Day 29 - Cleveland to Huntsville - Two Far 2021 - Sooo... Far - CycleBlaze

May 7, 2021

Day 29 - Cleveland to Huntsville

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We were looking forward to a short 44 mile ride today, but it turned out to be something of a stressful day.

Since we had only 44 miles to go today, we slept a little later and didn't leave until 10:00.  It was a good start to the day.  

The first roads we were on were low traffic, two lane roads with enough shoulder to use if we needed to move over.

A good cycling road
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The scenery was nice.  

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We saw some cows, of course

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And a field of goats.

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Kerry says this ring is for some kind of horse training.  We've seen a few horses, but not many.

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We took a couple of rest breaks and stopped for lunch in New Waverly at mile 30.  There we turned onto TX 75.  We had 12 hard miles on this road.  First, it is a two lane road with very poor and narrow shoulders.  Second, the speed limit is 70 mph, and third, it was busy.  The trifecta of poor cycling conditions!

No safe place to move over. Notice the rumble strip is to the LEFT of the white line.
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Francie GassOh yes, we remember well Texas roads like that with a speed limit of 70!! Glad you made it!
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3 years ago
And the traffic was fast!
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No one was hostile or impatient, but is was stressful dealing with all the cars and trucks roaring past.  

We took a short roadside break and I got the day's wildflower pictures.  We were seeing masses of Black Eyed Susans along the road.

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We've also been seeing this flower.  It's very pretty with it's red and yellow petals.

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Bill ShaneyfeltIndian blanket. This is one I actually know!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaillardia_pulchella
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3 years ago
Curt & Helene ReedYes I planted some last year in my back yard. they call them flower blanket
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3 years ago

And a lot of these plants with the tiny purple flowers were along the road today.

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Bill ShaneyfeltLooks like vervain.

http://www.bio.utexas.edu/courses/bio406d/images/pics/vrb/verbena_rigida.htm
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3 years ago

Near Huntsville, Kerry suddenly made a left turn to check out a roadside historical marker.  He said we hadn't seen enough interesting stuff to put in the journal today.  It turned out to be a good thing to add.

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Coming into Huntsville, we stopped at the Sam Houston Statue Visitors Center.  This 77 foot tall statue was started in 1992 and completed in 1994.

Sam Houston is the only person who has been elected Governor of two states. He was the 6th Governor of TN and the 7th Governor of TX.
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Kerry said this picture would prove we were really there and didn't just get the picture from Wikipedia
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Sam Houston's political offices.  

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A different view of the statue
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Comparison with other famous statues

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The last four miles after our visit to Big Sam were easy and we were soon in out hotel on the campus of Sam Houston State University.  Tomorrow is a rest day and we plan to visit the Sam Houston home adjacent to the campus and also the Huntsville Prison Museum.  Should be some interesting pictures.

Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 1,296 miles (2,086 km)

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Mike ObermeyerGlad you made it there safe. I can't believe that road was 70MPH.
But, I guess that's Texas.
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3 years ago