3:14 ST
14.5 avg
Correction:
The area we came out of yesterday is not the Texas Hill Country but is the East Texas Pineywoods. We drove through the Hill country a few years ago on our way to Austin, and they are much bigger than what we just rode through.
Thanks, Texbiker, for the correction. Also, thanks for the invite to come back. Maybe some day you can come to Big Sky Country and enjoy the beauty of Montana from behind your handle bars!
The way it works out with distances between towns, etc., we're ending up with two shorter days before we resume longer ones. Today, we slept in and left at 7:30 for Hugo. The road out of town was great for the first 20 miles - flat, wide and smooth.
It was already hot and promised to be a scorcher again. But God was gracious to bring a brisk south breeze that slightly cooled us and a high cloud cover that cut a lot of the sun.
We've seen a lot of big yards while riding but this one is the winner.
Yes, that is all mowed grass! It must take a week to do that.
The ride was great until we ran out of good shoulder. Then it got ugly: two foot shoulder with half of it taken by the rumble strip. At one point even that disappeared. As Gerry steered left to get into the road, Bob, not wanting to go out there with the logging trucks, balked and wouldn't come up over the edge. I did NOT like that, especially because on the other side of the nonexistent shoulder was a 6+ foot drop off. "BOB!!!" Up he came and all was fine. (I didn't really yell at him; I didn't have time, it all happened so fast.) We just rode in the road after that and all the drivers were very courteous. Thank you, Lord, for your protection!
The logging trucks were all coming to this International Paper mill at Valliant. Ummm, gotta love that boiled cabbage smell.
At Port Towson we stopped for lunch when we saw some benches in front of city hall. It was too hot so we went around the corner to catch the breeze. We got to talk to several people as they came to do business. We were almost finished when a lady who came by asked me why we didn't stop at the nice little park in the next block. Huh?! Maybe because we didn't get that far? Bummer. As we rode by it on our way out, we saw that it, indeed, was a nice little park with its shade trees, creek and picnic tables. Sigh.
The remainder of the ride into Hugo was nice wide shoulders again, climbing gently up to the town. We arrived at noon - 91 degrees. Good time to stop.
After cooling down and a shower we walked about 3/4 of a mile to the laundromat.
Washing in the sink is fine but there comes a point when that doesn't cut it anymore. We need some good hot water and detergent.
Oh, look! There's an ice cream place just across the street! We probably need to make sure they're having a good day. Hmmm, two cones for $4.00 or this for $3.49?
Well, I'm not sure if THEY were having a good day, but OURS just got better.
I have no idea what kind of tree this is but it was very interesting with its long bean-like "thingies" hanging on it. They're about 12" long.
A nap before Gerry made dinner was refreshing. Oh, have I mentioned how our daily routine goes? Gerry " cooks" breakfast (heating water for oatmeal) while I pack things back into stuff sacks. We eat and I pack Bob while Gerry checks tire pressure, etc. When we stop for lunch I "cook": spreading peanut butter on the bagels. For dinner, Gerry "cooks" the pasta and potatoes while I either clean/lube the bike if it needs it or start on the blog. I'm sure that some of you may think that we do it backwards (I should be "cooking".), but this is what works for us.
Church name of the day: Spirit Rock Church
Name of the day: (Actually, this is from a few days ago.) Pop Pop's Crawfish
( I decided to try crawfish last week when we ate Chinese. I can be adventurous with trying new things. I was able to get past the eyes staring up at me, and even all the little legs. But I just couldn't do it when I saw that everything - all the innards- was there for the taking. Uhhh, no.)
Riding on the nice wide flat shoulders today allowed me to work on chapters 2 and 3 of Romans. Going through God's Word in my mind and thinking on it is such an encouragement to my heart. There is such power and peace in it.
Please continue to pray; we so need it.
-Protection on the roads.
-God's appointments for us with people.
-My knees and Gerry's groin pull.
-My hearing is not getting any better. I'm wondering if I might have an ear infection.
In His hands,
P@
(Gerry too! He just prefers that I do the writing.)
No comments:
Post a Comment