Hola, Tejas

Day 15, 83 miles (1108). Crossed the Sabine River in steady rain, treated to three quick flats, in the rain, compliments of staples in the roadway. Fixing flats in the rain can be a challenge, so I just pulled out the staple and put in a new tube, used all three of my backup tubes, which I fixed when in a warm, dry place later in the day. Rode from Deridder La to Lumberton TX. The last three days have been good riding days, the roads have either been quiet, rural roads with very little traffic or roads with very generous, and for the most part, clean, smooth shoulders. Saw one cyclist, from Bavaria (Steffan), headed west.

Day 16. A cold front brought more rain, high winds (north 20-25 mph) and much colder temps, the days high was 43. Decided that after two weeks of riding every day, a rest day had been earned, so I took a day off from the road.

Over Big Muddy

Day 11.  96 miles (813)  Long day with two flats, lots of traffic and dogs everywhere. Made my WS stop before sunset, had a long hot shower and a great home cooked dinner. My hosts gave me a wonderful Louisiana State Bike map, which will go a long way towards keeping me off the busy roads on future days.

Day 12. 55 miles (868), Crossed the Mississippi today. Short day, I thought I had a WS stayover but it didn't work out so I had crash in a sleazy motel. Todays run was from Jackson LA to Simmesport LA.

Day 13. 65 miles (933), Simmesport to Opelousas LA. Nice rural run on quiet roads, still plenty of dogs but very little traffic. Rained about half the day, but had a WS stop, so a hot shower and a warm place to sleep.

Day 14. 92 miles (1025), Opelousas to Deridder LA. Again, another nice country ride with relatively light and cordial traffic. Dogs continue to be a nuisance. Rode through rice growing area. Tomorrow I should be in Texas.

Three days, four states

Day 8.  62 miles (564) , left my WS stopover at the Methodist Church in Pensacola, FL and  rode along the Gulf of Mexico to the Mobile Bay Ferry landing at Ft Morgan, Alabama. My plan was to catch the 330 pm ferry but the pace for the day was a little fast and I rolled up to the ferry just as the 100 pm ferry was loading. I almost decided to rest and catch the next ferry, but went ahead and boarded. Lucky I did. The fog was so thick in the bay the captain decided to suspend operations until the fog lifted, so that was the last ferry for the day (rumor was that no ferries ran the following day as well) . Lucky me. Camped at a WS host on Dauphin Island. Met Dylan, a grad student from Tulane on his first cycling tour- he is headed to meet his family in Melbourne FL.

Day 9.  74 miles (638), Feb 19,  Left Dauphin Island AL and continued along the coast in fog, at times heavy, to Biloxi MS, where I stayed with Patty's cousin, Courtney Myers and her family. Managed a load of wash, which was a good thing, riding gear was getting a bit stinky.

Day 10  79 miles (717) Feb 20, Left Biloxi in more fog, too heavy to trust motorists by riding on the shoulder, luckily most of the route was along the beach, which has a sidewalk that also serves as a bike path. So I had a buffer from the auto traffic that seemed to be moving rather fast in the heavy fog. Arrived in Mandeville LA before a cold front with heavy thunderstorms, I was just about to pick a motel for the night when a cyclist pulled up and asked where I was headed. He invited me to spend the night with his family, and it was fantastic. He and his wife have a 15 yr old son, we all sat around having great conversation and eating a grilled steak dinner that was superb. It was nice to see a functional family that really gets along well, and who felt comfortable inviting a perfect stranger into their midst. The mom works for the New Orleans Saints and she has her own Super Bowl ring, which she brought out. I had no idea a ring could be so massive.

First Week

Day 1    47 miles(47), Our boat broker and friend, Don Martin, gave me a ride across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge so that I could enjoy the Pinellas Bike Trail , a dedicated bike trail that leads from Gulfport to Tarpon Springs. Riding on dedicated trails is wonderful, no traffic worries, no traffic noise, and other bikers to talk with along the way. The day ended at a great Warm Showers stop with my own bedroom. My host even took me out to dinner.

Day 2.    70 miles (117), more dedicated trails and another windless, sunny day......up until about 3 pm, when the cold front hit my location. The rain started light but built up quickly, I had hoped to camp in a state park, but the rain and reduced visibility (almost all the cars had headlights on by 4 pm) made riding further risky, so that I opted for a Days Inn.

Day 3.    76 miles (193), the cold front passage left a strong NW wind in its wake, so the day was a headwind day, I decided to ride as far as I could and camp along the side of the road. The plan worked well, I found a great place to camp at a stream crossing, where the bridge crossed over the stream there was a natural depression, with green grass, where I could pitch my tent and not be seen by the passing motorists. I liked the stealth factor, you never know who might spot you and decide to have some fun at your expense.

Day 4.    90 miles (283),  awoke to a thick frost on my tent, so packup was a bit cold and wet. Headwinds persisted so it took a lot of saddle hours to achieve my miles. I ran out of daylight before making my campsite so I stayed at another motel. Besides the obvious comforts that motels provide, there is also the advantage that starting early the next day is easy because packup is quick and can be accomplished before sunup, so you can be on the road at sunrise.

Day 5.   109 miles (392), today was a killer, first because I wanted to end the day at a Warm Showers stop so I had over 100 miles to ride, secondly because I made a routing decision that cost me several hours. About 2/3 of the way through my mileage for the day, Google Maps showed my route down a gravel road (everything up to this point was paved), so I stopped and pondered the risks, decided that staying on the pavement was the prudent choice, and was just repacking my phone when a pickup pulled alongside. This good old boy proceeds to tell me that the gravel road is a good way to go, a short cut to Panama City, which is where I am headed. I do my best to follow his directions ( he has lived there all of his life, yet he did not know the actual names of ANY of the roads he was sending me down) but I end up in a labyrinth of packed sand roads. I road, walked, pushed, and carried my bike for over 4 hours along these awful paths. I finally found a house, and then a paved road about dark. Using all available lights and flashers, I road the drainage ditch along a busy highway into Panama City, finding my WS host house about 8 pm. My host was so nice, she made me a giant dinner, a most welcome treat after riding for nearly 13 hours. Moral of the story....don't trust Google Maps out in the boonies and don't trust local advice unless it comes from a cyclist, and even then be careful.

Day 6.  73 miles (460).  More headwinds but still a decent day of riding. Ended the day at  cheap motel.

Day 7.    46 miles (506).  I wanted to stop in Pensacola, the local Methodist Church hosts WS , so it was a short mileage day, and it felt good to take it easy and have some time during the day to explore a town on foot. The church was a great place to spend the night, especially since it is right downtown.

OSPREY has a new owner........

Patty and I signed the sales contract today, February 4th, for the sale of our faithful trawler to new owners from Massachusetts.Since today is also the 2nd anniversary of the day I started my cross-country bike ride in 2012, I thought it only fitting that I now ride my bike back home to Oregon  from Florida. So I start my second cross-country ride next week.
 
My bike is on it's way, via FedEx and I should see it next Monday. So if all goes well I will be on the road first light on Tuesday, February 11th.