Sailing to Silsbee

Didn't have wireless access last night (had ethernet connections in the room but not on my HP mini), so this is filed a day late.
Bessie the bike and I were back together today. Today's ride took us from Cleveland to Silsbee. The morning started out warm (70 degrees) and muggy, but calm to mild winds. The mugginess was just plain awful. We've been so accustomed to the arid western terrain, and then the blustery north winds. I guess this is our welcome to the South! Lots of bugs too -- felt like a human windshield.

The road was pretty flat all day, with little traffic and decent shoulders on the road. Would have fallen asleep at the handlebars if Patty weren't with me to keep me awake. Today's route was scouted by Michelle last year as an alternative to an exceptionally long ride (127 miles) into Louisiana and some not-so-great motel options in Louisiana. Thank you, Michelle, for nice road conditions. I understand we'll be blazing a new route for this ride through parts of Louisiana. We also won't be slavishly following the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route. If the rest of the South is like today I'll have to search my memory for those games we played as children during long car rides (games other than tormenting my sisters and brother).

Saw lots of horses and cows and birds and considerate logging trucks. Dogs barked at us but didn't give chase. Had lunch at Mama Jack's, a restaurant about 10 miles from our hotel. It was a neat lunch stop serving plain old homestyle cooking. They had a buffet which had everything fried you could imagine and other diners were walking away with heaping plates full of fried everything (with matching physiques). Patty and I settled for a sandwich and some chips and sweet tea.

Bike stats: 64.72 miles; 4 hrs.27 minutes ride time; 1,272 total trip mileage.

Food: Breakfast was some scrambled egg, a mini-muffin, and a banana. Lunch was a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and chips. On-road snacks: a banana, a jerky stick, a handful of almonds and M&M peanuts, and a protein Powerbar. Last night we had pizza and salad with a brownie. Tonight we had pad thai, with a great cole slaw salad and made-from-scratch vanilla custard pudding.

This is our last night in Texas. No offense, Texas, but I'm glad to be rolling on. Three weeks from now I'll be on my way home. This trip has been a lot of fun, some not-so-fun. Next time I decide to ride a long distance, however, I hope Peter and Brody will be with me! I miss them lots.