Ahh.. Houston! "The City of Light"

I am fairly certain that:
A.) I have finally crossed the 1,000 mile mark (only took 12 days)
                            and
2.)  new home office:  Houston.  I have arrived.

I woke early this morning (5:45 am) to get a jump on the ride to Houston/Austin/San Antonio.
Anxious to get the day started, I raced to the window to check the weather.  (Those of you who have seen me in the pre-dawn hours are well aware of my near terminal velocity at that time of day .))  )

And, lo and behold:  rain.  Buckets.  Gallons.  As far as eye could see.
So far, this trip seems to be entirely be defined by rain.  Out of the 12 days since leaving Atlanta, its rained 7 of them.
Yesterday morning it ranged from light mist to monsoon and then back again.  Ever the trooper, I walked thru the French Quarter in the rain to find coffee and get my groove going.  Alas, no groove was to be found.
Instead, I had a brief but intense argument with my GPS about exactly who was in charge of this trip and, "NO, I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE I 10!  I WANT TO TAKE THE SCENIC ROUTE!!  WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS DEMON COMPUTER!!!"
After, convincing Mr. Garmin that 190 west was, in fact, the right way to go, I took a wrong turn in the pouring rain and ended up I 10 headed towards Morgan City.
Believing my GPS possessed by the devil, I quickly exited I 10 at 90 west (roughly a 3 mile loop from the hotel) and pulled over into a church parking lot thinking that an exorcism may be order.  And that's when I realized that I had entered Morgan City, Kansas - not Morgan City, LA, into the GPS.

I am not a smart man.

EPPdF - 0.  GPS-1.  

The ride out of New Orleans was bad.
Find a moderately uncomfortable chair in your home, turn a squirrel fan on high and place your head inside.  Now straddle a toaster oven while a friend pees on you.  That's pretty close to my trip yesterday.  If you could have someone kick you in the spine every .83 seconds you would really get a taste of road conditions in the fine state of Louisiana.

The old steel bridge at Morgan City/Port Morgan.  It was the only good shot I was able to get on from ride from NOLA to Houston.  I stood on the back of a flatbed trailer to try to get over the chain link fence - almost made it.

After taking 90 west in a wide arc running thru Houma, Morgan City (not the one in Kansas), and New Iberia, I realized that the scenic route was not terrifically scenic and the landscape predominantly consisted of truck stops, abandoned store fronts, and fast food joints. 
Remember what the psychic-Celtic-Tarot reader in Jackson Square told me about being prepared and knowing where you want to go before you go?  Those words were running thru my mind as I stood outside a Starbucks in New Iberia wondering why the heck I had been so insistent on avoiding I 10.
With the shame and grief of several wasted hours of riding thru sporadic showers I headed to the interstate for a flat out, headlong run to Houston, still several hours away.
I covered just shy of 400 miles in total and checked into a hotel on the west side of Houston at roughly 1:00 AM.  Thank God an all night Jack in the Box manager took pity on me and brought a burger and fries outside rather than make me ride thru the drivethru on the bike.
I sat on the curb jamming greasy fried potato products into to my head and talking to him about my trip.  Honestly, that burger was delicious.

Off to see cousin Anne.

The Black Labrador Pub in the Montrose district.

 I checked out of the hotel at one this afternoon and backtracked to downtown Houston to ride thru the museum district.  I'm not sure what I thought downtown Houston would look like or where I got that image but it was completely wrong. 

Houston, what I said and thought about you was wrong.  It was inconsiderate and I can admit that now.  I was way out of line, Houston.  I hope you can forgive me.  I'm sorry Houston, so very sorry.
It takes a big man to admit he's wrong and I am prepared to be that giant of a man.

Moving on..
It's gorgeous here.  Near the hotel,  http://www.hotelzaza.com/#index the streets are lined with oaks that seem to shade the entire city.  The turn-a-bout just out front has an enormous fountain  shooting plumes of water into the air.
It's stunning.

The view from ZaZa Hotel down Main St., Houston

The view from 6th floor room of ZaZa.

Cousin Anne came to meet me at The Black Labrador Pub in the Montrose district.  Oaks cover their patio where they have an enormous chess set for patrons to noodle around with.
I had the best Guinness of my trip so far - that double pour makes all the difference and bartenders in NOLA are not interested in learning.

Decided to stay in Houston for a day or two.  Cousin Anne is going to go museum hopping with me tomorrow - there's a museum of the funeral arts that might be fun.

Museum of Fine Arts

This hotel really cares for it's clients:

ZaZa thinks of everything!