90 miles, 2 Bridges, 1 Ferry, then 0 Elevation Change

With fresh legs and full bellies we pushed off from the 105 Cafe in Conroe, TX.  Our sights were set on Beaumont, TX some 93 miles down Texas route 105.  With no turns to make and hardly any hills to climb we put in our right-side earbuds and tuned into our new favorite app:  NPR One.  Our favorite podcasts, hometown stations, local stations, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me, Nerdette recaps Game of Thrones! Radiolab! TED Radio Hour!... the list goes on.

We pedaled through pine forests, past lakes, along farms and through small towns such as Moss Hill, Sour Lake, and Batson.  We had a nice picnic at an abandoned restaurant and finished our near century ride by 6 PM.  Our Warm Showers hosts Joe and Catherine were ready with a hot shower and a beer as soon as we arrived!  To our great delight one of our first conversation topics was Game of Thrones.  They had HBO and were excited to watch!  Joe had even read the books.  We shared a terrific meal, some beers, and a wonderful hour of swords, Arakhs, spears, Valerian steel, and hounds.

The outskirts of Port Arthur were heavily industrialized

We had another early morning, cycling 23 miles south into the gulf breeze to Port Arthur, TX, hometown of Janis Joplin.  We took a couple hours to explore the Museum of the Gulf Coast.  Before we even gazed across the gulf we learned about its natural and human history.  From Port Arthur we had possibly one of the last hills we will have on our ride:  The Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge.  With stiff winds off the gulf we pushed along and with another smaller bridge exited Texas and entered Louisiana!

More like see ya!

The Ferry to Cameron

Thanks to Rosie Rivezzi (my mom) we stayed in the only motel in Cameron, LA and ate some great food at Anchors Up Grill.  We arrived at the Cameron Motel after a short ferry to get into town.  The motel provided a nice clean room, an escape from the humidity, and a place to tuck into our burger and po' boy from Anchors Up!

Fine eats and beautiful skies

This helpful map shows the yearly rainfall in Texas.
That is 6 inches on the far West and 58 on the East!

I am now writing this in the middle of a severe thunderstorm band that is racing along the gulf coast.  We are in Pecan Island, Louisiana with the terrific Juanita from Warm Showers.  She has been a WS host since before she even knew what it was, calling cyclists off the road and showing them true hospitality, whether that meant beer, a meal, a bed, or all of the above.  We abandoned our original plan of camping at a nearby state park when we heard about Juanita from fellow bike tourer (and fellow Surly Long Haul Trucker) Nic!  We met her during our lunch break and had plenty to talk about.  She is headed west, we are heading east!

With our sights on Lafayette and our eyes on the radar are waiting out the storm in comfort!

Till next time.

-WJT

Tribute to Janis Joplin at the Museum.  She was born in Port Arthur.

Bike Twins!  Nic and Sarah with their LHTs

Living the life at Juanita's

Homemade hot sauce swag!

We saw a bunch of gators.  This one was the cutest!

Keep Austin Weird

Let's catch up, friends. It's probably been my favorite few days of the tour so far.

Jimi, Alan, and me. Thanks to Alan's map, we had an incredible ride between San Marcos and Austin.

We left San Marcos on Wednesday, April 20 and our gracious warm showers host, Matt, and one of his tenants, Alan, biked us out of town past the start of the San Marcos river, and along the Blanco River. Alan frequently rides the ~40 miles between San Marcos and Austin, and he made us a really detailed map so we could take the prettiest ride possible.

Signs get shot in Texas. Just how things are.

Hung out with these Texas longhorns for a while, kinda scary, kinda AMAZING.

We rolled into Austin with Jimi, our companion for the preceding week, and said our see-you-laters. He's planning to stay in Austin for longer than us and after our visit, I totally understand why. It's because Austin totally IS the Texan utopia that you've heard it is. It's Portland, OR but not so rainy and way hotter. It's big, southern Ithaca.

Beia explains- "I love Austin because THIS is what people graffiti here!"

