The Hollow Men - Episode 30
Drew and Sam, in a homage to John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, make their own journey along the gulf coast of Texas.
Last week in Episode 29 Drew completes his Bachelor's degree, attends a few graduations, starts graduate school and contemplates imitating John Steinbeck in search of America.
The Hollow Men is the second collection of not quite true tales of Texas. If you have recently subscribed and like to read things from the very beginning feel free to start with The Cold Days of Summer, the first collection of not quite true tales of Texas. Each episode of The Cold Days of Summer and The Hollow Men contains a link to the previous and next episode so you can easily move through the story line.
Among the bent trees
Before we hit the road Sam and I planned our trip, a two week tour along the Texas Gulf Coast, taking back roads as often as we could and avoiding the big cities. We started our journey by driving to Winnie, Texas, a small town off of I-10 and west of Beaumont. From Winnie we would drive south along the coast until we reached Corpus Christi where we planned to spend a few days with Robert and Barry.
This was going to be a lazy driving trip. Each day would start with a short run, a good breakfast, drive awhile, find a nice local place to eat lunch, then drive some more, find a good local motel to spend the night and a place to have dinner. Then the next morning we would do it all again. If a place attracted our attention we might hang around for a day extra. We would pack light. Sam would take a collapsible water and food bowl, her leash, a large box of dog biscuits, her favorite blanket, a couple of toys, including her frisbee and a large bag of dog food. I would take a similar lightweight approach and planned to pack mostly shorts, golf shirts, t-shirts, some swim trunks, a pair of sandals, a good pair of running shoes, a pair of jeans, boots and a jacket if I had to dress up. I also decided to take my golf clubs, as you never know when you will find an interesting golf course along the way.
We left early on Monday, June 10, 1985 and arrived in Winnie at little after 2:00 pm. We found a local Best Western motel, checked in, dropped off our stuff, then headed out for a late lunch. After some good burgers at a local drive-in we stopped by the local grocery store to buy beer, ice and snacks for the evening. Back at the motel I asked the manager if Sam could swim in the pool. She said that would be all right and Sam and I spent an hour swimming and cooling off. By that time it was 5:00 pm so we dried off. It only took Sam a few shakes to do so, her hair shedded water, even if she was soaked to the bone. It took me a little longer and a towel to accomplish the same. We went back to our room, turned on the TV to catch the national and local news. I filled up Sam's food bowl and water bowl. After she ate, she hopped up on the bed and fell fast asleep.
The next morning Sam and I went out for a short run. After we got back I filled up her water and food bowls and she ate while I showered and got dressed. She was lying on the bed, just about to doze off so I decided to get me something to eat. I petted her, told her I would be back soon, put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on our door and walked out.
There was a McDonald's down the street so I settled for a quick breakfast and brought it back with me to the room. I bought an extra sausage biscuit as I figured Sam would like to share and she did. She got the sausage, I got the extra biscuit.
That morning we took our leave of Winnie. We drove to the Bolivar peninsula and rode the ferry to Galveston island. We drove along the seawall, found a nice, clean local motel, got ourselves a room and checked in. I changed into a tank top, swim trunks and sandals, grabbed Sam's frisbee, hooked Sam onto her leash and walked on the seawall. It was time to walk the beach.
Down on the beach Sam was in a new world. It was a new world for me as well. To see nothing but waves and water to the horizon was something I had never experienced. Sam's focus was more closeup. The waves confused her. We would walk along the tide's edge and Sam would see the waves rolling in. She started out barking at them but soon realized that despite her barking they were just going to roll in anyway. I took off her leash and tossed the frisbee down the beach. She chased after it, leapt up and caught it, gave it a good shake just to remind it who was boss, then trotted back to me. After a few more throws I threw one out into the water. She ran to the water's edge, hesitated for a moment, barked at the water and then dashed into the waves. She didn't catch the frisbee but bit it out of the water, shook it fiercely and brought it back to me. After I took the frisbee from her she gave a mighty shake and slung sea water all over me. I shook the water off me and tossed the frisbee back out over the water, this time a little higher so she would have more time to get under it. Sam immediately ran into the water, caught the frisbee, brought it back to me and got me wet again when she shook the water off. We did this a few more times until I thought she had enough exercise. I was getting hungry as well
Along the seawall was a mix of restaurants, from fancy dine-in restaurants to walk up places to get a burger or a hot dog. I settled for something in between, a place where Sam and I could sit outside, look at the gulf and have some good food and cold beer.
