We awoke this morning wishing that we could just lounge
in bed....it is Saturday, isn't it?!?! But we have miles to go
before we sleep so Glenn headed out at 8:25 this am. He was
concerned about the roads he would have to travel today. Since
we are so near metropolitan areas, the map directed him on
Rte. 290 which has varying speed limits from 55 mph to 75 mph.
He took off with a plan for me to meet up with him in about 2 hours.
I have missed seeing flowers here in Texas. There didn't seem to be
too many wild flowers on our route other than those attached to cacti.
I just had to take these this morning...nothing exotic...just planted
at our Hotel in Bastrop :)
Glenn thought that this railroad bridge over the Colorado River in
Bastrop reminded him of this kind of a bridge over the Chattahoochee
near Canoe Restaurant near our home.
I left the hotel at 9:30 and drove slowly hoping to get some
blog worthy photos on a day that could be less than scenic.
You'll have to let me know how I did :)
There were some unusual trees and scrubs on the road this am.
Since we are both from the pine barrens of NJ, I enjoyed seeing a "pine" theme here....road names and the trees, of course.
I kept seeing signs for Lost Pines in Bastrop but never thought
to take a photo but here's the info about this area.
We traveled on a busy 4 lane road with speed limits up to
75 mph but we still passed so many farms and ranches.
A sign like this one would have been great to warn Glenn
of upcoming terrain in hillier parts of the state.
This is for our littler grandsons from Pa!
They love construction vehicles!
It was a beautiful day with temps in the 70's
with sun and some cross wind.
Here is today's scientific weather report based on
standing cows and blowing flags.
Standing cows and flying flags!
By the time Glenn saw this group in Brenham,
he was ready to add a motor to his bike!
As anticipated the road wasn't relaxing. It was noisy enough to have necessitated ear plugs if Glenn had some handy. The shoulder was smooth half of the time, bumpy 40% and non existent for 10%. He had hoped to do 70 miles today but he was exhausted after 60 so we met at a Dairy Queen in Brenham, TX. He rewarded himself with a small blizzard instead of his usual mini!
The remaining 112 miles to Houston was done in the quiet of our SAG vehicle!
Brenham is in Washington County and we both noticed signs for the
Texas Independence Trail and wondered about the history of this.
No If Ands or Butts About it!
Glenn was intrigued by a store we have been seeing in Texas. H-E-B. I looked it up and I have no doubt that this name is much better for a grocery store than its original name. When it was established in 1905 by Florence Butt it was named C. C. BUTT Grocery Store. When her son, Howard E. Butt, took over in 1927 it became H-E-B. Good call!
Following this theme, Glenn complained in the car how much
his butt was bothering him. Two weeks on a bike might be
taking its toll! Maybe tomorrow will be a shorter ride!
How quickly the scenery and the traffic changes in Texas.
We are heading into Houston after two weeks
wandering the much less traveled roads.
We are visiting tonight with friends from Lebanon, PA whom we haven't seen in about 25 years, Warren and Mary Rich. It's significant that we would see them on this bike ride since Warren and Glenn used to bike together all of those years ago through the farmlands of central PA. They live in Houston now and we reconnected recently on Facebook! Warren and Glenn will ride for I Care I Cure I Cycle tomorrow.
Thanks to Mary and Warren for their wonderful hospitality!
Almost forgot to add the Stats for today!
Glenn pedaled 59.8 miles
in 3 hours and 58 minutes
15.04 mph
max speed: 24.09 mph
2790 calories
ascent 1312.3 feet
descent 1355.0 feet
This image seems to fit our journey very well!
We will not give up but we'll take a little break this weekend!
and I Care I Cure!
What's with the Israeli flag?
ReplyDeleteI wondered that too :)
ReplyDeleteAll caught up reading. So glad Glenn is taking a pragmatic approach toward deciding when enough is enough and getting off the bike and into the car. we have high speed limits on our interstates in Colorado and I couldn't imagine being a cyclist and daring to ride alongside such speedy traffic!
ReplyDeleteYou do such a great job documenting your journey and letting us armchair travelers discover the delights and treasures of the far flung corners of our immense land. Thank you!
So glad you are back to blog reading. We missed you!
ReplyDeleteLynn, others have mentioned this and I'm adding my encouragement also. Your journey around the circumference of America is so unique that it would make a great book for people to read to capture (after the fact) the beauty and diversity of our great country) as well as the special reason for the trip. And hopefully it would boost the awareness of I Care I Cure that much more.
DeleteJust like with my book Married Widow (still in the final stages) where I used the emails I had written at the moment of each crisis or celebration you can use your blog posts from the trips to retain the immediacy and poignancy of each moment.
And I'm so glad to have been in this trip with the both of you!
Nice photos. HEB used to be a customer of Table Toppers! Jim has been to their headquarters.
ReplyDeleteSmall world! Did Jim know the original name?
ReplyDelete