Sandy Completes Week Four

Day 24 

Fredricksburg TX to Austin TX, plan:   89 miles

Same ol’ same ol’.  Hills and wind.   There are a lot of goat farms in this area and I saw a donkey on watch over his goat herd.  

Guard donkey 

An interesting thing happened while I was climbing a short hill.  Nearing the top, I noticed a whirl wind developing at the intersection, spinning dust around.  I watched the direction it was going when I noted the trees in front of me starting to swirl and the dust it was carrying coming towards me, but fast.  It was a bigger wind than we usually see so I stopped and braced myself for the hit.  I was glad I got off and gripped my bike tight and waited, as it was a doozy, shaking me around.  It only lasted seconds but it sure made me think of the power of Mother Nature. 

Texas Dust Devil
photo from internet

  

Texas drivers have no patience for cyclists on the roads.  I will not miss this state and its drivers.  The closer we got to Austin, the worse the traffic got.  As Tom and I entered the town limits, things got tight with construction and there were no bike lanes.  With 9 miles to go we spotted the van and they yelled for us to pull over.   The guides did not feel the roads were safe and we road in the van the last 9 miles. That was okay with me.  4082 feet up, 5097 feet down.

Tom, one of the guides

Day 25 

Austin TX to La Grange, plan:   75 miles

This was a nice ride today.  Nothing too big climb wise, it was the winds today that were annoying.  Came across a nasty sign at the edge of La Grange.  I think it was designed to scare the truckers to take the alternate route around town instead of passing through the middle of town. 1865 feet up, 2250 feet down.

 Entering La Grange

Day 26 

La Grange to Navasota TX, plan:  66 miles

Oh there is something wrong with today … no wind! Now, if I could just get rid of the hills I’d be happy.  This morning had more lousy roads and impatient drivers.  We rode through a town called Warrenton, TX that is apparently known for antiques.  The shops/tents went on forever.  It would take days to go through all the shops.  We were trying to figure out where the customers parked and for sure would not want to be riding on the days the stores are open.  One shop was quite distinct as all the coloured flowers on its building made it stuck out like a sore thumb. 

Colourful antiques shops

Throughout the day, we saw lots of long horn cattle; these two were munching grass along the road.

Texas icons

Later on, in Independence, we came across the original site of Baylor University.  Established in 1845, it moved to its current home in Waco 41 years later.

Remnants of an original Baylor campus building

Two more sleeps after tonight and we’ll finally be out of Texas.

Day 27

Navasota TX to Cleveland TX, plan:  75 miles

The hotel we stayed in last night had an overwhelming odour of air freshener. When I asked the front desk about it, they said most of their customers liked it. Well, not this one! It made my head congested and I was so stuffed up I could hardly breathe.  Today, I noticed a demolished house across the road. It was demolished, alright, by Hurricane Harvey. Apparently the hotel’s basement was flooded at the same time. Hmmm, maybe that strong deodorizer was covering up some lingering effect of Harvey's hotel stay.

House after Harvey visit

Wow, I think today was my favourite day so far.  A little climbing at the beginning then gently rolling, quiet roads with little traffic.  I saw my first Texas lake today, with lots of turtles along the shore. 

Turtles in Lake Conroe

I made better time today than yesterday and today’s ride was even 10 miles longer.  Sweet ride.

Buggies at a ranch entrance

Day 29

Silsbee TX to DeRidder LA, plan:  70 miles 

Big day today … we finally rode out of Texas and into Louisiana!

Louisiana border sign

This was another flatlander’s delight.  I rode with Jona for a lot of the day, until lunch.  Along the way, we stopped and checked out some more farm animals. 

Saying hi to a pair of miniature donkeys

After lunch, Jona kind of pulled away from me, ‘cause I was daydreaming, and soon she was just an orange dot in the distance.  I decided to try to catch up to her.  After a few miles her dot was getting bigger so I kept the effort going.  It took me close to 10 miles before I caught up to her as she was moving, too.  We only had about 6 miles left when we came upon some open fields and more wind that practically stood me up.  After the big push I did to catch up to Jona, I gave into the wind and just spun the day’s remaining miles.  Another good day on the bike.  I guess the wind at the end was teaching me not to be so cocky next time.

