With a wave and a merge...

My last post dealt with my decision to primarily drive on Westheimer Road to my office rather than take the freeways.  That being said, I really need to point out that taking the freeways here in Houston has got to be one of the most pleasurable experiences I have ever had in a big city.

Now, before I get slammed by Houstonians who will scream that traffic is terrible let me just say that the amount of traffic in this city is HUGE!  There are long lines of waiting and the rush hour is, well, the rush hour like any other major city.  It will take you 60 minutes to go 10 miles...stop and go traffic.  That sort of thing.  All major cities have this.  Please remember that Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States, folks.  Our peer cities are Chicago and LA.

But here is the difference.  I have driven in Philly and Chicago where freeway driving is pretty much a blood sport.  Drivers make a game out of not letting you on and changing lanes is an adventure in anger management.  I have driven in LA and DC where most of the people there are all personally ambitious and self-centered which comes across in their driving habits.  The "I'll let you in if you are not infringing on my personal path", sort of attitude.

In Houston, the freeway drivers are courteous.  The attitude seems to be here "Come on in...we will all get there together and on time."  In New York, Chicago and LA where the sound of a car horn is regular and darn near constant, here in Houston it is an anomaly.  The sound of a car horn is given extra attention precisely BECAUSE it is heard infrequently.

Now...if that same infrequency could be applied to the guy whose car alarm keeps going off at 3am in my apartment complex...

The road less traveled

As you will probably learn, I have a tendency to live outside of my head.  I speak before thinking, have trouble with editing, and can have the attention span of a tsetse fly at times.  Now, while I am seriously trying to work on parts of these character traits, they have recently manifested themselves with regards to how I go to work every morning.

For the first couple of weeks, I followed Garmin's directions to the office which had me getting on the major highways and landing me at the office in about 20-25 minutes.  I found that I am still very adept at driving the bypasses and negotiating rush hour traffic.  The only thing that is any issue at all is the fact that the drive can be a rather dull one.

Then, one of my staff members mentioned that I could take Westheimer Road straight to the office.  As you can well imagine, this thought intrigued me to no end so I gave it a try and sure enough it was true.  The downside was that it nearly doubled my travel time because of the street lights.

Westheimer Road is basically a long "strip mall" full of restaurants and shops.  Everything from the seedy pawn shops and taco/burger joints sitting right next to high end Galleria stores and Ruth's Crisp steak house.  British Pubs, "Adult" nightclubs, Brazilian steakhouses, a Fondue restaurant (I still giggle at that notion and simply HAVE to try this place), Ikea, and everything in between. Driving through the glittering downtown and through some of the Houston slums.  There is simply a plethora of visual images to drink in...

As I am sure you have guessed by now that I am going to stick with the road down Westheimer.  I will always keep the highway route in mind for those times that I have the need for expediency, but having that visual, ever-changing pallet is too much for me to give up.  So, I will leave a little earlier...for now.