Houston, Tx

We are staying at Lake Conroe Thousand Trails for 2 weeks. Wen needed to do a Costco run which is in Houston which is about 40 miles away. We decided to make a day of it. We first went to an RV parts store called PPL. It is a major mail order place on the internet. We picked up some items we needed for the 5th wheel.

We then went to Costco to pick up some items we needed.

After that we went to the Port of Houston to the M/V Sam Houston boat for a tour of the Port of Houston. It is a 90 minute boat tour the Houston Port Authority conducts. I was looking for things to do in Houston and to my surprise it was actually a FREE boat tour! They advertised that you could not take pictures or video anywhere!

No pictures allowed!

I asked an employee why this was not allowed? He said it was no problem, he was giving approval! So we started taking pictures. Patty heard some people bad talking us behind us about those bad people taking those pictures! LOL! Busybodies!!

Here is a picture of the M/S Sam Houston, the boat we are taking on the port tour.

M/S Sam Houston

We left the dock and headed 10 miles up the channel.

Port Authority Docks

The cruise started out with complimentary coffee. The captain gave narration about different ships and businesses along the channel. Here is the U.S. Navy Cape Texas from Norfolk, VA.

Cape Texas

There was a combination of freighter ships, barges, and Oil ships in the channel. In the background the bridge is Interstate 10.

Interstate 10

At about the 10 mile mark we saw the Historical Marker where Santa Anna relinquish control of Texas to Sam Houston. The boat turned around and we were given cans of sodas.

On the way back you could see the Houston Skyscape over the 10 freeway.

Houston Skyscape

The Texas flag on the front of the boat.

Texas! Wahoo!

Coming back we took the HOV lane. This is like the Diamond lanes in California except there is only one going with the evening traffic. In the morning it goes the other way. It has K-Rails separating it from the regular lanes so people can not go in and out ILLEGALLY like they do in L.A. Only every 5 miles or so it has off and on ramps with gates to get on and off. Because the K-Rails the regular lanes were stop and go, but the HOV was going 55-60 miles an hour! I suppose if someone broke down it would cause problems, but it worked for us! If you don't have at least 2 people in the car you can also pay $5.00 to use the lane. That was only possible from the start of it and only with a prepaid pass.

That's it for today,

Love you,

Brian and Patty