Section of nice quiet road

Day 30

Rest day in DeRidder LA, plan:  nothing

Now that we are in Louisiana, we are now also into humidity.  I just spent this rest day relaxing.  I did have a short conversation with a hotel employee who told us stories of alligators.  What?!!!  Now we have to watch out for dogs and ‘gators? 

End of week four

So What About Kate?

Many of you have wondered what I have been doing to keep myself occupied while Sandy is away. Well, here is a brief summary of some my adventures the last few weeks.

My sister, Patti, came down from Calgary just before Sandy left. The day after she arrived, I surprised her by signing us both up for an art class. Let’s just say that I don’t think either one of the Reed girls will be replacing their riding (Patti, horses; Kate, bicycles) with paint brushes and an easel any time soon!

What if I said those were supposed to be kittens? 😂

We had a cool and very rainy winter that everyone here complained about. (At least we weren’t shoveling snow and facing close to a month of -40C wind chills that our family and friends at home in Alberta experienced this winter.)  The beneficial side effect of all the rain we had, and there was lots, is a major blooming of desert wild flowers, locally referred to as a super bloom. And super it is!! My sister, my friend Pat M, and I drove to Borrego Springs (about an hour away) to  check out the flowers. I also took our friends, Alexis and Bonita from Edmonton, out there on another day. Oh, my, I have never seen anything like it in our time here! I just have to bore you with a few flower photos. Trust me, I have way more than these.

Carpet of wild flowers

Dune Evening Primrose

Notch-Leaf Phacelia

Painted Lady on Desert Sunflower

Sand Verbena

Spectacle Pod

Now, this is a tiny flower!

While she was here, I had to take advantage of my sister’s talents and got her busy working on a couple of projects for me. In addition to redecorating the guest bathroom, amongst other free labour I got out of her, she also did a couple of sewing projects I had saved up for her.

Pat getting the sewing machine ready 

Despite the fact that my sister thinks I over worked her in the chores department, I did give her at least one day off … kinda. I took her with my hiking club to a pretty cool hike through the Painted Canyon.

Pat in one of the slot canyons

  

It was fun having my sister here for two weeks, and I don’t think I worked her too hard cuz she even offered to return for another week before Sandy gets back!

The Reed Girls

Of course, I have been baking.  Our neighbours check in on the dogs when I am going to be out and about for more than half a day, so I always like to leave them a treat to show my appreciation for their kindness. I made a lemon pound cake for them the other day that looked rather scruffy since it didn’t want to come out of the pan, but I was sure it would still taste okay … well, at least I hope so! Here are some other treats I have shared with them.

Lemon Muffins

My best batch of scones, ever

Banana Pecan Bran Muffins

Many of our friends here are making sure I get out and about as there are lots of things to keep one busy in our community and in the valley. The dogs are both going to school and have homework to do most days. Ben has just started Nose Work and Rockie has taken up Barn Hunt (finding rats in tubes hidden amongst straw bales ... her favourite class of all time!!) 

Rockie poses for Basic Barn Hunt class

So, I am keeping busy, but the most important activity I have right now, of course, is putting together Sandy’s blog. Thanks for checking up on me!

Working on keeping you up to date

Week 3: The Ride Across Texas Continues

(Kate’s note:  Sandy did not have many photos to provide this week.  With her approval I downloaded a few fitting photos from the internet for days 17, 18, and 19.)

Day 17:  Ft Davis TX to Marathon, plan:   54 miles 

I woke up to cooler conditions and the smell of rain in the air, a nice way to greet the day.  After the climb out of Ft. Davis and with my legs finally warmed up it, was a great day of riding.  Following  a few rolling hills, which are not my favourites, it was pretty much down hill.  I met up with a few drops of rain but nothing more than that.  Lucky for us, we came across a Target store but they didn’t carry much.  From there, it was a fun ride into Marathon.  I had been have some lousy sleeps so I crashed as soon as I got to my hotel room and got in a quick 1 ½ hr snooze  before supper.   We had a nice meal at the Gage Hotel featuring a big rib eye steak. It was good but it wasn’t steak from you know who’s province.   1134 feet up, 1967 feet down.

