Cleveland to Silsbee

Today was a 64 mile ride through forest land and very flat,which allowed Gail and myself to make good time in getting to Silsbee. These roads are filled with logging trucks,big trucks,and traffic and long stretches of straight roads. The weather has been perfect,not to hot or muggy and 34 miles into the ride tomorrow,we will cross into Louisianna. Dinner tonite was spagetti,salad,garlic bread,and dark and milk chocolate clusters for dessert.

Gail is going to put up more pictures when we have WI-FI,which tonight we don't have. Well that is it for tonite. More to follow as we ride into the Bayou.

Navasota to Cleveland

Our day started out with a cold, 40, rainy, windy morning. I really moaned at the thought of once more fighting the elements! So off we all started after having had a very nice day off. Well, by our first sag stop the bad weather had started to give way to what turned out to be just the most wonderful biking day. We had gentle rolling hills and even stretches of flat road, really new to us. We spent much of our riding in the Sam Houston Nat'l Forrest. It's some 100,000 acres and so beautiful. We are about to leave TX and I see it as 3 distinct areas. We started out in the very windy West TX region, then the TX Hill Country which is so beautiful and yes hilly, then the last region has Pine trees and to many a New England look. It's hard to believe we're having our final night in TX tomorrow night, yikes!
Well, my newly worked on bike had some shifting problems, ghost shifting, skipping, sounding clunky, etc. Carol, one of our guides spent some time on it going over the cables and doing some adjusting. Tomorrow on our 64 mile ride I'll have some time to check out the shifting.
Not many pix so I'll have to be sure to take more tomorrow, I hope.

Navasota rest day

Today is the most favorite day of the tour for the riders. Rest days mean not having to get up so early and having a slow cup of coffee in the morning. I had finished a small amount of laundry last night and my bike was going with the guides to the bike shop. The shop put in new cabling,Bar tape,tighten the bolts to the stem and handlebar,clean and lube and will be delivered back to the hotel by the guides. While that is being done,Gail and I went to Walmart to shop for some new clothes and other necessities and then subway for lunch items,then a gas station for candy bars. It seems we have serious sugar addictions,even off the bike. Gail also had her bike worked on and she needed new chain and cabling,eliminate a annoying rear cassette or derailer and clean and lube.
As I write this,it is raining outside and thunderstorms are in the forecast and we are tucked nicely in our rooms. The temperature has dropped today,which I love,as I was sweating in Walmart at 9:30am this morning. The weather will be clear for tomorrow and we have a 77 mile to Cleveland. Last night's dinner was spinach salad,Cuban chicken,mashed sweet potatoes and 2 different desserts. Chocolate cream pie and cheesecake. Tonite we are on for dinner and the group is going to a steak house nearby.

That is all for now and 3 weeks from tomorrow,we will be in St Augustine,Florida!And the way we know that is one of the riders counted how many meds she had left and realized it was 3 weeks to the end. Wow!

This photo was taken yesterday--on the way to Navasota!

La Grange to Navasota

Today was sort of a destination ride to our day off, I know I'm ready to do nothing for a whole day! We rode for just under 70 miles and saw so many fun interesting things. Many of the ranches have these beautiful iron gates with different designs on them. We've seen just initials or animal designs or cactus or a very fun one called the Kiwi Ranch with a Kiwi bird as part of the design for our friends from New Zealand.

My cousin Dicky and his wife not only took me out to dinner last night they got both Wendy's and my laundry done. This is a very big deal for us. Thanx again to Dicky, Sherry and their neighbors who actually did the job😊. Then Dicky met the whole lot of us at the first sag stop, showed us a little of the town of Round Top, population 90 and let us use bathroom facilities in their home. Way to go cuz!



We saw Long Horns,

an armadillo (living),

seas of Blue Bonnets, a new born colt and just beautiful ranches.












However, as great as this all was at about a place we planned to stop Wendy's gear cable snapped. This meant she could not shift at all, making that the end of her ride. She called the sag for pick up. My bike is making a clicking sound that was taken care of in Silver City, NM. I think that the TX chip seal road surface is very hard on our bikes. But we're lucky since tomorrow is an off day and the guides are taking both of them to a shop for repair.

We'll let you know how they do.