We hit up Cycleast, as per Matt and Alan's recommendation, and dropped off our bikes for the night (#separationanxiety). Then we caught a Lyft to our buddy Eric's house. It was great to see a familiar face! We got to open a package from our wonderful friend Jimmy full of treats, play some board games, and eat some really tasty ramen.

On Thursday, we woke up to rain and had a nice relaxing morning. Eric brought us to Taco Deli then headed off to work. Will and I went to the Capitol Building and discovered that it was the anniversary of Texan Independence- San Jacinto Day. We had a free tour of the historic building and were reminded multiple times that it's taller than the US Capitol building. We were able to tour the senate chambers and I totally nerded out about seeing the site where Wendy Davis did her historic filibuster against the restriction of abortion rights in Texas Senate Bill 5.

Spain, France, and Mexico all once held claim to Texas. Their crests are represented here alongside the Confederate and United States crests.

Hey, have you heard that the Texas Capitol Building is taller than the US Capitol Building?

After checking out the building (bigger than the US Capitol Building!!) and the grounds, we walked back over towards the bike shop. On our way there we stumbled upon something that I had heard of but hardly dared to believe truly existed- A CAT CAFE! The Humane Society sends a few lucky felines over to the Blue Cat Cafe to snuggle with folks. It's a vegan cafe and you're welcome to adopt the cats that you fall in love with over cream-less coffee (irony not lost).

Once we were fully covered in cat hair and pining over our cat back in Binghamton, we walked over to La Barbecue and met up with another Binghamton buddy, Beia! She's been living in Austin for a little less than a year and taking full advantage of all the awesome offerings of the city. Beia recommended La BBQ by describing that its brisket is "life changing". True. Get there early because their fare tends to run out and lines are often really long. We had short lines, but the only meat still available was brisket. No problem. Between brisket, chipotle coleslaw, potato salad, white bread and pickles, we were happy, satisfied, and full of new perspective on Texas BBQ.

Getting the Surly in top shape for the second half!

We then headed back to the bike shop. Cycleast opened up fairly recently, but is already just incredible. Russell, the tall, amazing proprietor, gives a great deal to cross-country cyclists. He spent about an hour helping fit me to my bike, addressing any and all questions I had about form, cadence, and more. It was the most incredible, patient customer service experience I have ever had! I would recommend this bike shop to anyone in Austin and anyone riding through.


Beia took us down to Congress Bridge to see a phenomenon that I had no idea existed in Austin. Every night at dusk, tens of thousands of bats pour out from underneath Congress Bridge in huge, flying spirals. I loved watching them, but I was equally enamored by the folks who chose to spend their evening crowded on a bridge marveling at the bats.

Na na na na na na na na BAT CROWD!

A statue dedicated to Austin's "favorite parttime residents"

We got to hang out with the best of Binghamton, Austin edition, on Thursday night. We had a great time with Beia, Eric, and his sister, our friend Ann.

Binghamton buds

Moring siblings!

The next morning, Eric took us down to Voodoo Donuts and we got a $10 bucket of day old donuts, ate our fill (plus 4 "road donuts"), and then brought the rest to the bike shop to share. We picked up our bikes and said goodbye to Eric and hit the road.

Many miles, many donuts

Friday was maybe my favorite day of riding so far this tour. We had a bike path for the first hour or so out of Austin and then had to ride on I-290 for a little while. Thanks to the gracious shoulders, that wasn't a problem. We got great barbecue at Southside Market in Elgin and then spent the afternoon on sometimes paved, sometimes dirt roads through the countryside.

Happy in the land of BBQ (Will is eating the last morsel)

A great Warm Showers host near Burton that night named Carol treated us to an evening in a quaint country bunkhouse, and we awoke rested and ready to ride the over 80 miles to Conroe on Saturday.

The ride to Conroe had us on some larger roads, but knowing we had another host to stay with that night helped us cruise on through. We arrived outside of our hosts' home and were warmly greeted by their golden retrievers... and a more surprising sight. A yearling doe ran out with the dogs! She didn't approach us quite as readily, but she lingered really close. When Sheila, our host, followed the menagerie out to greet us, she didn't seem phased at all by the deer, so I asked.

