Bicycling the Southern Tier

​I crossed into Louisiana today.  I am more proud of riding across this state than the entire Southern Tier!   Azaleas have replaced wildflowers and the rolling hills of east Texas have gradually given way to flat coastal plains. With one small exception Texans treated me extraordinarily well. The only bad experience I had in the entire state occurred four days ago as I was entering a tiny Texas town. A motorist going the opposite way spotted me and honked his horn. This is a common means by which people express support. As always, I waved appreciatively. But it quickly became apparent this was not a friendly toot of the horn and this guy was not expressing support. When he got directly across the road from me he slowed down, leaned his entire head and left arm out the window of his pickup truck, and flew the bird at me, all the while continuing to blow his horn, presumably with his right hand. I found this a little unnerving until it occurred to me how lucky I was that this i...

​for the first 42 days of this trip I did not see so much as a hint of rain. Today that all changed. Heavy rains throughout the morning delayed my departure from the shepherd sanctuary until this afternoon.  Fortunately, the storms left behind some tailwinds out of the southwest that enabled me to get to my planned destination tonight. And the extra time gave me an opportunity to further explore the Shepherd Sanctuary. It is a beloved and well known landmark among bicyclists riding the Southern Tier.  The ride today was in the far eastern part of Texas through what is known as  the Big Thicket. Not surprisingly, this is very big timber country. All day long there were logging trucks going past me on a narrow 2-lane highway with rumble strips on the shoulder and a posted speed limit of 70 mph! But the drivers were very courteous. I think they have seen my kind before!

​Today is my birthday so I spent a fair amount of time today communicating with well-wishers and feeling very blessed. At the same time, I felt lonely drinking a milkshake by myself to celebrate! But I at least had a nice ride through dense pine woods to a bicycling hostel where I am spending the night. We are expecting some pretty significant storms overnight and into the morning, so I am very happy to have a roof over my head!

​I’m back in my old stomping grounds. When I lived in Houston back in the 1980s I used to come up to ride my bike with friends on weekend day trips in many of the same areas I rode through today. It’s very nice to be back riding my bike in the Piney woods of the Sam Houston national forest.  I had two interesting and somewhat opposite interactions with human beings today. First as I was eating lunch a guy came up to me and asked about my ride. He was a bicycling enthusiast and when he found out it was a coast-to-coast journey he gave me the celebrity treatment, wanting photos and everything. Later when I rode into my campsite late this afternoon a gentleman strolled over from his huge motorhome parked a few sites down from mine. He stood there looking at me as I was setting up my tent. Finally he extended his arms about as wide as they would go and said, “Why? “ Knowing he would never understand, I simply said, “Adventure “. That seem to satisfy him. He nodded and walked away witho...

I ​rode through 20 miles of a huge antique festival today. And on a beautiful Sunday it seemed like antique sellers power far outnumbered antique buyers. But none of the tents was more deserted than the tent assembled by a rather surly supporter of Donald Trump. I strayed a few miles off the Southern Tier route to meet up with a dear old friend. That detour also enabled me to stay in a motel. Tree pollen here is extremely high right now, which made my nasal passages feel like it running faucet all day and all last night in my tent! In Brenham I was able to get some Zyrtec at a pharmacy, which hopefully will help. I’m also hoping that the tree pollen might subside a bit as I approach the Piney woods of east Texas.

​Beautiful ride today through in between Bastrop State Park and Buescher State Park and south to the outskirts of the historic town of La Grange Texas. I  say historic because La Grange  was home to “the best little whorehouse in Texas”, which was known as the the chicken ranch because the property also included a chicken ranch and during the Great Depression some of the customers paid for services with live chickens.  In 1972 The state of Texas finally decided that enough was enough and over the protest of thousands of locals decided to close the chicken ranch. It has been closed for 50 years and no remnants of it remain. But I stopped at a bar outside of La Grange and some of the patrons at that bar today claimed also to have been patrons of the chicken ranch. They said that some of the employees of the chicken ranch still live in La Grange. And, of course, thanks to ZZ Top La Grange has and will be forever known as the home of the chicken ranch. I ran into another bicy...

I’m on the road again! And what a glorious road it is - beautiful warm weather and lots of Texas wildflowers along the way!  It was great having a couple of days with my son in wonderful ATX prior to resuming my ride this morning. Thanks to my friends in ATX for the nice send off. Knees are a little sore after the first day back. Trying to take it easy and ride myself back into shape. My body is not exactly picking up where I left off in November! I took the photo below in east Austin as I pedaled out of town. It encapsulates some of the things I love about that city. I’m doing my best to help keep Austin weird!

​During the first half of my cross country bicycle ride I witnessed first hand the war that is raging in south Texas against illegal immigration. I spoke with many of the combatants and what I learned was sad, frustrating, and paradoxical. The amount of resources that the United States and the State of Texas are committing to fight illegal immigration is astonishing. Patrolling the Rio Grande valley in Texas is a full-time job for not only federal border patrol agents but also for a lot of local constables, local police officers, county sheriffs and deputies, and, most notably,  state police officers who are deployed there in hordes from all over the State of Texas.  It can be hard for a hot and tired bicyclist to find a motel room along the border because so many rooms are occupied by state policemen from out of the area. I actually heard one south Texas rancher offer state police officers lodging on his ranch as part of an effusive expression of appreciation for their work! ...