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