Easter in Lafayette

It's Easter Sunday today. A weather front is moving through today. Weather forecasts said 20-30 mph winds from the east (headwinds), rain, chance of severe thunderstorms, and an 83-mile day. So, it was a van ride for me to Lafayette. By the time the van (also called the "mother ship") left the first sag stop we had seven of us plus Linda and Carol. After checking in at the hotel Carol took the mother ship back out in case others needed to be picked up.

(As I'm typing this there is a severe thunderstorm warning being issued - hail, straight-line winds, high winds, lightning, thunder.)

From the inside of the van the route looked -- flat. Lots of turns, some pretty bad road surfaces, but pretty rural and very quiet on Easter Sunday. Went through Crowley, the self-proclaimed rice capital of the U.S. Passed lots of rice patties, and some crawfish paddies. Louisiana is the leading producer of crawfish in the U.S. and has 125,000 acres of crawfish paddies.

So, no bike stats to report. Had a nice hotel breakfast of scrambled eggs, melon, hash browns, and a biscuit. Lunch has been a mocha frappuchino. I drive the sag wagon tomorrow (darn -- tailwinds are predicted). We have a layover in St. Francisville the day after. We've heard lots of good things about that layover site.

Lake Charles Ramble

We made it to Lake Charles, Louisiana today. No "welcome to Louisiana" signs along the way, but we'll have margaritas tonight!! The day started with one of our lead riders sending people the wrong way, but everyone eventually managed to get back on the route with minimal angst. It was another very flat day except for two bridge crossings (and I didn't need to drop down too many gears to cross them). More trees, cows, horses, and as we got closer to Lake Charles we saw some signs of suburbia (and lots of traffic). The scenery isn't nearly as dramatic as the hills of the west. The roadside debris, however, was interesting.

The cue sheet was off by quite a bit, even allowing for the early goof. The road surface was good overall, with sections which were pretty rough. Could have used a few towns along the way for a break in the tedium and for a place for lunch, but none were to be had. Had a light headwind most of the day, so had to keep pedaling, and pedaling, and pedaling........ Patty and I played alphabet games -- using the letters of the alphabet name countries, animals, food, colors, parts of the body. We also named the states and state capitals. We kind of burned out after that, and decided xanadu was an animal, food, and color.

Bike stats: 82.76 miles; 6 hrs. 39 minutes riding time; 1,355 total trip miles.

Food stats: Mini-cinnamon roll, scrambled eggs and a banana for breakfast. On the road had another banana, some fruit chews, some almonds and M&Ms, and a donut. For lunch, bean burrito (after arriving at the hotel). Don't know what Linda is cooking up for tonight.

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.

In Cleveland, Texas that is

Another exciting sag day in Texas. Started out with a rider getting her arm warmers caught in her rear wheel and derailleur when she removed them while riding. She got some good bruises and scrapes and her rear derailleur was destroyed. As I pulled up to the scene of the accident, the sheriff pulled in behind me. He was really friendly and wanted to help out if we needed help. Fortunately another rider's boyfriend -- who just happened to be visiting -- was familiar with the area and he took the bike to a couple of places to get the right parts and get it fixed. And Bessie, my bike, was pressed into service in the damaged bike's place. All told, it was one of those incidents when everything just wasn't a big deal and by the end of the day everyone was back in synch.

Thank you to the sheriff and the town of Navasota. Everyone I met there was friendly and wanted to do whatever they could to make our stay pleasant.



The route today was more rolling hills and flat sections with lots of ranches (horses, cows) and the Sam Houston national forest -- meaning lots of trees. It was a pretty ride, overcast, comfortable temps, and not too windy. While I didn't see them, there were reports of dogs chasing some of the riders. We're told this will become a more common occurrence. Ugh.

So, no bike stats. Food stats: cereal for breakfast, some jerky and a few oreos for lunch, pizza and salad for dinner. Tomorrow will be our last full day in Texas. In two days it will be margarita time!!!

Rest day in Navasota

Last night Linda cooked a great chicken pot pie, Lois made a great salad, and Laurey supplied desserts from her catering business back home in Asheville, North Carolina. While my stomach still wasn't very happy at the thought of food, I ate a bit of chicken pot pie and a brownie. Had welcome help with the dishes, after which I went back to the room and spun some llama fiber Patty so nicely provided me, and watched UConn beat Louisville in women's basketball.

This morning dawned sunny (yet again) and cool. Had one of those disgusting hotel waffles and decided to go visit Washington-on-the Brazos state historic site. Yesterday's route passed it and it looked interesting. I thought the website for the place indicated it opened at 9, so got on the bike and pedaled ten miles only to find out it didn't open until 10. So, I just hung out, pedaled around, and walked along the nature trails until the visitor center, museum, and living history area opened.