I Love Alberta Beef!
photo from internet

Day 18:  Marathon TX to Sanderson TX, plan:   54 miles 

This morning, I woke up to overcast skies.  By the profile and the distance, this should have been the day I’ve been dreaming about, but noooo.  Fog began to roll in. As the fog continued to build, it got to the point that the organizers called off the day’s ride and started picking up the riders.  Visibility was zero.  One rider argued that it was not unsafe and wanted to ride to the end but was told no, it was definitely unsafe for a cyclist to be out on the road.  This rider then blew up and was ranting and raving, demonstrating very poor judgement as he carried on.  It was not a pretty scene.  When we stopped to pick him up, we could not see him until we were almost beside him, it was that dangerous.  

The wind was horrific and once safely in our hotels, we received a tornado warning about 10:45 pm.  The wind, rain, thunder, and lightning were wild.  Then at 11:45 pm everything went silent.  That was eerie.  Shortly afterwards, the winds started up again.  Now, who can sleep? Then the rooster next door woke up and started to do his thing at 4 am.  Well, that was another not so restful sleep. Jim, however, said he slept pretty good thinking that if a tornado came upon us he would hear the girls scream and that would wake him up.    

818 feet up, 2068 feet down.

Tornado warning
photo from internet

Day 19:   Sanderson TX to Del Rio, plan: 119 miles 

After the tornado warning and all the weather carryings on of the night before, we woke up to a clear sky.  The first 100 km of today’s ride was fun and went by somewhat quickly.  Then, of course, things just had to change.  The terrain went up and down, up and down ... repeat as necessary, and the winds changed as well so even the downhills were tough. We passed many dead trees through the course of the day.  Apparently, they were oak trees killed by a root fungus.  Their “skeletons” show how gnarly the oaks were when alive. 

My aim for today was 160km.   After I got that accomplished, I jumped into the van and enjoyed the last 30 km as a passenger.  With the ongoing undulating hills, I would have gotten in long after supper and I don’t like to miss my food!!  3994 feet up, 5730 feet down.

Gnarly oak tree

Day 20

Del Rio TX to Camp Wood TX, plan:  80 miles

(Kate’s notes:  Sandy did not provide any notes for this day’s ride, even when I reminder her. She said nothing interesting happened on the day.  However, she did send me an interesting photo from just outside Camp Wood.  Apparently, she rode through an area with a history of farming, if the equipment displayed is any indication.)  

1791 feet up, 1405 feet down.

Outside Camp Wood, "Rust in Peace"

Day 21:  Camp Wood TX to Ingram TX, plan:   80 miles 

Well where to begin?  We knew it was going to be quite the riding day, today.  I called it my “Rocky IV” day as every time I got to the top of each of the climbs I raised my arms up in victory just like in the movie “Rocky”.  To be honest I was glad there wasn’t a Rocky V!

Since I had forgotten my Garmin charging cable at home in California, I had no idea what the grade of each climb was but knew they were steep as I was only doing 4.5 km/h.  The only saving grace was the first three climbs had a lot of switch backs which allowed me, on occasion, to look back down into the valley from whence I came and think, “Holy shit, that’s a long way down!”  I was thinking of enjoying the downhill between hills 3 and 4, hitching a ride in the van up the last hill, then riding my bike the rest of the way in, but nooooo.  I felt good so up hill 4 my bike and I went.  It didn’t seem as long but it was straight up with no turns which meant we could see the top of the climb and at only 4.5km/h I never thought I’d reach it.  That was all in the first 40 of the day’s 80 miles.  The last half was humpy bumpy, mostly downhill.  4785 feet up, 4536 feet down.

Profile of tough day

Day 22

Ingram TX to Fredricksburg TX, plan:  37 miles

This day’s ride might have only been 37 miles (60 km) but after yesterday’s big climbing efforts, it was rough.  The countryside was nice, well, at least it wasn’t desert.  

