Private Guided Tour

 I was signed up for a Zoom class about introducing new people to nature but the link failed. That turned out to be okay though. I also signed up for a free pass at Planet Fitness in Dickenson. Planet Fitness is very nice. Walls are purple. Uniforms are purple. All the machines are purple. The floor is grey and some walls are grey. They had about 40 televisions going in front of the cardio section. I did about a dozen weight machines and then got on the elliptical for 30 minutes of interval training while watching "Friends." Getting my heart rate over 155 felt so good. The locker room and showers were nice but I forgot my soap. I used my bathing cap to carry hand soap from the sinks into the shower. I got dressed and headed over to the Dickenson Historical Museum and Depot which is only open on Friday afternoons. I found the place and walked up some stairs to read the signs. A bearded young man saw me and asked if he should unlock that building over there. I said that would be great and for the next sixty minutes this guy gave me a private guided tour of the facility. Originally he is from Louisiana but he knew quite a bit about this area. This building was from Texas City. The railroad offered it to the Dickenson Garden Club so they moved it over here. This side of the waiting room with the fire place was for white people. Black people had the other side with the pot bellied stove. The stove was warmer than the fire place so basically everybody stayed on this side. He complained about the cold weather and asked if I wasn't freezing with my bare legs. I said I just came from Planet Fitness and no I wasn't cold. The antiques were from the mid 1800's. Dickenson was a farming community with strawberries and figs. In the old days people from Galveston came to Dickenson for weekend getaways. Now the opposite happens. He told me about the history of city water and sewers. He told me about the Italian immigrants who built casinos. He asked where I was staying and I said San Leon so he told me about the history over here. He said there is an organic vegetable farm just six miles from my place. I looked it up and he's right! I got to go there and get some kale or cabbage. He walked me through all the other buildings too. He was very nice. He asked me what I have seen so far and so I told him. He was amazed that I went to so many places since January 7th. That was nice to hear. Then he saw his boss and introduced me to her. She is a Master Naturalist too. She gave me a post-it note with more natural areas to visit. I took at least ten pictures but none of them are going through. I might be able to upload them at the library on Saturday or Sunday.