Chasing Rainbows

August 27, 2022

Kristi walked into my home office and asked, “Do you want to go to Sonic and get drinks?”

“Yes!” I replied. I was seconds away from going into the living room and asking her the same question. Consensus in our household is almost a guarantee, at least on the important things, such as going to Sonic.

The Sonic on Sam Houston Avenue in Huntsville, Texas has played an important role in our lives. My first job in Huntsville, way back in the summer of 1990, was at that Sonic. Many of our adventures either begin or end there. We have spent countless hours sitting in a vehicle and talking, drinking delicious Sonic drinks, and yes, eating. A lot of serious, important life decisions have been made while we parked in either stall 4 or 5. It’s a getaway that’s almost like home.

But, as with many things, doing something simple like going to Sonic can sometimes lead to unexpected surprises. As we were backing out of the driveway, we were presented with a spectacular scene in the sky.

Texas, like much of the nation, has been in a serious drought for several months. Recently, however, we have started getting a little rain in our part of East Texas. Things are “greening up” a bit, and the days haven’t been quite so hot. Scattered storms have been moving through the area every day for a couple of weeks now.

A storm was passing to our west, and sunlight was shining through the rain from a gap in the clouds. It made for a beautiful, but slightly eerie scene–almost like a white beard hanging from the sky.

I looked at the radar images on my phone and realized that we could drive to the other side of this storm–the side facing the sun. And sunlight + rain = rainbows!

Well, sometimes. The conditions have to be right.

Most, if not all, of you who read this blog know that Patrick’s favorite color was “rainbow.” He explained, “Because I like ALL colors!” As a result, rainbows have become a symbol and a reminder of him to a lot of people, whether they knew him personally or not. Many of our friends will send pictures of rainbows they’ve seen and tell us that they thought of Patrick. We appreciate each and every report!

Sonic had to wait. There were rainbows to hunt. We exited the neighborhood and headed to the west side of the storm.

That was easier said than done. The storm was moving north and widening as it went. Other storms were appearing further to the west and finding a space where the sun could shine through onto the falling rain was difficult.

We drove north on TX-75 and ran into the storm. We then turned west onto Bishop Road, where we found this rather confusing sign:

Bishop Road is always a pretty drive, but the rain precluded taking many photos. Still, I had to get at least one shot:

We moved beyond the edge of the rain, then turned onto Guerrant Road to get a better view of the western side of the storm. We didn’t see any rainbows, so we turned onto FM 1696 and headed west to Bedias.

Bedias is located in northern Grimes County. The surrounding area is crisscrossed by several county roads that service the local ranches and rural homes. We’ve documented a few of these roads in some of our past adventures. Today’s adventure was about finding rainbows (and going to Sonic), so we didn’t spend much time exploring new places.

We did make a couple of stops on the way to Bedias, however. Our first side-trip was a short drive down Round Prairie Road. As I mentioned above, there were storms further west, and this vantage point gave us a good view of the rain.

As we were turning to head back to FM 1696 I spotted another interesting sign. The thought occurred to me that it might be sort of funny if someone booby-trapped the road to cause people to wreck their cars in this spot, then they’d look up and see this sign:

The sun started to peek out from behind the clouds a bit, so we were hopeful that a rainbow would appear in the rain to our east. We turned north onto CR 137 off of FM 1696. We had previously explored another portion of this road, but this section was new to us. It did not afford many good views to the east, so we turned onto CR 140, which took us back to FM 1696.

Along the way on CR 140, though, I spotted not one, but TWO roadrunners! It’s not often that we see even ONE roadrunner, but it has certainly been a long time since we’ve seen a pair.

After sitting for a while gushing over the roadrunners, we continued on to Bedias, making a loop from FM 1696 to TX-90, then to Bending Creek Road and back to FM 1696.

The sun was still trying to shine but kept going behind more clouds. I decided to “call it” and take us back to Huntsville. We took FM 2550 to TX-30. At this point we both decided that perhaps the rainbows weren’t going to make an appearance. About 10 seconds later, though…we spotted one!

We could have just as easily stayed in town and searched, but as many say, the journey is the real adventure. Plus, it was just more time that Kristi and I got to spend together doing something that we enjoy.

Next stop, Sonic! It only took us two hours to get there.