Texas and Beyond

Day 44 (March 19)

Wimberly to Bastrop TX:

The weather forecast has a cold front arriving in my area sometime during the day, so I am ready to seek shelter from the thunderstorms when they arrive.  Using my smartphone, I can watch the weather radar to gauge the speed of approach of the cold front and be certain I don't get caught out in the open. 

In the end, the weather did not develop until after dark, so I enjoy a full day of riding.  By midnight the thunderstorms are at the peak of their fury, lashing my little motel with almost continuous lighting.  The thunder sounds like artillery.  By morning, the Weather Channel reports 4 inches of rain has fallen and as much as 8 inches in nearby areas.  Some roads are flooded

66 miles

Day 45 (March 20th)

Bastrop TX to Gay Hill TX

The rain has left its mark; several of my roads are closed, so I have to make up a new route.  My map has me riding through two very large state parks, using the narrow park road for about 25 miles.  This road is closed, likely because it has Texas "water crossings" instead of bridges- which means that the rain water is now flowing over the road instead of under it- so I detour to a well-travelled state highway that has bridges. I am disappointed that I don't get to see these water crossings in action.  Many of the lesser County and local roads have these "dips" in the road instead of bridges, and most every dip is equipped with a gauge board to show a motorist how much water there is covering the road BEFORE they try and cross.  I was hoping to see just how high the water can get after a massive downpour.  Many of the rivers I cross are well over their banks and flowing muddy brown water filled with debris.

I am starting to notice a few more things about Texas that make it an interesting state, for one, since they value personal liberty so much, there was a big fight over the regulation of cell phones while driving.   (I personally think that the regulation of cell phone use by drivers makes a very interesting litmus test for a discussion on personal liberty. It's great to combine all of that useless time spent driving with the unlimited talk time on your new smartphone, but aren't you supposed to be paying attention to the road? I challenge anyone to prove that they can drive as safely talking on a phone as not.  Especially those that think they can "multi-task".  You are only kidding yourselves).   In the end, Texas took a very courageous stand and only prohibited cell use in school zones (in Texas, the "normal" school zone speed is 35 mph.  In Oregon it is 20 mph).  From my observation post while crossing Texas, I saw very little compliance.

Texas also has two Holy Trinities: the normal one; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and the other one: Sports, Hunting, and Beer.  One ends about Christmas, just when the other really gets some traction.

There are churches everywhere, the majority are Baptist, but you have plenty of Cowboy Churches (maybe the only church where men have to wear a hat?), and splinter groups of all sorts- Church of East Texas was the one that caught my eye.  Considering the thoughtless way some of these good old boys treat out-of-state cyclists when they encounter them on a public roadway, the Texas preachers still have some work to do bringing everyone to a Christian way of life.

Luckily I am travelling through the state outside of normal hunting season, anything moving during hunting season may be at risk.

78 miles

Day 46 (March 21)

Gay Hill TX to Lake Conroe

Not much happened but I have to say that everything is GREEN, and that makes the riding very pleasant indeed.

I did see a large eagle-sized bird that had white wing patches and a very regal looking head.  A quick internet search seemed to indicate an immature Golden Eagle.  I was to find out during Patty's visit, when we saw several more of the same bird, that these are Crested Cara Cara's, also known as Mexican Eagles.  Patty had binoculars, so we could see the head in detail and the markings were very easy to spot.

70 miles

Day 47

Lake Conroe TX to Thicket TX

71 miles

Day 48 (March 23rd)

Thicket TX to Beaumont TX

It was a short riding day, which took me off route and into the city to pick up a rental car.  I pack my bike and trailer in the car and drive (Wow, it has been almost two months since I sat behind the wheel, so it does take a few minutes to feel comfortable there again) towards Houston, where I will pick Patty up at the airport.

I pass a rider on a touring bike hauling a trailer just like mine.  Seeing him makes me feel a little guilty that I am driving instead of biking.  I wave and drive on. 

48 miles

Day 49-54:

Spending time with my lovely wife in Galveston and Corpus Christi Texas. Eating plenty of food and drinking some good beer- more beer in these 6 days than in the previous 48 !!!!

0 miles

Day 55 (March 30)

Silsbee TX to DeRidder Louisiana

I have finally escaped the state of Texas.  After too many riding days to count, I am now in another state.  The only noticeable difference so far is the dialect- almost magically; everyone now sounds like Larry, the Cable Guy. 