Sheila explained that she helps with wildlife rehabilitation in the area. Someone got caught trying to raise the doe as a pet, and it was Sheila's job to reacquaint the wild animal with what it meant to be wild. The doe wouldn't take the hint. She prefers hanging with the dogs. Sheila was also nursing a baby raccoon and some opossum babies back to health. Sorry for the lack of photos. Sometimes wonder, comfort, and exhaustion get the better of us.

We spent that night relaxing in a hot tub and chatting with George and Sheila. This morning they treated us to a great diner breakfast before they headed to church and we hit the road.

It's hard to explain the feeling of being over halfway done with our trip. I'm looking forward to seeing our friends and family, Zoola the cat, and to having a consistent place to rest my head. In a way though, this tour has become LIFE. This is what we do with our days. There's no question, there's just miles. I know when I wake up that I'm going to be riding miles and miles with my husband, and I know that we can do it. Shorebirds, crawfish, and bayous are on the horizon though, and all things must pass.

Shadowfax and Santiago, clean & healthy bikes. Thanks again to Russell and Jacob at Cycleast!

-SLL

Desert Nostalgia and Remember the Alamo

As you all may have seen or heard on the news Texas is getting some weather!  As we mulled our options in Del Rio things were not looking good; 3-6 inches of rain were to fall on the greater San Antonio area in the form of thunderstorms.  San Antonio was 150+ miles out still and the headwinds that had been plaguing us hadn't shifted.  We knew we needed fuel for our bodies.  A quick search of local restaurants and we had a clear winner.  The next 5 pictures will document the "culinary" journey that I traveled to fuel the ride to San Antonio.

When we awoke and cracked our hotel blinds we expected the worst.  What we were greeted with were partially cloudy skies!  Unfortunately the wind was still whipping as we could see by the Lone Star Flag fully unfurled and pointing west.

With heavy rain still forecast for the afternoon we get on our steel steads and headed into the wind.  73 miles later and about 6000 calories each we made it to Uvalde!  The rain luckily still held off (it was all falling on Houston).

Feeling great we drifted into sleep with dreams of San Antonio and tailwinds.  

The next day of riding was filled with uncertainly as we watched the radar and kept pedaling into the winds.  Still unsure of where we would rest our heads for the night we arrived in Castroville, a mere 23 miles from San Antonio.  We locked in a place to stay in West San Antonio thanks to a previous Warm Showers host (thanks David!!).  As we pushed towards our final destination, the skies got even darker and we finally had some serious rain to contend with.  With refuge taken beneath underpasses and thunder clapping around us our nerves were on edge.  Only a flat tire and a pit stop at a gas station to pick up some Lone Star and Texas wine for our hosts.  

Cindy and James were very generous!

Our legs really needed a short day.  We lined up another place to crash through our college friend Tomas in the Blue Star district of San Antonio, downtown right by the Riverwalk.  The rain held off and we had a fun time exploring the city.  A nice lunch at Esquire, a visit to the Alamo, and a stroll through el Mercado filled our day with history, food, and fun.  

The section of Riverwalk by our host's apartment.  

We'll remember the Alamo

Pioneer flour mill tower reflected along the Riverwalk

Our ride out of San Antonio relied on Google bike directions and for once Google did pretty well.  A combination of bike paths, parks, and city streets took us from downtown out of the city.  A 55 mile day took us as far as San Marcos.  A bustling and growing college town of 55,000 (100,000 with students) complete with an awesome Warm Showers host!  Matt is fixing up a old house to create the first hostel in San Marcos.  We really look forward to returning!  We were the first pushpins on his world map mural. 

Sarah and I cycling along the Riverwalk in the morning

Even though San Antonio/Austin was sparred from the worst of the rain we still had to deal with some very un-desert like conditions.  To Austin!!

-WJT

Wild, Wild West Texas

Dear Readers, 

When we last updated you on our travels, we were in Marfa, Texas on a beautiful Monday evening. We rode to El Cosmiso, a famous campground in town that features canvas tents and teepees as well as RV and tent camping sites. There's a funky shared bathroom area with nice showers and even a bathtub. At $15 per person for tent camping, it was way more expensive than we would have liked, but the amenities were fun and funky, and that helped make up for it. Also Beyonce stayed there once. 

