Prairie View, Texas
Just Look at that Prairie
Between Austin and Houston is a perfectly named place: Prairie View. Hmmm. One must always question place names. Can you actually view a prairie there? Answer: You bet. Prairie it is. Flat, flat, flat.
This is where the road from Austin to Houston crosses the Brazos River. From there east, the land is like a billiard table. It's not quite level, though. The town of Prairie View is 250 feet above sea level. The land slopes to the southeast toward Galveston ninety miles away. Galveston is only a few inches above sea level. This is unfortunately demonstrated every few years by hurricanes and their storm surges.
The slope from Prairie View to the sea is very gentle. Ninety miles, 250 feet. I wonder if one could actually roll a ball downhill from Prairie View to the Gulf of Mexico. My back-of-the-envelope arithmetic says no. The average slope is less than 5% of one degree. If the guy who installed your pool table came that close to dead level, you would be pleased. And, I think, surprised.
2004-04-11