Wow when you’ve been in small town America cycling, the big cities seem even bigger!! We switched up our rest days to stay an extra day here (rather than previously scheduled Fredericksburg). We got our bikes serviced and saw Kathy’s Georgetown classmate, Louise Joy, and her family on a tour boat on Lady Bird Lake to watch the bats come out from under the South Congress Bridge to feed for the night. Among many events, it’s pretty much “the” event in downtown Austin between March and October when the bats are visiting from Mexico. Louise brought yummy tacos from Torchy Tacos for our dinner! Thank you Louise, Gary, Clare & Susie for the Texas hospitality.

We’ve spent quite a bit of time today figuring out how to navigate around the 49th anniversary of the Cap10 running event tomorrow morning which brings in 25,000 participants and basically shuts down downtown. And rain is forecast. Stay tuned!!

This morning Jody drove us 6 miles north from LaGrange back to the route up the large highway with construction that we cycled yesterday. As we were unloading shortly after 7am, I noticed I had a fourth flat tire! 😩 This time on the front, and the culprit was another very tiny metal wire from a road sweeper or a steel belted radial remnant! Quick fix again with Steven’s help and on the road again. The first 38 miles were generally lovely country roads and 13 miles were in Buescher & Bastrop State Parks with some steep rollers, great road surfaces, no dogs and no traffic. But then the roads changed to no shoulder and lots of traffic with huge distribution/data center construction, and I called it quits! Jody had been graciously checking on us several times during the day, so I called it a day and hopped in! The boys of course kept going into downtown Austin. 53.4 miles 2326’ (boys 72.1 & 2800’)

Checked into our Airbnb apartment, and the boys took our bikes in for a previously scheduled tune up at an Austin bike shop. Now a day off!! 😊 Rest, buy some new bike shorts, and sightsee a little (I’ve visited Austin multiple times before so feel a little less pressure to see the sights in the capital).

Navasota last night – the Blues Capital of TX with some great public art and near to both Presidential Libraries for George H.W. & George W. Bush.

Moved on to a new Souther Tier map section today, and it has elevation profiles! …. guess we’ll be doing some climbing unlike the very flat ride we’ve had so far! Yesterday was a warm up with nearly 3000’.

Southeasterly mostly favorable winds and cloud cover kept the temps reasonable. 77.8 miles & 3350’ with a stellar TransAm kind of day, in stark contrast to yesterday! Only two sections of busy highways with decent enough shoulders and then country roads, some without even line markings. Lots of ranches with amazing entry gates. Tom took photos of many. Lots of American flags and Texas flags flying at the same height. Wildflowers are prime!! Incredible live oak trees and some gorgeous juniper-like trees. And a few cute, small historic towns like Independence, Burton (with the oldest still operating cotton gin) and Round Top. Made it into LaGrange, TX before a downpour! 😊

Thought I should start out with some granddaughter love – Miya is growing well at just over one month old and parents are settling in to their new roles.

Today’s ride was not one to introduce your friends to the magnificence of a TransAm cycle! Other than a few nice miles on some country TX roads, the majority of routes had a lot of speedy traffic with some to no shoulder. At least the winds were mostly favorable (S/SE) and the temps comfortable. The good thing was the left wrist brace I added to my kit today; wrist didn’t hurt all day even with a lot of chip seal surfaces, and I’m “marked safe” and in a 3 star 😊 motel. 71.5 miles 2572’ (getting some rollers today).

Nourishment is important when you are cycling 4-7 hours a day! Peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches daily, caffeine in some form, egg frittata, super hero muffin, nut/raisin mix, small orange or apple and/or whatever we buy at rest stops. Preferred cycling bottle beverage is 1/3 cranberry juice 2/3 water. I have yet to find an electrolyte supplement I like.

Today’s cycling included short lovely bike path, then short country road, then 70mph hwy with rumble-strip-loaded narrow shoulder. Thank goodness very little traffic on that hwy we were on for 30+miles. Then various mixed highways. Thousands of acres of pine plantations. And sheez another rear flat tire for me a few miles from the end! Thanks again Steven. I did change out my tire tonight. 67.2 miles and 1620’ elevation, and I’m tired.