After lunch we walked back to our motel. I had to give Sam a bath to get the salt and sand off of her. After I toweled her off she shook the last of the water off, hopped on the bed and promptly fell asleep. I took a quick shower and joined her for a nap.
We went for another walk along the beach as the sun was setting. This time we walked along the seawall, a good fifteen feet above the beach. We walked far, the breeze was invigorating. Along the way we stopped at shops just to browse. One we lingered at had a small collection of books on Galveston. Most of the books were on the local and regional history. One caught my eye, a book about the 1900 storm in Galveston, something I knew nothing about. I skimmed the front and back cover and learned that the 1900 storm in Galveston was the greatest natural disaster in the United States. The island was flooded, over 6000 people died in the storm and Galveston was forever changed. I bought the book and Sam and I continued our walk. The sun had fully set when we stopped at a walk up place for a bite to eat. After we ate we went back to our room. Sam was ready for a long night's sleep and I was tired too but I spent a little time reading about the 1900 storm. In a tragedy of such size it can be hard to focus in on any single thing but of all the stories the one that affected me the most was the story of The Sisters of Charity Orphanage. Located on the beach at 69th street and Seawall, the orphanage faced the full brunt of the storm. Ten sisters and 90 children died. They were only three survivors.
I'm not a praying man, anyone who knows me knows that, but I did my best to ask that the lost souls of the 1900 storm had found some sense of peace. Around 10:00 I turned out the lights. Sam was hard asleep. I decided to see if I could join her. I wanted to be up before the sun rose the next morning.
We were up a good fifteen minutes before the sun rose the next morning. We walked down to the beach and found a good place on the sand to watch the sun rise. It was beautiful. Once there was decent light Sam and I ran on the beach. She would dart around me as we ran, running out into the water then running back in and barking as the waves chased her. After a good run we left the beach and got us some breakfast. After breakfast we drove to the Galveston Municipal Golf Course. I played with a couple of retirees. They were entertained by how Sam would walk to each shot with me, let me hit the ball and then walk along with me. They also liked her smile. While we played a light rain fell on the course, just enough to slow play up a bit. The course was a little worn, but I liked the layout and the gulf breezes definitely came into play.
After we finished our round we headed back to the hotel, cleaned up and went out for some dinner. Not that I'm ever a fancy eater, but with Sam I definitely tended to stick to the basic food groups. We found a good place to have a burger, fries and a beer and we were happy.
The next morning we went for another run on the beach, cleaned up, had some breakfast, loaded up the truck, checked out and headed back out on the road. We continued along the seawall onto West Galveston, across the San Luis Pass and into Surfside. Neither of us were hungry so we kept driving, into Freeport and onto highway 36 towards Brazoria and West Columbia. Once we got to West Columbia I drove around to see the sights, after all West Columbia was the first capital of the Republic of Texas so there is some history there. There are two main drags in West Columbia, highway 36 and highway 35. I took highway 35 east and as we headed out of town saw a large billboard for Columbia Lakes, a golf/tennis resort and subdivision.
Being curious I followed the sign and entered Columbia Lakes. From what I could tell it had a late 70's feel to it, lots of open land, lots of trees. I made an impulse decision, stopped at the resort office and rented a cottage for the night and the next day. Sam and I had plenty of room to stretch out in the cottage, it had a full bedroom, living room and a working kitchen. We unloaded our stuff and walked around the grounds. As we walked around the grounds and the course I noticed something strange about the trees. They were mostly old oak and pecan trees, tall and wide, some stretching fifty feet high and with trunks as big as four feet in diameter. What was strange was that most of the trees leaned, and most of them in the same direction. In some cases the lean was rather dramatic. I was amazed that some of them didn't fall right over.
It was now mid afternoon, the course look uncrowded so Sam and I walked into the pro shop, determined to play a round. The pro was a little surprised to see Sam walk in. I was surprised to see a large, large stuffed alligator hanging from the ceiling.
“That one was caught in the lagoon out near the 18th hole.”
“Really? Do you have many alligators here?”
“Probably hundreds, most of them are in the fishing lakes on the south side of the resort but there are several who make it into the lagoon around the cottages, condos and golf course. Most times they're not interested in people or animals, they just like to sun, but we have lost a cat or small dog or two over the years.”
We talked a bit more, about West Columbia, Columbia Lakes and the course. I paid my green fee and rented a cart after the pro told me it really wasn't a walking course. The course wandered across streets and through the neighborhood and at times the distance between tee and green was long. I drove the cart back to the cottage with Sam sitting next to me. She liked the commanding view she had of things while riding in the cart. Once I loaded my clubs we headed to the first tee.
