ari and erin, birthplace of texas, competitive sports

October 25, 2008

Day Thirty Four

"No self respecting Southerner will eat something baked, boiled, grilled, stewed, poached, sautéed, or flambéed when it can be deep fried."
- Sandra Brown -

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This morning I'm traveling without my pannier bags. Since I'll be staying at Wanda's again tonight, there's no reason for me to carry all of that stuff. I'm only bringing my left pannier bag, and after emptying it out I repacked it with only a spare tire, an extra tube, a patch kit, a tire pump, and tools. I'm also carrying my handlebar bag, which has all of the things I need to be accessible - credit cards, money, maps, camera, energy bars, PDA (for blogging).... things like that.

I calculated that I'm traveling about thirty pounds lighter without the other gear. Really, it doesn't seem like that much. My own weight is still the same, the bike still weighs around thirty pounds, and I'm estimating I still have at least nine of the thirty nine pounds of my gear. So, instead of 257 pounds I'm carrying 227 pounds. I kind of wonder if it'll make any difference.

From Gay Hill I head east. In places there are huge cracks in the road. There were much larger ones than the one in these two pictures. Some of the fissures were 8-9 inches deep… plenty wide enough to accept an unsuspecting bicyclist’s tire.

one of the smaller ones into which my wheel fit

The scenery is very pretty along this route, and the traffic sparce.

You can tell exactly how tall the trucks are

I think it's safe to assume it gets warm here during the summer. This lug nut sank down about halfway into the melted shoulder on this road.

On William Penn Road I met a couple of women bicyclists, Ari and Erin, heading in the opposite direction.

They started their trip in Virginia and traveled along the Eastern coast before turning West. They're both from Venice, California, and grew up quite close to each other. Somehow they both ended up in New England, ready to return to the West. They talked about perhaps doing some hiking, then Erin suggested taking a bike trip since Ari has taken some shorter ones before.

And that was that - a thousand plus miles later, here they are.

It's been an interesting trip for them, especially traveling through the Deep South. Erin is a vegetarian, and there isn't a single cafe anywhere along their route where you can't buy a chicken fried steak. A cafe in the South can't survive if it doesn't sell fried animals..... mostly beef and chicken, but also goat, alligator, and rattlesnake. In some areas it's hard simply finding FOOD, let alone something without meat. If I'm lucky I can find something that's not deep fried. I can't imagine being a vegetarian on a trip like this.

They're riding to raise money for the Venice Family Clinic, so if you feel like donating money to someone besides me, you can mail it to:

Venice Family Clinic
c/o Erin McConocha
2009 LouElla Ave
Venice, CA 90291

[2024 update: the clinic is still there]

They're blogging their trip, too. If you'd like to read about two women biking through the South, the URL is: www.arianderingobiking.blogspot.com
I can't BELIEVE they're behind in their postings! How terrible! : )

We talked in the shade of an oak tree for about twenty minutes before heading off in opposite directions.

This part of Texas is not only scenic but very historic. I passed through Independence, almost a ghost town now, which is the original site of Baylor University.

Washington, "The Birthplace of Texas," is just up the road from Independence. Also called Washington-on-the-Brazos, it's where Texas became an independent nation in 1836 when it signed its own Declaration of Independence from Mexico. In many ways, Texas is still a different country.

I stopped briefly at the museum in Washington, then continued on to Navasota.

For lunch, I decided on The Filling Station. The waitress' T-shirt boasts, "The Filling Station, where burpin' and fartin' is still a competitive sport."

I decided that bicycling is sport enough for me - at least, for now. I suspect in my old age I'll be an unwilling contestant in burping/farting competitions, and probably at an Olympic level.

After lunch I pedaled through Anderson, then Richards. I took a fifteen-minute break to cool off and have something to drink at a small convenience store where I watched hordes of foot traffic come in and out of the only store in town.

After Richards I was immediately surrounded by a forest of tall pine trees. I'm now in East Texas, this section of which is known as The Piney Woods. With trees towering above me on both sides, there was less light and it felt later in the day.

Here are some pictures I took this afternoon.

crossing Lake Conroe in the late afternoon

The town I was in wasn't named "Pool," so I wondered if the pool and the cemetery are on the same lot? I strained my eyes trying to see if it was just the name of the cemetery or if there was actually a swimming pool there, but nothing was visible from the road.

Evening approached more rapidly than before as the shade from the trees cut off the light and darkened the road ahead. After seeing the first car with its headlights on I continued to ride, but felt invisible, and very uncomfortable, as the grays dimmed to black. There was no shoulder on this section of road, and I began worrying about being felt by drivers rather than being seen by them.

I pulled over at the Ranger Station and waited for Wanda, who showed up shortly afterwards and took me back to her place.

Looking at my average speed, I was somewhat surprised to find that cycling without the weight really did make a difference.

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distance: 73.8 miles
average speed: 14.4 mph
maximum speed: 29 mph
time on bike: 5:06:53
cumulative: 1679 miles

Today's ride: 74 miles (119 km)
Total: 1,680 miles (2,704 km)

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