Bastrop to La Grange

Today was a 41 mile ride,but a lot happened during the day,as usual. We rode through Bastrop State park,which was hilly. We had to walk 3 hills as they were 18 percent grade,but actually it felt good to stretch the legs. It was very humid today and sweat is just pouring off of us,but luckily it was a cloudy day. We had a bigger group that rode with Gail and myself and after exiting the park,we met up with our sag veh. Moira is from Scotland and she spends her own money to add to the snacks and we had baby bell cheese,dark chocolate,and plenty of fresh water and fruit. After leaving her,we rode 8 miles to the town of Winchester and found the only 2 stores closed on Monday. But the second store had someone inside and we pounded on the door and she opened up just for us. It was straight out of the 1950's with Formica counter top tables,real coke in a bottle,ice cream,and deli. Now mind you,I can see the Texas flag out the window,and it is blowing straight outward. The wind was at least 15-20 MPH in our faces for most of the day,but we continued on towards La Grange.

This is definitely cattle country and we saw Brahma bulls and different kinds of cows. We also saw another dead armadillo and the turkey vulture was protecting it.

When we got to the hotel,one of the other riders had arranged for massages and we both had a 30 minutes of bliss. Tonite Gail is visiting with her cousin who lives in La Grange and they are going to have Tex-Mex barbecue. I was invited,but I declined as Gail and I spend a lot time together and to preserve the friendship,it is good for each of us to have separate time away from each other. Besides I traded doing the blog for her to do the wash at her cousin's house.

Yesterday we lost another rider due to a bicycle accident on bad roads. Besides chip seal,Texas has roads that are unfinished,and the rider slipped out in one of the grooves and broke her elbow. She flew home today and we are now down to 28 riders. Gail and I are very careful when riding and it is easy to lose control or hit a bad patch of road.

Tomorrow we have a 69 mile ride to Navasota,and guess what,it is hilly. Oh we'll,we get another rest day and that is good. We are almost out of Texas and another margarita!

Blanco to Bastrop

Today was a long day in the saddle,being a 90 mile ride,and many people did not attempt it. I pooped out at 70 miles and Gail did 94 miles. Gail lost her map on a downhill and went back to retrieve it and our group couldn't stop,so we lost Gail for awhile. When we got to a turn,I called Gail to tell her the turn in case she couldn't find her map. We continue on to the first Sag stop at 20 miles and Gail caught up,but not until she had missed the turn and went up some gruesome hill and corrected herself,hence the bonus miles. We continued on and we had some heavily traveled roads and we have no shoulder,and we had one guy in a truck lay on his horn and then pulled over and yell at 2 of our riders. He pulled away before we could talked to him,of course this is a gun state. Lunch was at a Sonic and we had never tried to order without being in a car,so we walked up to the little box and placed an order. Very fast and very good burgers and Hot dogs. Yesterday we had our first Dairy Queen and in Texas they call it DQ.
Dinner tonight was salad,brown rice,fish stew,and 2 desserts. Carrot cake and chocolate cake.
We didn't take any pictures today as it was trying to survive,but we did see long horn cattle again.
Well it is off to bed and tomorrow we have a 41 mile,but we still have hills. We are still Texas hill country. We love the pictures from the bike club and we miss you all very much.

Kerrville to Blanco

Well, we had ourselves a ride today! Certainly not the longest at 65 miles and we are getting used to those nasty headwinds, but let me tell you about those hills! We started off with nice rollers to help us warm up. Then we made the left hand turn of trouble! Of course our always present head winds were there and the hills began in ernest. For those of you in the Cycle Club think the front side of Park over and over for close to 30 miles! The weather, however, was perfect. And to our delight just before our hotel stop was a well deserved Dairy Queen.  I found today exciting and challenging! I've included just some pix for you to see. Tomorrow is a long one of 93 miles. Wendy will let you know how we do.

Backing up to our lunch you'll see a pix of my hamburger with the TX star branded on top.

Kerrville Day Off

I know there are a few missing days when there was no service at all. So I'll try to bring the posts up to date while sitting outside at the local laundry. Our stop at Vanderpool was so pretty. We stayed in cabins and Wendy and I had our first roommate. The cabins were designed to sleep 3 so Moria from Scotland joined us. The cabins were darling and we felt like we were back in camp. Moria was a delightful roommate and kept us in tears of laughter with her sense of humor in sharing tales of fun. Carol our cook, guide, driver made the most delicious dinner, a wonderful pot roast. The main house was huge and could sit us all for a real dinner party.
Our day off has been wonderful with lots to do. We had breakfast with Joyce, a friend of a friend of the Taylor's. Then Wendy had the grand tour of Kerrville with another friend of a friend, Bob. My cousin met me in the lobby with his daughter, son n law, 3 grandchildren and his dear friend, Bob who took us all for lunch at his Kerrville home. I haven't seen them in years and it was so nice to catch up. I'll get to see Dicky and wife Sherry in La Grange where they live. That's in 3 stops, I think.

