I don't know if it's because I've been sick with COVID for the last few weeks or it's really just the state of the area, but this has been the saddest route I've experienced yet.
I took it easy with the weight since I'm very much in the beginning stages of getting my energy back. So I threw a 10lb plate into my rucksack along with two 20oz bottles of water, drove to my start location and began.
The Toyota dealership is seemingly a fan of extremely brightly-lit empty parking lots. Close-by, an ADULT DVD store with affordable prices.
This was not a pleasurable area to walk – not at all – particularly by 635. I'm not sure who is responsible for the cleanliness of the area, but after large stretches of litter, demolished commercial lots, and homeless camps mixed in with existing commercial developments, I couldn't shake this feeling of sadness that felt as it if were compounding as I continued to walk.
I'm not a fan of the 635 tollway development, the LBJ Express (or LBJ TEXpress). It has made the area worse for the community without question, especially as it relates to noise pollution and access to regular lanes.
Buildings alongside 635. Crepe myrtles are mixed-in seemingly everywhere.
But it's wonderful for racing. In fact, I think you could easily argue that it was built for it. There are people that are regularly recording and posting speeds of 180+ mph on the express lanes, and I would guess that 200+ mph is seen regularly as well. I'm not joking.
LBJ Express: The Texas Autobahn
While it's easy to fault the individuals for riding or and driving at crazy high speeds, I think it's much more useful to fault the design of the system in place.
We design things for how we want and/or expect people to use them. And as I wrote earlier, the LBJ TEXpress lanes are designed to safely travel at extremely high speeds. So it's no surprise that people come from all over to regularly do exactly that.
Let's move on.
Be the one who makes a difference. For love.
There was one area in particular, between the storage facility that topped a bunch of live oaks several years ago and the 635 service road, where a temporary camp had burned down. Near that litter were several car wrecks worth of random bumpers and headlights and taillights with a revolving billboard displaying "Be the one who makes a difference."
I guess that's what I'm trying to do — to not only make a difference, but to make a positive one. By showing those who have never really explored areas other than by racing past them in cars what these places are really like. And what we might do to make them better.
Will anyone care? I don't know – but awareness is a good first step.
