Coincidence, Kate?
Remember the Alamo.
Hope so. Can’t get there from here.
If you believe in signs….
Gotta giddy-up? Might wanna git ya’ a horse.(Gifford Collection/OSU/Flickr/Commons.wikimedia.org)
Eerily like a recent family wedding.
The bride’s first leafy venue burned to a crisp in a forest fire.
The second venue chosen was a lovely garden in the country nestled in the bend of the Brazos River with water winding and flowing picturesquely on three sides.
On the wedding day, after days of continual downpours, the river overflowed.
Anyone seeing a message there?
Coincidence. Say it like you mean it.
So. Bridging coincidences…
If you’re headed to San Antonio from Houston, I-10 West (Katy Freeway) is the route.
Easy drive despite the mobs of vehicles. (Pace yourself. Acceptable places for rest stops are few and far between in places and some of the ice cream/hamburger places are seriously over priced.)
Only yesterday, this: big rig truck vs bridge pillar
Not the preferred sort of wrap around.(TXDOT)
The truck driver was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.The bridge pillar, however, was seriously damaged.
West bound traffic on the major roadway was diverted to the service road on the side. Some drivers waited in line 5-6 hours before getting back on the main road.
A simple splint isn’t going to heal this broken pillar.(Screenshot.click2houston.com)
After working all night, TXDOT reopened I-10 West with the overhead road, SH 36, closed indefinitely.
It is not true officials suggested car occupants wear hard hats when traveling this segment of I-10. Certainly the idea of open beach umbrellas over convertibles is completely ridiculous.
A sigh of relief by truckers and summer tourists – but only a brief one.
This morning on Old Katy Road, a “locals know” back route west:
Freight train car on side after falling off elevated train tracks Old Katy Rd at 610 Loop. (myfoxhouston.com)
What? Train down! Train down!
Train car not an early riser?
Train car temper tantrum because it was bored to rails of routine destinations?
Desperate train car just couldn’t take the continuous clickity-clackity one minute longer?
Trouble maker train car activist leading others in a break to run free?
Perhaps reschedule that weekend trip to San Antonio.
No need to tempt fate.
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
It’s coincidence, right? Paranoid to think the city of Houston is trying to keep people from leaving – “Hotel California” keeps playing in my head. Couldn’t be an aggressive move to motivate people to stay local and buy local? Houston has always been a bit jealous of her sister cities San Antonio (Tourists, River Walk, Spurs basketball) and commuter town Katy (planned communities in the suburbs with a small town feel, new museums, Katy Mills Mall, Skeeters Minor league baseball in family friendly outdoor stadium)….No way. It’s coincidence. Say it like you mean it.
Seriously. This is THE route west from Houston to San Antonio and beyond. Total nightmare. Note to self: this is why you take snacks, water, keep cell phone charged….and hope there’s some trees or brush along the side of the road. (Screenshot.click2houston.com)
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22 Comments
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Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge 
Clever. Always clever! Nice Friday am–thanks.
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So odd. They are were just getting one road open and a trail falls off blocking the other route. You have to wonder if we’re not a tiny world sitting in a much larger world and the child is tired, needs a nap, and is knocking all the toys around. Thanks for driving by to giggle along. Have a great weekend!
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tis traffic reminds me of paris…but here you can skip the part with the phone, there is no connection to the world with all that tunnels :o(
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The Katy FWY/I-10 West is almost always jammed under normal conditions – no matter how many lanes they add. A sensible place would run a big commuter train line – and the people keep voting for those, but the city of Houston wants to hog all the money within the city limits and ignores the suburbs/commuter drivers and tells them to carpool or ride stinking buses. GRRRRRRR.
Thanks for parking a comment, Easy!
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that’s super mean when all car drivers have to pay the price for wrong decisions of officials :o(
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Makes me want to bite them on the leg…and spray some foamy stuff around my muzzle to make them really worried!
Paw waves!
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Shew – and no fatalities? Lucky. Funny – In Montreal – about 2 hours from here – the mob was involved in bridge construction and skimped on materials. Consequently (some years ago) bridges started falling down and killing people. The investigation unveiled that the local politicians were also being paid off by the mob to exert influence on inspectors and such. This included the mayor of Montreal – who was subsequently fired. Before they could elect a new mayor a group of businesses got together and put out an ad for a new mayor – tongue in cheek. It included such requirements as : no mob affiliation, no history if taking payoffs, some small amount of ability to manage people and programs, a non- drinker, etc The city administrators were not amused. Ha!