The pix show our first viewing of the TX Longhorn. I found out that both male and females have those giant horns, however the females have the larger. We are told we'll see more along our trip. Apparently they are kept on gentleman type farms and not used for much. They can withstand harsh conditions and little water.

Check out the road!

A Great Reward!!!

The pix of the bug on Wendy's front bag was put there as a joke that fell flat when she didn't see it as the dead fellow also fell flat.




It's so hard to believe that Kerrville marks the half way spot on our cross country ride. We're having just the best time and always look forward to the next day.
My laundry is almost done, yea! All for now.

Vanderpool to Kerrville

Today's ride was a 49 mile through some beautiful countryside and we saw our first Texas longhorns on a big ranch. We had lots of climbing of hills today,but the first one was straight up for about a 1/4 of a mile.it was harder than the back side of Park Blvd and many people were walking up it. But Gail and I have that 36 gear in the back cassette and we could ride it,but it wasn't pretty. There was a great stop in Medina at a apple shop with all kinds of food and we had lunch there and Gail bought a slice of pie and I bought a turnover for later. Later being the pie was eaten after dinner last night and I am eating the turnover as I write this blog. After the apple shop is when most of the hill climbing took place and we a a few tight uphill switchbacks(think Mt.Diablo) and we made it to our sag stop. Just as we getting ready to go again,here comes this huge tour bus that drove along that same sharp switchback. We were glad we didn't have the bus or we would have had to get off the road to make room for that vehicle.
We thought we were done with the hills at this point,but Kerrville is a hilly little town and we did not get into our hotel until 4:15pm at the Y&O resort hotel. Gail left her bike at the bike shop to be cleaned and delivered tomorrow and I bought another mirror for my glasses.

The group had 6:00pm reservations at the hotel restaurant and I saw a lot of steak being ordered,being Texas Y'all. Many people have visits from family here and we are having breakfast with Joyce Taylor Barton at 8:15am this morning. Then Bob Couch is picking me up at 10:00am for a short tour of the area. Gail has a cousin and family coming to visit her. Then laundry is a must and just resting. We are still happy and healthy and we have reached the halfway point of the trip. We will make sure of taking pictures of Bob and Judy and send them to our friends B. Ray Traweek as they are high school friends back in the day in Kerrville. Joyce contacted the visitor's bureau and all the riders received a bag that contained a red handkerchief and brochures of the area. That was very nice for the girls.

Well I have to go and get dressed for my second breakfast. Miss you all.

Bracket taille to Camp Wood

Today we had a 49 mile ride,of which,29 miles were in a headwind and lovely chipsets. Then we had favorable winds for the rest of the day. We had clouds all day with a rain threat,but nothing happened until everyone was in and then it rained for a short while. We saw our first Armadillo shell on the ground and we are officially in Texas Hill country. We see lots of dead deer,skunks,and smells of dead animals during the days ride and the scenery hasn't changed much. It is humid now and you sweat a lot while riding. We didn't eat lunch until we got to Camp Wood At 1:30pm and the guides told us the stores and restaurants close at 2:00pm. The restaurant had great food and we ate full meals,knowing we have dinner at 6:00pm. On the road we eat peanut butter sandwiches,nuts,cheese,candy bars until we can find real food. We are in areas that have no services,so we have a sag veh meet us every 20 miles with food and water.

Tonight's dinner was Italian sausage Ragusa,sautéed Kale ,fruit,pecan pie and cherry pie.
Tomorrow's ride is 39 mile day with 3 climbs that total 13 miles and a 15 mile downhill. But the weather might be a factor as we have rain and thunderstorms in the forecast.

Del Rio to Bracketville

We started our day with a short ride from the hotel to downtown Del Rio. First stop was at the local Walmart where we kept our bikes with us while shopping. Many of us where there finding our needed items with bikes in tow. Next stop was the local bike shop and for me that meant 2 new water bottles. Somehow I lost only the bottle tops at our last day off, really weird😮. The bike shop was very overwhelmed with so many showing up at the same time. Even had to close the shop to give the only employee a chance to catch up. Next we headed for the donut shop where I had a huge apple fritter, yumm! Then the ride began. We were riding over just horrible TX chip seal road surface and those terrible head winds! What a ride to Fort Clark Army base where we stayed the night. A real delight! For the last 5 days or so we've been on the same route as another cross country group called Bubba's Pampered Peddlers. We would see them at different places and stop for a chat. It was always fun to meet up again. So on the final day that our 2 groups would cross paths Bubba invited all of us for an ice cream social🍨. Great fun to share cycling stories. Sorry if our posts get a little out of order, we sometimes have wifi, cell and the well known operator error problems. Thank goodness our techno expert, Linda F, is there helping us out. Thank you, Linda😘!