That night, our first signs of "unfriendly" weather were upon us when, as we tried to sleep in our tent, the wind whipped so fast and strong outside that our tent nearly took flight. The next morning we saw that gusts had gotten up to about 50 mph the night before. Will braved the weather sometime in the middle of the night to remove our rainfly, and if he hadn't I am not sure we'd have one anymore. The lack of fly let a lot of warmth out though, and by the next morning we were surprised to find ourselves really cold (what is this, karma for missing the recent snowstorms in New York?). Luckily, El Cosmico offers its guests excellent free coffee and a neat common room to warm up in.

We stopped at the post office before leaving town to pick up a package from my wonderful cousin Valerie. Her friend Kuumba makes fantastic coconut oil and salves, and after Kuumba heard how much I loved the ones I tried out in Tucson at Val's house, she gave some to Val to send to us. I especially love the rose coconut oil for the end of the day to heal my sunburns. It's soothing and it smells wonderful- a welcome trait in our sometimes very stinky tent.

On Tuesday we rode from Marathon through Alpine to Marathon. We stopped in Alpine for some amazing Tex Mex. Brisket nachos, yes please.

We never know what to expect of these small Texas towns. Sometimes there's a gas station with a few cans of beans, and sometimes there's nothing except a historical marker and a sign indicating that there used to be a town in that spot. Marathon, TX is a real gem. Surprisingly full of art galleries, a pretty well stocked grocery store, some cafes, a pizza joint, and a spot to do laundry at the motel, we really couldn't have asked for more. Man oh man was there more.

The Beehive at La Loma del Chivo

La Loma del Chivo is one of the weirdest, funkiest places I have ever experienced. It's a hostel, but it's also got these tiny outbuildings, many made of paper-crete. I'll let some pictures do the talking. They offer bike tourists one free night of lodging, plus access to the kitchen area, so it's a popular spot among travelers like us. We ran into Jimi, a fellow tourist we had crossed paths with in Arizona, and Eleanor, who is biking from childhood home in Tucson to adult home in Athens, GA.

Hostel at La Loma del Chivo

The top of the hostel at La Loma del Chivo

With headwinds on the horizon, we weren't sure how far we'd get on Wednesday. We ended up putting in a good 75 miles through a headwind with rolling hills and beautiful scenery.  "Lunch" in Sanderson, TX where we met back up with Jimi who is touring from San Fran - Florida, and then spent the night in Dryden, a good example of the kind of town with one store that's only open sometimes and you're lucky if they've got anything in the vegetable or fruit genre. Kindness is easier to find though, and a friendly farmer let us camp under his pavilion and use his picnic table. Unfortunately, between the constant trucks passing by on Rt 90 and the trains hollering down the tracks, it was tough to get much sleep.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Note to those on tours: Sanderson, TX has an RV park, a truck stop, and a cafe (it's not open too frequently). It would have made a more comfortable night than Dryden, but for us it would have made the next day just too far.

We woke to even worse headwinds than the day before, and set our sights on Seminole Canyon State Park. Although the day's total mileage was a mere 60, pittance to us on a good day at this point (you should see our quads), it was almost too much to bear in the surging winds, rough roads, and rolling hills.

We stopped in Langtry for BBQ sandwiches. They smoke their own meat and the sandwiches were decent but at nearly $9, it felt a little like highway robbery. I suppose it's hard to get materials out that far, but I think we would have eaten double or triple what we did if the prices were lower. The store has some limited supplies, but we were glad we had stocked up in Dryden's small general store instead.

We got to Seminole Canyon last night hungry and filthy, feeling like classic bike tourists. After wonderful, clean showers at the campground and chili with quesadillas for dinner, we were all riding a wonderful bike tour high. As the stars began to come out, the fireflies joined the light show. We were surrounded in beauty, exhausted but finally at rest.

