Silsbee, TX to Lake Charles, LA (80 miles) April 10, 2010

This morning we said good-bye to our last stay in Texas.  Miss Kitty, who was managing the motel, came by the breakfast room where some were having some early coffee.

The directions on the cue sheet today covered two sides, and there were many turns today!  During our 80 miles, we rode on really flat roads, and most of them were smooth.

You would think after all the hills and mountains we have climbed, we would be happy to get on some flat roads.  The problem comes when we don't stand up enough, and get out of the saddle!  Well, you can imagine the problems there!  By using my aero bars a lot, however, I was able to relieve the pressure of the saddle, but there were many who had complaints in that area!


When we crossed over the state line, there were so many differences, you would think we had entered another country!  There were no more Baptist churches; just Catholic.  There were advertisements everywhere for crayfish, crawdads, etc.  The air is more humid, and the plant life is a heavy green.  And it seems that no one fences or ties up their dogs!  We must have had at least 8 incidences where dogs came out of their yards and ran after us on the road!  The roads are very flat, Azaleas are everywhere, and of course we got rid of the chip/seal!  Ya Hoo! 

We had our traditional Margaritas tonight before dinner, too.  We FINALLY crossed out of Texas!  It is not that Texas is so bad; it just took us 20 days to get across it!!

 

Tomorrow will be  83 miles to Lafayette, Louisana.

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.