Washington, Texas, was the site of the drafting and signing of the Texas declaration of independence and the Texas constitution -- after which everyone high-tailed it out of town because Santa Ana was coming to town. The town was pretty small then and the only thing going for it was that it was the site of an important ferry crossing and landing for water-borne commerce. The delegates to the convention which declared independence and drafted the constitution were white males, with a couple of hispanics thrown in, all of whom had to be against a central government (at the time they were part of Mexico). The outcome of the convention was never in doubt! Washington was the capital of the Republic of Texas for a short while, and its demise came after it decided not to have railroad service, but rather rely on the Brazos River for its commercial needs.

In addition to a reconstruction of the hall in which the delegates did their thing (which I thought I'd taken a picture of, but didn't), the site has a museum which is devoted primarily to all the things white Texians (immigrants to Texas) and early Texans used to live back in the good old days (1860's). It had a few dead animals to show what was in the area, and one small display devoted to the indigenous peoples who were forced out of their ancestral lands. (All the roadside historic markers I've seen in Texas have focused on accomplishments in the area made by white settlers -- the indigenous peoples have been completely ignored.)

The third part of the site is a living history museum (of which I took lots of pictures). That part of the site has an 1860's era house and farm as described in the diaries of Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas. The house was neat -- two rooms on each side of an open breezeway, with childrens' sleeping quarters in the attic (where they froze in the winter and baked in the summer). There were outbuildings for cooking, farm tools, and slave quarters. There was no outhouse -- people back then just went to the bathroom in the woods -- kind of like we do on our biking days out in the middle of nowhere. The people who work there are supposed to try to keep in 1860's character and do a pretty good job of it. When I commented that the 1860's settlers probably did not have an Ashford double-drive spinning wheel, the docent admitted that was so, but it was easier to show children how to spin on that than an 1860's antique wheel.

The slave quarters weren't quite as nice.

Came back from there around 1 p.m. and had lunch at Pizza Hut, and will do postcards, read, nap, or whatever until time to get going tomorrow morning. While I'm still not 100% (still don't feel like eating anything), I have one more day of rest while driving sag tomorrow.

Bike stats: 24.05 miles; riding time of 2 hrs. 32 minutes (lots of slow dawdling waiting for the place to open); 1,207 total trip miles.

I think we're all ready to leave Texas, but have three days before we're in Louisiana.

Nice van ride to Navasota

After doing my blog entry yesterday I started to feel rather punky, so took a nap and woke up around dinnertime. Just couldn't bring myself to eat though -- stomach felt like it had a bowling ball in it. Advice to next year's riders -- maybe skip the taco place near the hotel! Didn't feel very well this morning so just had a small bowl of bran flakes and yogurt. That was enough to get me to the first sag stop, at which time the van and trailer pulled in and I decided to bag the day. Just didn't feel good and didn't have the energy for the day. Peggy was not feeling great either, so we just enjoyed the ride and the opportunity to get our laundry done right away at the hotel!

The route today was a pretty steady diet of long rolling hills through beautiful open cattle fields. The winds had pretty well died down and the morning was brisk (40 degrees or so as we started). It would have been a grand day to bicycle because the scenery was so beautiful. Lots and lots of bluebonnets and other flowers along the way.

Part of the ride was through Warrenton and Round Top which had canopy tents lining the road for miles after having an antiques and collectibles fair. The Texas version of the Brimfield, Massachusetts summer fairs. Would be fun to come back in early April and see what they pass off as antiques and collectibles in this part of the world.

Bike stats: 15.93 miles; 1 hr. 22 minutes riding time; 1,183 miles total trip distance.

Food: No dinner. Bran flakes and yogurt for breakfast. A few oreos at the sag stop. Vanilla milkshake at the hotel.

Think I'll check the dryer and then lay down for a while! Glad we have a layover day tomorrow. If I feel good enough, I may ride a bit just to see the scenery up close.

Lollygagging to La Grange

Today was scheduled to be a short day, so we started around 8 a.m. The ride started us through Bastrop and Buescher state parks. The first 14 miles or so were on quiet state park roads that wove up and down and all around. Some of the hills reminded me of Chubb Hill and the hill on East Rd. up to my house, steep but not quite as long as the hills to home. We were surrounded by trees which sheltered us from the wind, which was still blowing hard from the north.

Out of the park we were more exposed to the wind, but since we were traveling southeast the winds were in our favor! The route had beautiful rolling hills through forested areas and cow pastures. We're finally seeing green grass and flowers -- Indian paint brush, painted daisies, and the famed Texas bluebonnets. With the tailwind we were in La Grange in no time. Plenty of time to rest and catch up on stuff (for me that means drop spindling). Tomorrow we head northeast to Navasota, where we'll have a layover day.

Bike stats: 41.73 miles; 3 hrs. 25 minutes; 1,167 total trip miles.

Food stats: Dinner last night was barbecue sandwhiches, cole slaw, fresh fruit, boiled new potatoes, and a couple of cookies for dessert. Breakfast this morning was cereal and a banana. On-road snack was a granola bar. Lunch today has been two beef fajita tacos.