Today I write from the Whispering Palms Inn in Del Rio, TX. Thank you to Aunt Lisa and Uncle Lynn who gave us a night at an inn during our tour as a wedding present! It's much appreciated tonight! We only rode 40 miles, but despite being mostly downhill included 1800 ft of climbing. Jimi's been riding with us today, and it's nice to have someone to share the road, stories, and the cost of hotel rooms. Despite the short day and elevation drop, today was really hard. The winds have picked up even more, steady from the SE (we were headed SW) at about 15 mph and sometimes exceeding 20 mph. We rode over the Amistad Reservoir today- a beautiful sight but a harrowing, one mile long bridge across it left us mentally and physically drained.

Different bridge, same acrophobia

Tonight we'll tend to our sore muscles, catch up on news, eat a lot of food, and try to figure out what the next week has in store for us. The weather's not looking too good. Austin is about to get over 5 inches of rain in the next week. 

By the way, thank you all for reading. We love updating our friends and family, and doing so is a great exercise in reflection for us. 

We also want to send our condolences to the friends and family of the amazing Jay Willis. We were hoping that this fellow cyclist would catch us so we could meet her, but while she was just a few days behind us on the road she was in her support car when she and her driver were hit by a truck and killed. A former Olympic softball player from Charlotte, NC, she was touring to raise awareness about the need for youth mentoring programs in the country. Although we never got the chance to meet her, we think about this amazing woman every day. We're grateful for our safety and do not take it for granted. We'll keep riding for you, Jay.

-SLL


PS. Written a few days ago. No wifi for a while, now we are in San Antonio and will update soon!

Finally getting misty- we've left the desert!

Central Time Zone and a good chunk of Texas

We decided to take a "rest" day on Saturday in El Paso.  I was having some unnerving clicking noises coming from my bottom bracket (the part that connects the two crank arms (the things that your pedals are attached to)).   A quick trip to the local Crazy Cat Bike Shop and they had it tightened down and got me set up with a mirror for my helmet!  I stopped by the grocery store on my way back with a half dozen doughnuts and some Noosa yogurt for my sweet wife.  We washed it all down with coffee and headed out to catch a movie!  We decided on 10 Cloverfield Lane and were thoroughly entertained!!  Another 10 miles and we were at our warm shower host in San Elizario (25 miles for the day).  David was a terrific resource on riding in the area and had a really cool setup.  Lots of camping spots, lights, a sign, a guest register, and lots of outdoor cooking options.  We slept well, ate well and prepped for our longest day of the tour yet.  

Things started well.  We had friendly winds, good roads and fresh legs.  We got about 40 miles behind us before noon.  We stopped by the Tiger Truck Stop in Esperanza for some chocolate milk and chiles rellenos.  We climbed up out of the Rio Grande Valley through Sierra Blanca.  Everything was still peachy.  With winds at our backs we cruised at about 20 mph along a deserted access road right next to I-10.  We had Van Horn in our sights- it was going to be our final destination and Sarah's first century (100 miles or more).  This achievement wasn't going to be quite as easy as we thought... Just as we started our decent into the city (8 miles out) the frontage road abruptly ended.  We scratched around at our smart phones for a while and decided that we really didn't want to get onto the interstate proper.  Google told us to back 4 miles and take a parallel road into Van Horn.   In the end we decided that the "safest" bet was to take the back road and not gamble on I-10.  

Sarah descending on the abandoned mine road.

To save time (sunset was in about an hour) I decided that it was a good idea to jump a gate with our bikes and bike through an abandoned mine to get to the parallel road faster.  That just left a barbed wire fence, a bunch of sand, cacti, and a couple train tracks before we made it!!  Bad news is that the road was dirt.

Shadowfax leaning against the barbed fence (tracks and mine in distance)

With going back out of the question we pushed onward down the dirt road.  Our worst fears were soon realized as the road became unbikable.  Steep grades led to coarse loose gravel, which in turn led to the road basically being a dry stream bed with 6-8 inches of loose sand.  The sun was setting and we had only come half a mile.  The next 3 hours kind of sucked.  For the next 2-3 miles we pushed our bikes more than we biked them.  Spirits remained high however as we saw the glow of Van Horn grow brighter.  The last 4-5 miles yielded a packed dirt road with only occasional dismounts for sand.  The night will certainly be memorable and it certainly built character.   We feasted at Wendy's (only open restaurant in Van Horn).