The last couple of days, as well as today, I have been riding in pine forests.  Signs of active logging are everywhere, including a constant stream of logging trucks on the highway.  Numerous cyclists have warned me about the aggressive driving style of the log truck drivers. I haven't found these truckers to be any worse than normal, they seem to yield roadway when they can. What is amazing is the size of the trees that are being harvested, I haven't seen any toothpick factories around, but that would be about all some of these trees would be suited for.

The one regret about leaving Texas is the reality that I may not get to see a living armadillo.  There have been numerous lifeless armadillo carcasses along the shoulder, but I have not scored a sighting of one actually breathing.  Cycling, because there is time to observe trivial details of life (and death) along the shoulder of the road, yields observations not possible when traveling by auto.  Armadillos are an example- although there are plenty of deceased armadillos on the shoulder, they are never complete.  In fact, with the exception of one very fresh animal, every armadillo carcass was nothing but bones and shell.  I am guessing these animals are the equivalent of steak to the local Turkey Vulture population because they strip the meat from a dead armadillo within minutes of its death. I have never actually seen a vulture eating an armadillo, so it is pure speculation that they are the ones that eat the armadillos.  Interestingly, there are also squashed turtles about 10 to the mile and I have never seen even one nibble taken from a turtle. 

78 miles

Day 56 (March 31)

DeRidder LA to Ville Platte LA

More pine forest, flooded rice fields and fetid swampland.  This area is rural, no fancy houses here.  Rice and corn seem to be the main crops, the rice fields here are not the fancy, laser tilled fields you would see in Central California, they are smaller and cruder.  The water appears to be entirely supplied by wells, which is amazing to think that acres of fields can be flooded to a depth of at least 18" and the water keeps coming forth.

I have noticed that Louisiana abides by the Texas drinking rules. As long as you cover the container with a paper bag (presumably if an observer cannot read the label of your beverage container) then it must be safe to drink while driving and it is okay to have an open container.  Makes me very determined to get up early and ride, so I can be camped before these good old boys start drinking in earnest. ( Later I learn the paper bag is mandatory when a single alcoholic beverage is sold at a convenience store, for some silly reason unclear to me- I think it is logical to assume that any beverage can wrapped in a paper bag must be a beer, so what are they hiding? and from whom? )  I should point out that an open container is still not allowed, at least for the driver, but the huge volume of discarded cans, shrouded in the telltale brown bag, that litter the roadside would indicate there is plenty of drinking while driving going on out here.

84 miles

Day 57 (April 1st)

Ville Platte LA to New Roads LA

The swampy, rural, working LA has given way to forested, hilly vistas with numerous very fancy estate ranches that speak money.  These big spreads must be a result of the proximity of Baton Rouge and the prosperity a city provides. In addition, the trees are old and huge; frequently the trees from the roadside have grown over the road, meeting in the middle to form a continuous canopy over the road, complete with hanging vines and moss.  Riding along these roads is effortless, the trees deflect the wind, there is little or no traffic and the views are wonderful.

For some reason the miles just keep rolling along and I log my longest mileage of the trip. I end up camping in a RV park/ marina which has a bar attached.  The place is so smoky inside that I have to hold my breath to buy an ice cold Heinekin, but when I take it outside and find a bench facing west, I get a fantastic sunset over the lake.

99 miles

Day 58(April 2nd)

 New Roads LA to Easleyville LA

 A beautiful new bridge with very wide shoulder whisks me over the muddy Mississippi River and into another Louisiana.  More estates near the river, giving way to a poorer, less travelled part of the state.  More logging.   Fewer people.  Crummier roads.

About lunch time nasty thunderstorms start to develop, so I keep pedaling, hoping I outrun them.  No such luck, about the time my rear tire goes flat (another shard of glass, a gift from my motoring friends) big rain drops start to fall.  Luckily I get my patch in place on the tube before the rain spoils the glue.  I leave my bike, which is parked along a row of tall trees, and wait out the worst of the lightning from the other side of the road, where the tress are short and twisted.  As I wait for the worst of the rain to subside, I am faced with a dilemma.

Do I hunker down right where I am and wait for all of the lightning to dissipate or do I ride on, hoping to ride into drier skies?  At first it seems like the safe thing to do is wait, but what makes standing in one place any safer than moving?  Isn't the lighting a random thing?  Maybe it is drawn to the taller tree or the tree on a hilltop, but couldn't it just as easily hit me huddled along the side of the road?  Unfortunately, I am on a long stretch of highway that offers no man-made shelter, the next restaurant or store is 25 miles further down the road. I decide to press on.  I get plenty wet, but I do manage to ride away from the worst of the weather-borne fireworks and find a country store with some helpful patrons and food.