I wasn't completely lazy, I only drove the cart on the cart paths so that usually meant I had some walking on every hole. Sam would join me on the walk to the ball and back. With the cart we were able to play very fast and finished our round in a little over three hours. After we dropped the cart off, we walked to our cottage and stopped at the cantina grill on the way. I ordered a double burger, fries and two beers. We ate outside. Sam ate one of the hamburger patties and her share of the fries.
After dinner, we walked back to the cottage and settled in for the night. Right before we turned out the lights to go to sleep I took Sam outside one last time. She sniffed the grounds while I looked around, then up at the sky. The star was filled with stars, more stars than I could ever remember seeing. I realized that for most of my life I had lived in places with light pollution. The street lights combined with the lights from the refineries washed out the stars in west Texas. In Austin, the lights of several hundred thousand people hid the stars from the skies. Here, with no refineries, only a few thousand people and Houston over an hour away, the stars lit up the night. It was beautiful and I was awe struck by the immensity of the stars and the sky.
The next morning we were up relatively early and went for a run along the front nine. Now that I was nice and sweaty we had breakfast at the cantina and sat outside so as not to offend anyone. After breakfast we went back to the cottage. Sam napped while I showered and got dressed for the day. At this point it was mid-morning and I decided to drive into town. Sam came along for the ride. We stopped at a little history museum that looked to be set inside a bank building. While I walked through the history museum Sam stayed in the truck with the windows down and a bowl of water on the floorboard. There was a light breeze and I found some shade to park under so she would stay cool.
The museum was small, but nice. There were a lot of pictures and quite a bit of information about the history of West Columbia. Like West Texas, West Columbia had experienced the boom and bust cycle of the oil and gas industry. Several of the photos were of the oil fields that had sprouted all around the town during booms earlier in the century.
As I was walking around, looking at exhibits and photographs one of the museum volunteers asked me if I had any questions. I did have one.
“I'm not from here, from West Texas so all the trees and green are new to me. I'm staying at Columbia Lakes and noticed that many of the trees, even very large trees, have a lean to them. Why is that?”
This is what she told me. “Hurricane Carla came through this area in 1961. Flooded Freeport and blew into West Columbia. Carla was a force 5 hurricane out in the gulf and a strong force 4 when it hit land and moved inland. Some trees fell over in the winds, which were over 100 miles per hour. But a lot of trees didn't fall, they just moved with the wind. Out in Columbia Lakes, because there are so many trees you can really tell the direction of Carla's winds. The trees that survived bent with the wind, they did not break.”
I was reminded of what Matt Johnson told me when I was closing up VP Tanks: “you just seem to bend, but I don't see you breaking.”
After awhile I had seen nearly everything in the museum and left with a handful of pamphlets and two books, one a local history of the county and the other a history of the ol' 300, the first 300 families that had settled in Texas under the leadership and guidance of Stephen F. Austin in the early 1820's.
While we were in town we stopped at a local grocery store. At the back was a plate lunch line and places for people to sit, eat and talk. Being a stranger in town several people decided to talk with me. I did my best, talked a little but mostly was interested in getting some food to go for Sam and me. Meatloaf was the special of the day and I got two plates to go, with vegetables and trimmings as well as a six pack of Coors. Sam and I drove back and had a nice lunch. We went for a walk around the grounds then came back to the room for a nap. That evening I went out for a little while Sam guarded the room. Columbia Lakes had a small bar in the clubhouse and I had a couple of beers and played pool.
The next morning we got up early, went for a quick run, this time along the back nine and had breakfast at the cantina. After I had showered and dressed we loaded up the truck, checked out and headed south on 35 skirting the coast.
Author’s note: Lynn, Vanessa and I lived in Columbia Lakes for over 20 years. Average rain fall for West Columbia is over 40 inches a year, and there were a few years the total rainfall was more than 60 inches. Thats’s a drastic change from the near desert conditions of west Texas. During our time there, several tropical storms and depressions blew through. The last fives years we lived there, the nearby Brazos River had three 500 year floods. We had been lucky and never suffered any real storm damage, save for 2013 when a rain and wind storm caused a 30 foot oak tree to fall over and clip the edge of our garage.
In 2016 we felt we had tested our luck enough, sold our house and moved to Wimberley, Texas, south of Austin.
Next week, in Episode 31 of The Hollow Men, Drew and Sam continue their journey, Drew talks with Stan the Skeleton man about hurricanes as a metaphor for life’s changes, Drew and Sam spend a few days with Robert and Barry in Corpus Christi and return home to Austin.