Sarah coaxing her Bike down a 20%+ grade of loose gravel.  FUN!!

I am writing this now at Mando's in Marfa, Texas.  We had a mostly pleasurable 75 mile ride with some elevation gain but also the same friendly winds as the day before.  The only downside to the day was the last 20 or so miles being on horrible pavement...  Nothing to compare with the unnamed road we spent 3 hours on the night before.

A Prada store in the middle of the desert!

Sweet sweet Marfa

-WJT

New Mexican Minute

Dear Readers,

When we last wrote, Will and I had just arrived in Portal, AZ thinking, "Oh we'll just do a short day tomorrow after exploring the Chiricahua Mountains for a few hours." Ron, our warm showers host, smiled and invited us to stay another night if we wanted.

He's seen this before. From Portal, AZ to Columbus, NM, there really aren't any services to speak of. Barring a small shop in Animas, NM about 15 miles down the road, we knew what once we began our ride to the campground in Columbus about 96 miles from Ron's, it would be in our best interest to just do it in one day. That's because we are in the desert, folks. Water is hard to come by. We carry a lot, but it's hard to find the balance between too much (so heavy), and not enough (worse problems).

Sky Islands

We decided to take Ron up on his offer and explore the Coronado National Forest in the mountains near Portal. This area is (ecology) world famous for its Sky Islands, mountains that abruptly rise from the desert. The rapid change in ecology leads to a lot of plant diversity, and in turn to huge animal diversity. Will and I arrived at the right time of year too- lots of migratory birds make stops in the mountains at just this time of year, including our old friend from Costa Rica the Elegant Trogon. We didn't run into the ET, but we did see a painted redstart, four species of woodpeckers, canyon wrens, and lots of other cool birds. We saw some javelinas, or wild peccaries (hairy piggies) up close too. But not too close.

Javelina!

The next day we were off for our longest day so far on the tour. 96 miles through ghost towns that used to survive off the railroad. Route 9 took us over the continental divide and through beautiful country. For hours the only cars we would see were border patrol. Some nice folks in RVs gave us some extra water near Hachita, NM when our day was about half over and our water supplies were too. Just before nightfall we made it into Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, NM. No Google, it is not "permanently closed".

Eating peanut butter chicken ramen in the best restaurant in Hachita!

If you're a history buff, check out the story of Pancho Villa. This Mexican revolutionary was given guns and ammo by the Americans stationed in Columbus, but when they stopped giving him supplies, his men attacked the town, burning a hotel to the ground. Note: his men, not him. He wasn't there! 10,000 men were sent into Mexico to look for him, and the military base in Columbus became the biggest in the US at the time. All this happened only 100 years ago. Pancho Villa was never found but is rumored to have been killed by his own men.

Will and I had heard various rumors about crossing the border- you need a passport, you need a birth certificate, they'll let you in and out because you're the right color (remind me to do a post one day on all the privilege we have, being a white married, straight couple doing a tour). Finally we had heard from enough people that our driver's licenses would be plenty, and we biked the 3.5 miles to Mexico.

The Pink Store- right across the border. Chile rellenos & margaritas? Yes please.

It was amazing. Every mountain we climbed, every hard day of the trip, Will and I would joke that there were probably free margaritas on the other side of the hill. The campground we stayed at gave us free drink coupons to a place in Mexico, and our dreams became reality! Okay, so in our dreams it probably wasn't 10:15am on a day when we still had 83 miles to ride (into a headwind), but dreams are dreams and those margaritas were perfect. We crossed the border back into the US without any problems, picked up our luggage from the visitor's center at the campground, and made our way east to Texas.



After another long and tiring day, we arrived in El Paso. Today we'll rest by only riding 30 miles to get through to the east side of the city, then down into the heart of Texas we plunge.

Please comment with stuff to do in El Paso or West Texas and songs that mention Texas.

Thanks for reading!

SLL

NM State Route 9