Injured?

Car accident? Offshore accident? Big rig? If so,  you could do no better than to be in western Louisiana and eastern Texas, where you will find a billboard  every 150 feet offering you the best in legal services for your dire circumstance. Seems to be a major player in the local economy.

I actually do not possess a Texas map in my home-based travel agency library, and phone aside, I like to bring paper maps. So, I told Donna that I'd like to pull off at the TX welcome center, where the astute traveler can usually find a free copy.

Except it was gone.

As the LA mile markers ticked down into the teens, we were clearly seeing the effects of Harvey nearly two weeks prior. All lanes of I-10 were open, but you could see debris had been cleared in order to do it. Then warning signs, then jersey barriers and aqua barriers tight against both shoulders, and then "EXIT CLOSED."

The ramp was indeed blocked off, as it was underwater along with the building and a few vehicles.

Wow. No map for me.

It does make sense; many political borders are natural, so clearly whatever river that was could not handle the floodwaters. From there, it was pretty sketchy in places, with lanes shifted around, exits still flooded, and travel in general somewhat handicapped. For the next day of riding, we'd sporadically see piles of furnishings, sheetrock, insulation piled up along the roadside, in testament to what had happened.

We caught the ferry to Galveston, which fared pretty well in comparison, and got unloaded a bit too late to both stroll the beach and have dinner. We knew the ride to San Antonio would be two days, and we decided to bite off more than half in order to spend a night on the beach. So we did accomplish that, which was better than some hotel along the interstate 50 miles inland.