Day 36- DeRidder to Mamou

Left DeRidder early at 7am to complete a relatively short 62 mile ride by noon. Mostly smooth pavement and no logging trucks on a Saturday. We were rushing to reach world famous Fred's Lounge in Mamou before it closed at 2pm. A live radio show is broadcast from Fred's every Saturday morning and the place closes whenever the feature band gets tired.

We are camping this evening at the Girls Softball Complex just outside of Mamou and will be enjoying shortly gumbo prepared by locals as a fund raiser for the local music festival.

Day 35- Silsbee, TX to DeRidder, LA

Today we completed five weeks of riding since leaving San Diego on March 8. Somewhat more important to most of us was finishing the ride across Texas (19 days including two for R&R and 1035 miles, just over 1/3 of the total distance).

Today's ride was a remarkably easy 72 miles of mostly flat and some modest gain in elevation after we crossed the Sabine River into Louisiana. The day started with two fast segments going north on US 96 including a stop at the Donut Palace in Buna, TX. Our last culinary stop was a hectic, but tasty lunch in Bon Wier just before leaving Texas.

We overnighted in the Stagecoach Inn in DeRidder. Always a treat to sleep in a bed and have a hot shower with real towels. Bubba treated us to a restaurant meal this evening for our first taste of Cajun food, including a huge platter of crawfish, at Presley's.

A surprise for me was finding myself adjacent to US Army Fort Polk. This is where I spent three miserably hot months enduring basic training in 1970. It was even more surprising to learn that two others of the four of us sharing a table at dinner had also been stationed at Fort Polk in 1970 and 1972. What a coincidence!

Day 34- Shepherd to Silsbee

Dawn over Lake Thompson RV Park where we spent our last night in Texas.

Happy gear day. This is a term used by Rose to describe when you are pedaling without any appreciable effort. Usually on long flat or slightly downhill terrain as we experienced today in Eastern Texas.

We continued almost due East again North of Houston and then Beaumont using FM country roads. Except for frequent passing of trucks hauling logs to paper mills the roads and surrounding roads were idyllic. 

We passed over a small lake and stopped for lunch at a country general store. Their specialty was a fried balogna sandwich. I opted for a cheeseburger and a Coke. Several of us stopped in Silsbee for supplies and, of course, some ice cream, before heading to the overnight campground.

Day 33- Richards to Shephard

Cold (low 40's) and late (9 am) start this morning but a very pleasant low rolling and short (60 mi) route. We passed north of Houston through the Sam Houston National Forest. Just as we by-passed San Antonio one was completely unaware of the close proximity of a major metropolitan area. The terrain has now turned to pine forest and the first bayou. It all reminds me of Eastern NC and Georgia. We saw azaleas and wisteria in bloom as well as a dogwood. All quite a contrast to the desert of Far West Texas and the chaparral of the Hill Country. We are now below 100 ft above sea level.

Russell Cushman came and spoke to us at the Mexican Hill Ranch about his career as an artist and local historian. He was the sculptor of the Texad Ranger Frank Hammer statue in Novasota.

We had two sweet stops along the way today. First for pie and coffee in New Waverly and then burgers and shakes for lunch at The Hop in Coldspring. One more bluebonnet sighting:

Then it was on to our overnight camp site  at the Shephard Sanctuary. Check this out:

Another sign that we are still in Texas:

Day 32- R&R at Mexican Hill Ranch

Dawn at Mexican Hill Ranch, Richards, TX

Doris and Ernie are hosting us on their ranch just off the Southern Tier route of Adventure Cycling. This is a rest day for us after yesterday's long ride and in preparation for our final three weeks.

A fierce wind and rain storm passed over us during the night. A cold wind has continued to gust during the day. We are all grateful that we are not riding on it today.

More rider comments: Jim, is my 'roommate' since he and I both have CPAP devices and our tents are set up side by side to share a power supply. We refer to this arrangement as VIP housing. Jim is from Iowa City, an obvious Hawkeye fan and is retired from insurance. He is a remarkably strong rider even though he had hip replacement surgery ten years ago. He usually rides with Doug and Sue , a couple from Ashland, OR. Both are now retired. Sue sold her dental practice and Doug was a school administrator. The three are very congenial and ride at an easy pace.

Day 31- LaGrange to Richards

Long ride (89.4 miles) today over Silk Sheets (smooth rolls) like country lanes and Farm to Market (FM) roads. The distance was 50% greater than what we covered each of the three previous days but the route and modest pace were a real joy over the 9 hours that it took to complete the course including stops. The 3000 ft of climbing equaled the downhills.

We stopped in Carmine beside this little town park and enjoyed coffee brought to us by Gene, a local guy who Chandler, our mechanic, helped on a previous tour. We also had donuts brought to us by Bubba. From here we had to brave the shoulder and carefully cross a very busy US 290 before returning for the remainder of the day to quiet roads surrounded by fields of wildflowers.

We passed through Washigton County, the birthplace of Texas, and stopped for lunch on Academy Hill in the town of Independece. We learned that where we were picnicing was the original location of Baylor University, then known as Baylor Female Academy.

Our next stop was in Novasota to view a live sized statue of Texas Ranger Frank Hammer, best known as the one who stopped Bonnie and Clyde. 

Last, another DQ obligatory chocolate shake before completing the final 20 miles to Mexican Hill Ranch just outside Richards.

Day 30- Lockhart to LaGrange

Rainy day. The route was a pleasant roll through the countryside that reminded me of the Silk Sheets in South Fulton County. We crossed the Colorado River (yes, Texas has a Colorado River) that marks the eatern edge of the Hill Country. 

The wildflowers were in full bloom but the weather precluded any picture taking. We have been promised tomorrow that the weather will improve and that the wildflowers will be even more spectacular. If so, hope to take lots of pics to share.

The rain was an off and on again drizzle with a cold wind. It soaked us but we had a nice hot soup at our lunch stop and were welcomed to LaGrange by a local resident and architect, Brad, who hosted part of the group. The rest of us guys are staying inside rather than camping in a local rec center. Very warm and cozy. Anotherq great dinner of curried chicken and sausage with rice and lintels.