ship until it was time to get on the road again. Our hotel was on Nasa Rd 1 and we managed to check in right at 2:00 pm. We still hadn’t eaten lunch and decided to get something at the rally. So after unloading our gear we headed south on I-45. It was about an hour later when we finally gave up on finding a place to park and rode to The Poop Deck for a refreshment and discussion about the day so far. But that’s another story.