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Lady Luck must have been in a good mood that day. No one hurt and driver not hurt seriously, believe it or not.One of the people who stopped immediately to help the truck driver, let her car keys slip between bent truck and bridge. A tow driver gave her a lift once no one could locate or fish out her keys.
Gotta love that ad! The Montreal events sound a little like New Orleans when we lived there. At one point the entire subdivision told the developer if he sold a particular house to a particular mob boss, he could count on 100% of the residents putting houses up for sale at bargain basement prices…
Thanks for hauling in another great comment
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Quite the collision between that truck and bridge pillar. Scary for all parties involved, I’m sure, including those stuck behind the crash for hours. Glad the driver wasn’t severely injured.
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River floods, bridges attacked, and freight cars leaping off the road (and dragging innocent cars behind it). What a month…sounds like a movie script. It is amazing no one was hurt. Can’t wait to see what the universe has planned next. Thanks for steering a comment this way
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We’ve been having those truck-bridge collisions back east too. What’s up with truckers. I usually think of them as skilled (and don’t bust my bubble please — they can easily kill us car people). I am not patient in the best of times. Traffic makes me nuts. (and perhaps just a tad psycho!)
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Attacking innocent bridges. The shame. Anger management needed…or more sleep? With the ports here, there are lots of big trucks hauling stuff in all directions out of town. They are the reason I will always drive a larger/taller vehicle so maybe they can see me. Seen far too many smaller and not so smart cars wedged underneath a big rig. (Shiver – commuting is scary at times) Psycho driving may keep you alive here. Thanks for driving by and gawking. Hope the weekend’s driving is smooth, calm and easy!
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All my cars are red for the same reason!
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“Arrest me red” as it is called by our highway patrol….School bus yellow perhaps? Good reason to have one of those highly visible art cars…maybe the dragon one or the shopping cart.
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How did I miss hearing about this? What I am glad to know about is 36. I was pondering making a jaunt up to Bellville for a visit to the meat market. Better check the roads before I go.
As far as I’m concerned, I-10 is Dante’s whatever-circle-of-hell, even though it isn’t a circle. I’ve been known to to take some very strange routes to avoid that road. Or, at the very least, i pick it up around Columbus. Or El Campo. I have SERIOUS avoidance issues!
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Nothing wrong with that El Campo route. They are still working on clearing Old Katy Rd. Do check with TXDOT – don’t know how they can repair that overpass – it looked pretty jarred in other pix. Sounds like a yummy trip planned. This heat is really putting a damper on doing stuff…maybe a road trip is the best idea! Thanks for checking out the traffic report here.
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Man that looks like a nightmare. I was just complaining about how much traffic we deal with around here, but after seeing that photo I believe that we have it good. What a mess.
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Traffic is pretty jammed here right now between the construction/road repairs and all the new people showing up. If there’s one little hitch on the road – better be prepared to dive off to an alternative route before everyone else does. Walkable communities and flextime/telecommuting looking pretty attractive. Thanks for driving these lanes
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Ah yes! It’s all coming back to me. Many years ago I had relatives in Houston. Love the train leaping in political defiance. Tanks for the memories Phil!
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Just goes to show, no one or no thing wants to experience the Houston summer. It took them well over a day to lift that freight car off the road…sort of reminded me of trying to move a limp toddler who has collapsed. Thanks for filling up the comment tank.
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If you tried to put all those events in a story, you’d be told it was too implausible! Hope you won’t be hammered to hard by the storm!
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Yep, some editor would toss it quick.No fair. Life can be implausible, but fiction can’t? (That should cause real storm clouds.) I think Central TX may be about ready to build arks, but bet the summer tubers will be happy this year as the dams will probably be able to spill water into the Guadalupe (great little tubing river) during the weekends. Here people had to content with days and days of rain rain rain alternating with drizzle. Dogs have to jump out when they can and snooze the rest of the time. (Actually I was the one elected to run and lure the storm inland and north…seems to have followed – then, I left before it arrived there..(more on this tomorrow.) Hope the rain didn’t ruin your Sunday.Thanks for paddling along
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