Last night’s colors from “The Pleasure Pier”!

What a difference a day makes!Yesterday’s warm sunshine and light cool breeze off the water was replaced with a blistering cold wind out of the north and no sun to warm the morning.  Pedaling hard into the wind could not warm us up in the four mile distance to get to the ferry that would take us to the Bolivar Peninsula.

Our wait for the ferry was just long enough to snap a few pictures, before heading across the channel that links the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston Bay.  Inside the warmth of the ferryboat, we met Rick; filled with great info about the area and the affect of both Harvey last year and Hurricane Ike ten years ago.  He pointed out the “innovative” concrete ship that did not make it far from it’s berth and how the color of the water here was not as blue, as further south (Padre Island) due to the proximity of the Mississippi River.

Almost an hour after arriving at the ferry dock, we disembarked on The Bolivar Peninsula; wide at this western end and the only homes perched near the water in the distance.  Between the ferry and the wind, we had only traveled ten miles in two hours; it was going to be a long day.  As the island narrowed, we got a true taste of the character of the east part of Galveston County; not as polished as Galveston.  This is the area that really took the hit from Hurricane Ike ten years ago with a lot of empty property for sale.   Vacant slabs still show the destruction (this is where the most dramatic photos of the hurricane came from).

After a ten mile stretch of homes and interesting, splashy and creative (a drive-up coffee shop) businesses, we had a long straight stretch of flat land, only occasionally sprinkled with homes. Right next to an oil field was this very extravagant new development, selling million dollar homes.  This little gem rents for about $750. a night!

We were amazed with how low lying the entire area is; a two foot rise of the sea would flood everything.  New construction was obvious by the elevation, this is the high school.

Homes disappeared as the peninsula narrowed, giving full view of the shrimp trollers we hoped were catching our dinner.

Shortly after noon our road took a turn directly into the wind.  Can’t say we had enjoyed the wind just on our shoulder, but we definitely did not enjoy it directly in our face.  This was a good time to take a lunch break.  A half hour later we were back on the road to face the wind and another tall two mile bridge over a shipping channel.  We much prefer traversing these channels via a ferry, but you cannot beat the view.  We were fortunate to be on top when a barge pushing quite the load, passed below us.  After the bridge was a long straight unprotected from the wind stretch of low land seagrass, brush and bayous.  We battled the wind as the wind battered our legs.  It was three in the afternoon, when we finally saw our first stand of trees, hoping it was a sign that our town was in sight.  Winnie is small, but our approach was……colorful.  A quick stop for a cold beer to go and we were checked in by 3:45.

We had felt so good yesterday after our 52 mile ride, but today’s blow made our 55 miles a struggle; six hours of saddle time was an hour longer than yesterday.

We were richly rewarded with a full on Country Cajun dinner, Chicken Fried Chicken with gravy, fried Okra and a pile of Shrimp of every flavor (maybe not as many as Gump named)……all Good!