Not only do I get some real food, but the locals- a very mixed bag of rural Louisiana "good-ole-boys"- take to helping me.  They decide I should camp right behind the store, where I can set up my tent during one of the lulls in the rain, plus have fresh coffee from the store first thing in the morning.  I didn't expect this, especially given the way I have been treated out on the road the past 30 miles- a busy road with no shoulder.  I suppose this shows what I have seen before, for the most part people are very supportive of cyclists, and they are delighted to ask questions, find out where we are going, where we started, but once they get back in their vehicles they forget about us and they drive like we don't exist.

68 miles

Day 59 (April 3rd)

Easleyville LA to Poplarville MS

The roads continue to deteriorate, but the pine forests continue.  I spot a couple more ruined armadillos, so maybe I will still get to see a live one. 

The weather forecast calls for thunderstorms by 3 pm but nothing develops as I ride, I keep a close watch on the horizon in the hope that I see them long before they hit. I am happy to make Poplarville with the sun still shining and no buildups anywhere on the horizon.  I foolishly conclude that the forecast is totally wrong and that I can relax.  I round up my dirty laundry and run it through the wash machine and go to sleep.

About 11 pm the fireworks started.  I have never seen lightning strike with such intensity.  The sky was lit almost continuously for nearly 6 hours.  Most of the lightning was cloud-to-cloud, which gives a cyclist camped in a small tent out in the middle of a beautiful and treeless grassy field some hope.  But there were frequent cloud-to-ground strikes that kept me alert.  The thunder that rolled off these monster lightning bolts truly shook the earth.  The thunder didn't end until 10 am, the rain shortly after that.  Amazingly, my tent kept everything dry throughout.

89 miles

Day 60

Poplarville LA

I decided that a continued 50% chance of isolated thunderstorms was too great to ride, so I spend a rest day in Poplarville.

0 miles

Day 61 (April 5th)

Poplarville MS to Ocean Springs MS

The Gulf of Mexico, finally.  I am delighted to be heading to Biloxi, which is on the Gulf.  I find some great roads, with great shoulders and have a blast pedaling into Biloxi, where a few small thunderstorms keep me pinned in a McDonalds for an hour.  I get to take a look at a nice 38 ft trawler, owned by a young naval engineer, who works at a local boatyard that builds mega-yachts for rich foreigners...in the range of 150 ft in length.

69 miles

Day 62 (April 6th)

Ocean Springs MS to Gulf Shores AL

I meet a couple from San Diego riding a tandem at the "Welcome to Alabama" sign along Hwy 90.  I have been hearing other riders talk about them as far back as West Texas, it turns out that they have taken two of the same detours that I have taken.  They left the route to visit San Antonio (they visited the Alamo the day after I was there), and they left the route again to visit Biloxi, which is why we were on the same highway.  We travel the day together and board the same ferry that takes us across Mobile Bay.

86 miles

Day 63 (April 7th)

Gulf Shores AL to Pensacola FL

I spent only two days in Alabama, now on to Florida.  If you have never visited the Florida Panhandle, be sure to put it on your list of "must see" places.  Most of the Gulf is fairly bland, the water is murky and the sand beaches are average.  But from about Pensacola Florida eastward for about 100 miles, the sand and water make a miraculous change.  The water is clear and sparkly, and it flows over sand that looks white, like pure sugar.  It is a magically coastline, so magical that I hated to put it behind me so soon, (once I leave Pensacola, my route takes me away from the coastline) so I ride a very short day and then beg a campsite at a State Park that is located right on the Intracoastal Waterway, where I can walk from my tent right down to a beautiful white sand beach.  I spend the day walking the trails in the park and drinking in the splendor of the water. 

30 miles

(Editor’s note…My cousin Woody works for the State of Florida.  His job is to be sure the beaches are pristine!!  Not a bad job!)

Day 64  (April 8th)

Pensacola FL to Defuniak Springs FL

In an effort to make up for yesterday’s short mileage, I get up early and ride hard all day.  The scenery doesn't change much today, I quickly leave the sandy beaches of Pensacola behind and ride back into the pine forests that cover much of northern FL.  Plenty of sunshine (not a single cloud all day), good roads, plentiful food stops, and no flats make this a very special day.

108 miles