Sanderson to Del Rio

Today is the 111 mile ride,but there was an option to go to Easter Sunrise Service and get a push forward to lunch. Six of us did this and it was a great service and then rode in the van to our lunch stop,which was 60 miles away. We met "Charlie" who owned the convenience store and he told us of the story of a house,which was just across the street,that was rented by a husband who worked for the railroad. Except he was the place where the drug runners dropped off the bags of marijuana and then placed on railroad cars. The Border Patrol arrested him and his wife. Gail and started our ride at lunch and it was 51 miles to Del Rio and it was the hardest 51 mile ride because of the "Texas Rollers" and the heat index was in the high 90's. We crossed the Pecos river and took pictures. We couldn't wait get into the hotel as a storm was approching with lightening. There were several riders that were doing their first century today. When we at "Charlie"store he said were only a half mile from Mexico.

I wanted to relay a ghost story from the the Gage Hotel in Marathon that happened to one of our riders. It seems at 2:00am,Evelyn heard someone downstairs picking at the piano keys over and over and then footsteps going upstairs. We were staying in the old section of the hotel,bur Evelyn went back to sleep. In the morning,Evelyn went to the front desk to inquire about the piano playing and the desk clerk asked what room was she staying in. When she told her,the clerk said " oh you are next door to the ghost and we don't have a piano". Ohhhhhhhhhh!

They Have Arrived in Del Rio, Texas

Wendy and Gail arrived safely in Del Rio!  Unfortunately, they do not have access to wifi.  Their blog post is written and all ready to go, but we won't see it until they find that elusive wifi.  They will be up early and back on the road in the morning!  We wish them a safe journey!

Marathon to Sanderson

Today we left the beautiful Gage Hotel in Marathon for a 54 mile ride to Sanderson. There are some pix of the terrain we traveled which did not change much for the entire ride. The ride was easy and comfortable getting all ready for what's to come tomorrow. Tomorrow is the hugely anticipated 111 mile ride to Del Rio! Yikes! Tomorrow is also Easter Sunday. A group of us are planning to go to Sunrise services (7A) in a local park. Then we will be bumped up 40 miles to the rest of the riders. It's amazing how many over night converts there are😇!
We wish you all a very Happy Easter

 

Fort Davis Day Off

Well, our day off was looked forward to for the past few days. We're staying in the Fort Davis State Park and just chilled. Our room is very nice and perfect for our rest. There was a wonderful chef, Connie, who has upgraded the food immensely since the last tour came through. The area is really pretty with mountains surrounding us giving a peaceful refuge enjoyed by all. We spent the day doing laundry, cleaning our bikes and catching up on some reading. Our cell/computer service was sketchy so that part was sort of slow today. Tomorrow we're off for a 60 mile ride to our next stop in Marathon. Our place there, the Gage Hotel, is supposed to be very nice. We are now riding in the TX chip seal road conditions and will spend our rides bumping along these roads for the next 15 or so days😯.

Ft.Davis to Marathon,Texas

We had a wonderful 2days at Indian Lodge and today we a 60 mile ride to Marathon. The route was very rolling and flat with a little tailwind for the last 30 miles and everyone was in a good mood for having an easy day for a change. At about 37 miles,I was riding ahead of Gail when I spotted a large snake crawling the width of the bike lane. I yelled to Gail"Snake" and we veered out of the way of it. Gail said it was not a Rattler,but it woke me up. In Marathon,we are staying at the Gage Hotel,which is very famous as the old west hotel and very beautiful.
The dinner tonight was lasagne,salad,garlic bread,and strawberry shortcake. The cook has do all meals that accommodate people who are gluten free,dairy free,peanut allergies,vegetarians,and feed the rest of us meat eaters.

A side note,while riding on our route at about the 35 mile mark,one of the riders approached Gail and said "did you hear the UPS story". Gail said no and apparently while the Womantours van was parked in the town of Alpine,the UPS driver asked if there was a Gail Devitt with them. They replied yes and gave 2 big boxes to her to take to the hotel in Marathon.