Our great luck with little 2 star motels caught up with us here in Coldspring… motel owner’s personal and personnel problems made for a several hour wait for Jody’s room! But then out to a lovely Sam Houston National Forest (which Jody had scouted earlier in the day) for a lakeside dinner of taco salad.

I forgot to mention how stressful the dogs were yesterday and today. Western LA and eastern TX are living up to their bad reputation of having bike-chasing dogs! Steven already ran out of “juice” in his airhorn, and I’m running low! Thankfully Jody already bought more at Walmart. These small horns (used often by boaters) have proved to be 100% effective stopping the dogs in their tracks! However, by using them, I am probably hastening my eventual need for hearing aids! 😩

Started out on a chilly, dry morning from Kirbyville and enjoyed three very satisfactory TX roadways even with log truck traffic! Winds were a little squirrelly but mostly from the N/NE so that was highly favorable for our W-S-W travel! Finished today before noon 😊 48.2 miles and 767‘ elevation.

Visited the Big Thicket National Preserve Visitor Center in the afternoon. Google it and learn about bushwhackers! And so exciting the carnivorous pitcher plants were blooming! First time seeing them in “the wild”! Did a 1 mile walk to see them. 💪 😆 Cooking dinner “in” on our camp stove in our first rate 2 star motel.

I have learned that if you want to see the videos in my blog, you have to click in the email notification you receive of my Post – “Read in Blog” Enjoy! If you just read my blog in the email you receive, you won’t see the videos I add. Thanks for following along!

Happy Easter today and Passover earlier this week. Huge storm all last night but it cleared for us to cycle this morning. Saw a lot of pine plantations today and no crawfish ponds. N/NE wind was not too bad in our W/NW direction, even with a tailwind a few times when we turned south (!), and Sunday morning always has less traffic. For a SW Louisiana highway kind of day, the shoulders were mostly wide and clean! 403.8 miles in LA & approx 3500‘ elevation gain. [I sat out one 75 mile day and cut short another day by 12 miles.]

Good bye SE U.S. – a little more than 2 weeks and 1085.7 miles – Florida ✅, Alabama✅, Mississippi✅, Louisiana✅ Now on to Texas for more than 2 weeks of cycling and 1000 miles or 1/3 of the trip.

Texas

• nickname: The Lone Star State
• bird: mockingbird
• flower: bluebonnet (which is actually lupine)
• motto: “friendship” – and every TX driver on this first day was very courteous!

Finished the day: 88.6 miles 1306’

In the heart of western Louisiana. We had been warned of more dogs here mostly because we are cycling on less busy highways. We’ve already encountered a few prior to today, and the new device for this TransAm – the high decibel mini air horn – is quite effective, especially when cracks in the road don’t bump the button while it’s hanging on your bike or you grab it and shoot it into your hand instead of into the air. From here through Texas, I will be carrying it “side holster” in the left pocket of my bike shorts! Already had to use it about 5 times in first 30 miles this morning, and then more the rest of the day.

Beautiful cycle on a quiet Saturday morning through ag country and Chicot State Park with an arboretum and the largest natural lake in LA. Road surfaces were favorable too! Coffee at a cute shop in Ville Platte.

Unfortunately Steven’s bike broke a spoke on his front wheel 😩 41 miles in. The past few days of rough patches of road will do it to a bike!! He and Jody had to drive all the way to Lake Charles to a bike shop for repair. Mission accomplished!

Roadkill today: raccoons, armadillos, snakes, skunk, turtles and frogs. I was not expecting to cycle through miles and miles and miles of rice patties and crawfish ponds! At mile 66, the rain found us. We temporarily took refuge during a squall under a Simplot trailer parked next to a crawfish pond. Then onward to our country Airbnb via some wet gravel roads. 74.9 miles, 650’ elevation gain. Last night in Louisiana! My aches and pains are slowly going away.

Bunkie, LA seems to be a busy little ag town.

835 miles for me since leaving St Augustine; (guys: 922) one more night in LA then a long trek across Texas!

Nice to sleep in, stretch, use the TheraGun, rest, do some paperwork, check and re-check upcoming overnight reservations, write some cards, take a nap and talk to family and friends. And of course, clean my bike and change the rear tire tube.