Entries this day: lovely_Saturday_skate

lovely Saturday skate

8 March 1997

Today is a wonderful Saturday, and I spontaneously decided this morning to skate. Started at my apartment, through the intersection which is no longer under construction, down Taft to Allen Parkway (where the light didn't agree with me so I had to go slowly through the intersection) and toward downtown.

I skated gently to Jones Plaza, where I was surprised to find some guys digging a trench through one side of the block. Turns out they had dug down to the top of the parking garage, which had sprung a leak inside, to fix the leak. Cool. They had simply unearthed a seam in the garage ceiling and were squishing down into the seam pink styrofoam noodles, which they would later cover with tar or something.

Then I followed my skates to Market Square, where traffic was blocked for BrewFest, and giant marketing thing with lots of barbecue and beer. Wow. I was super excited. They had set up lots of cones and barriers and all sorts of fun obstacles just for me to skate around!

That got boring after a while, so I skated to University of Houston Downtown campus, where I watched the construction dudes deconstruct their scaffolding after completing part of the construction on which they had been working. Then I skated super fast down the hill and then toward The Wortham, where I met two people just putting on their skates. They are Emily and Chad, and were skating for about the third time.

Emily was not too excited about skating in the streets, so I suggested we go to Jones Plaza, where the top surface is nice and smooth and a great place to practice. I taught her and Chad how to use their brakes to stop easily, while I goofed around with my frisbee and around the trees and short walls. They got much better in a short amount of time, and then we went to the BrewFest to poke around. We looked around a bit, and then they had to leave so I gave 'em my number and we parted ways.

I skated pretty quickly to Hermann Park, about 5 or 6 miles away. I first went to the 5000 lb. granite sphere that is supported by a teensy thin layer of water, allowing it to be spun any direction. The plaque was missing (again) so I told the few people who seemed interested that it was not just "pretty heavy," it was 5000 pounds.

Then to Miller Outdoor Theater, to skate down the hill while watching for cars and pedestrian traffic, and navigating some stout wooden posts and parked cars at the bottom. I had watched for cars coming from left to right, and realized I had neglected to watch for cars coming from right to left when I ended up in their lane at the bottom. Fortunately, there had been none, whether I watched them or not.

Then to the zoo area, where there is a large steam locomotive heavily rusting behind an iron fence. Today, however, there were some guys working on it. I went to investigate, and it turns out that anyone can volunteer time or money to the restoration of this locomotive! I will be there next Saturday, I told Stan, who told me about their efforts. (If anyone in Houston is interested, they meet at about 9am Saturday, weather permitting. Bring hammers, crowbars, paint brushes or any basic tools you may have.)

I skated a bit around the lake, racing the small train as it traveled through the park. I found a point where I could wait until the end of the train had passed me, then skate fast fast fast and beat the train at the next intersection with the sidewalk. (Note, however, two things. (1) I didn't actually cross in front of the train; I just made sure I was going fast enough to do it. (2) It's a small train, like the ones you see in parks) I chose not to be a bad influence for the little kids who were watching.

Skated back to the theater, to skate down the hill once more. I watched for cars and people coming from both directions this time. No problem.

By then, I was pretty tired, so I went home and took a nap.