Just before dinner,Gail opened the 2 boxes and found 3 boxes of Sheries Berries,which are chocolate covered strawberries. You should have seen the excitement of 30 women staring at the boxes and they will be served Sat or Sun night as our dessert. Tom Devitt was the wonderful person who sent this great gift to all the riders.

 

Van Horn to Ft.Davis

Today we started our ride on 39 miles of Interstate 10,where the speed limit is 80MPH!We finally got a little help with the wind and the road service was smooth. But you must watch the ground for tire treads,glass,rocks,and other debris. The traffic really isn't a problem until a semi that has 2flat tires and still moving at 10 MPH in your lane. He was just trying to take our same exit where we had a rest stop. We had to go around at mock speed in the traffic lane to get around him ,just another day on our tour. After the 39 mile mark,we exited Interstate and went the next 8 miles on our first chip seal road in Texas. Now I was traveling at approx 23 MPH on the Interstate with a tailwind and when I turned on the road to Ft.Davis,I dropped down to 7MPH. Let the suffering begin. Our lunch stop was 8 miles out on this road and it nearly took an hour to travel to our stop. We have been told that chip seal is the Texas road of choice. Our guides fixed a beautiful lunch of roast beef sandwich,3 bean salad,cookies,watermelon in the middle of nowhere. The rest of the ride was pure hell for the climbers of which,Gail and I were not doing. We took our first van ride together and we are staying in a beautiful lodge in Ft.Davis State park. We are looking forward to our day off.

A Celebration without Margaritas!

Gail and Wendy are trekking across Texas.  They are going to be trekking across Texas for a very long time!  It will be April 13 before they will experience another Margarita Party!  That's a long time to wait for a party so I think they should celebrate just to celebrate.  They are both so awesome and amaze me each day with their accomplishments!

Today they arrive in Ft. Davis after 90 grueling miles.  Personally, I'm thinking it's time for a tail wind, but one never knows what the Great State of Texas will provide for its visitors.  They will also be in Ft. Davis tomorrow for a day of much needed rest.   I wish them the best for each and every day of the entire trip and I will be raising my glass as a tribute tonight during wine time!

They both have crossed the Continental Divide--that's reason to celebrate in my book.  Wendy crossed it at Independence Pass last year and I have the picture to prove it.  Gail just sent me her picture crossing the Continental Divide on this journey.  I think it is appropriate to post both pictures at this point.  We can all raise our glasses while enjoying their pictures and think good thoughts about the weather and about their safe journey.

We salute you both!

Wendy at Independence Pass in Colorado!

Gail crossing the Continental Divide in New Mexico.

Ft Hancock to Van Horn, TX

Today greeted us with more head winds, yikes that's so hard! We're pedaling like crazy and going 7 mph! We did get to see lots of Boarder Patrol cruising up and down and lucky us we even saw a drug bust. And then it began pounding head winds where we couldn't even talk, now that's just not fare😉.
Our wifi here is slow so no pix. But you will all be thrilled to know that Wendy and I changed 3 flats and not one was ours. I know that's hard to believe but we did it. The ride was along interstate 10 again on a frontage road. At one point after I had just spoken with Carol the guide about continuing on my own (Wendy elected to sag in) I immediately made a wrong turn. This white pickup with 2 very nice ladies asked me if I was with WomanTours. Then told me I was going the wrong way and stayed with me until I was back on track.
Tomorrow we're hoping for tailwinds, keep fingers crossed😊.
I decided to add some pix even though they're not about today's ride. Just some fun shots.

El Paso to Ft. Hancock

Today was supposed to be a easy 46 mile ride,and we were told to stop at two of the local missions as there was nothing to rush to Ft. Hancock for. We stopped at mission Socorro and San Elizario and Gail will post them tomorrow. We also have a picture of plaque of Texas to prove we really are in Texas. Anyway back to the ride. We had headwinds most of the day and had lunch in Tornillo at a very friendly Mexican restaurant. But first we had a police escort to get there as one of the riders flagged him down. That picture will also be on the blog tomorrow. As far as the winds,think Woodland ride into the wind and you get an idea of what we ride. Except we don't get the tailwind back. We are still in good spirits,especially after we're done each day. We had 3 layers of clothes on as the temps are in the low 40's and 60 at the hottest. It will be cold again tomorrow and headwinds again. Yuk!

Take care and we miss you all.