Cleveland to Silsbee, TX (64 miles) Friday, April 9, 2010

(First, I want you to know that after Dave got home, he composed a letter from HIS point of view on his day of bike riding with us from Kerrville to Blanco, TX.  It was just added today on the April 3 blog post.  It is worth the read!)

This morning, after making an early run across the parking lot to WalMart for my 100 sun block, we all got ready for a 7:30 departure to Silsbee.  WomanTours provides us with a table full of energy bars, fruit, nuts, Gatorade mix, as well as fixings for peanut butter sandwiches for us to eat on the road.

Today was only 64 miles, but it was flat and smooth!  Actually, the road rarely even turned!  Mike, Alayne, JoAnn Klassen and I headed out together.  There wasn't much traffic, except for the huge logging trucks hauling big loads of telephone pole-sized logs.  Whenever the trucks went by, we could smell the aroma of freshly cut pine trees.  It made me think of Christmas trees!  This region of Texas is called, "Piney Woods,"  and it seems to have a mixture of very tall pine trees and hardwoods.  These trees made a natural wind block, so we did not feel much of the wind that was causing the pine tree tops to bend in the breeze.  These trees are actually the result of years of replanting for use in commercial logging.

One of the recommended places to stop was "Cindy's" for coffee.  It had now become "Lona's" which some of the riders missed.  The new owners promptly made a sign that they posted by the road.

At one of the Sag stops, there was time to take some photos as the mini-groups rolled in.  Shelley Hatcher was Sag Captain for today, and we all were enjoying the ride for today.

Many of us stopped at "Mama Jacks' buffet" for lunch.  The parking lot was filled with white trucks (It seems like everyone has white pick up trucks!), and with few exceptions, the place was filled with just men.  Large men.  The buffet was our first introduction to Cajun cooking, most of it battered and deep fried, with lots of crayfish dishes!  Mike decided to try a sampling, but the rest of us decided to take advantage of choices from their paper menu.

Today is our "Farewell to Texas."  Tomorrow we will leave Texas, cross the Sabine River, and enter Louisiana's Cajun Country.  We will ride 72 miles to the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana, pop. 72,000.

Tomorrow will be 80 miles to Lake Charles, LA.

Navasota to Cleveland, TX (73 miles) Thursday, April 8, 2010

 Today was a rather long ride, but we needn't have been concerned.  The morning was cool (45 degrees) but it did not take long for the day to warm up to a more reasonable temp.  The best temp for riding would be 65 degrees, and I think that was what we had!  There was a soft, cool wind from the north, and our route was mostly easterly.

What was even better, the route was mostly flat with some occasional gentle rollers on WONDERFULLY smooth roads!   We felt like we were flying! 

Of course there were those occasional "share the road" moments...

 

 

We made such good time, we stopped to see a new colt with its mother, saw an Emu in someone's field, and checked out the huge lake we crossed.  The road seemed to have been run right through Lake Conrowe!  This is only the northern tip of a very big lake!

We spent much of our day riding the roads through the Sam Houston National Forest.  The Sag stop was especially beautiful.  Between the wonderful smell of the pine filled woods, and the birds in the trees, we had a picturesque day!

 

Tomorrow will be 64 miles to Silsbee, Texas

Navasota, TX Rest Day April 7, 2010

This morning Carol packed up five bikes that needed repair in the next town.  She and Linda took them in on our day off today.  Those five people are really grateful to get their bikes back into shape for tomorrow's ride!

 Today it rained most of the day.  Good day to clean and lube gears, cogs and chains!

I had been looking forward to this rest day, not only because it was nice to have time to catch up on my blog, but because I am going to be visited by Kori Hardy.  We met Kori back when we shared a deck at our condo in Eagle-Vail, Colorado.  Over the years, we have spent time having dinners, drinking wine and relaxing in the evenings with her and her family while we are out there, ski season and summers.  She lives in Pearland, TX, which is 90 minutes away from Navasota.  She brought her 6 month old daughter, Ellie, who was born since we last saw her.

We drove over to College Village, the next city over, home of Texas A&M.  We had a nice lunch in one of Kori's favorite places.

It was great fun to see Kori and Ellie.  Kori has a great sense of humor as evidenced by the sticker on the back of her mini-van!

I am hoping that Kori and her family will decide to come up to Vail over our annual 4th of July trip to Colorado for hiking and fireworks.

We went out to dinner tonight, and the sky looked pretty ominous! Prediction, however,  is for a high of 72 tomorrow and sunny for our 73 mile jaunt to Cleveland, TX.

 

Tomorrow will be 75 miles to Cleveland, Texas.

La Grange to Navasota, TX (69 miles) Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Today started with a treat...literally.  Our group met a woman, Arza Funk, who is originally from Isreal.  She and her husband enjoy biking, and Amy talked to her about  joining WomanTours for the cross country ride some day.  Arza had such a wonderful time with us, she promised to provide coffee and Kolaches early on our route today!  She set up outside the gate to their ranch, and we all stopped.  She had some beautiful Long Horns, too.

Sabra is also the name of the prickly pear that grows on the cactus plants here.  That is also why they have the Sabra pear on the gate.

We stopped in the town of Independence at the Lueckemeyer-Bentke Store.  Its 1939 facade is built to look like the Alamo.  It is a small grocery store, and in the back is a large room with tables and a very large flat screen TV!  We purchased the pre-packaged sandwiches and took them outside to eat on the benches.  We were joined by two local dogs.  It was hard to tell if they wanted food or just some friendly attention.

 

We were seven miles from Navasota and Mike had a flat!  It took three changes of tubes to get one that worked.  While this was going on, Barbara McNary rode up all by herself!

Before getting to Navasota, we had two long and narrow bridges to cross, the first on the Brazos River, the second the Navasota River. We tried to get across in between traffic breaks, but they always caught up to us. Mike, Alayne and I went across these two-lane bridges (with no shoulder) with our left arms waving, effectively stopping the traffic behind us!  The Texas drivers were patient with us, and we waved with a "thumbs up," thanking them for their consideration.

As we rolled in, we caught up to Sue and Pam, and there in front was Barbara!  She lead the pack into the Navasota Best Western!!  Go Barbara!! 

We will stay two nights in Navasota, TX, for our rest day.