There seems to be an interesting mentality in Texas.  There are big ranches with huge fences to keep animals in where people pay to go big game hunting.  Wow, some accomplishment in that kind of hunting.  The fences in some areas are along both sides of the road which makes for a death sentence for the natural wild animals as they get caught on the road between the fences with no place to go.

Anyway back to the ride.  At mile 10 we came across a wall, well that’s what it looked like to me.  The road was so steep that I had to do switch back turns, back and forth across the road, to finish the climb.  I asked another rider what his Garmin showed for the gradient.  He just laughed and said he was too busy looking down and pedaling to be able to see his computer, but the last reading he saw was 13%.  Okay that’s steep enough at that!  The rest of the ride was interesting.  We were on back country rural roads that literally went through peoples front yards, around their cattle, and over Texas gates. (Kate's  note:  for those of  you who may not be familiar, cattle will not cross a Texas Gate. Vehicles can drive over them so the rancher doesn't have to build a gate across the road ... unless he wants to keep the vehicles from crossing as well.) 1586 feet up, 1622 feet down

Texas Gatephoto from internet

Day 23

Fredricksburg TX, plan:   Rest Day

Again, this was a much needed rest day, with the obligatory trip to check out the local bike shop. The only thing I forgot on this trip was the charging cable for my Garmin (bike computer that provides all sorts of useful information during a ride). It is an older model and it is very difficult to find the style of charging cable it requires. On a whim, I asked the lady behind the counter if they happened to have that type of cable kicking around the shop somewhere. She said she had the same model of Garmin as mine, so knew exactly what I was looking for.  After a quick trip to the back, she came out asking, “Is this what you are looking for?” Sure enough, that was the cable I needed. I asked her how much I owed her for it, but she just handed it to me and told me to enjoy the rest of my trip. Many thanks!!

Next up was a nice, relaxing massage.  With a big smile on my face, I returned to my hotel room to charge up my Garmin, which I haven’t been able to use since Day 1, and took the rest of the day off.   I was one happy cyclist!

End of Week 3

Week Two, Lots of Desert

Day 8 Tucson to Benson AZ, plan:  65 miles

Today's ride was 92 km of next to no flat roads and they were poundingly rough, again. We had a tail wind that would have been great if we weren’t climbing most of the time.   The day ended with a nice downhill run into Benson, AZ.   Poor Jona was inundated with flats today.  

Lunch break at the support van

Day 9 Benson to Bisbee AZ, plan:  50 miles  

The day started out nice and flat, then up we went. The last stretch was almost 20 miles of continuous uphill.  I was going too slow to take a picture of a sign that a cyclist dreads: “passing lane ahead.” (Kate's note:  that means it's going to be a long, long climb.)

The climb topped out at 5000 ft. We then had a long descent with hairpin turns and, unfortunately, horrible roads. Instead of being able to enjoy a nice, fun ride down, I had to do a lot of braking to keep my bike under control.  So much braking that I had to pull over in one town just to relax my hands before continuing. Total of 3513 feet climbing with 1784 feet descending.

Bisbee is a cute town, larger than I expected, but I was too tired to walk around and check it out.  I wanted a beer but settled on a nice tea.  We stayed at the Copper Queen Hotel with ghosts and all.

Christmas in the desert

Day 10 Bisbee AZ to Portal NM, plan:  84 miles 

This was a great day, starting with a 25 mile downhill right from Bisbee, followed by a long flat stretch.  A tail wind showed up so we were flying along after lunch, doing 40+km/hr for quite some time.  We stopped at the Geronimo historical site then continued on, only to have the wind change drastically, dropping my speed to 16 km/hr.  The last 8 miles were an uphill gradient of 2-3% to take us into Portal, NM for the night. Everyone was very tired.   2013 feet up, 2571 feet down.

I told Kate she should have been here as there were lots of people walking around with binoculars on chest harnesses, just like her. Apparently, Portal is a hotspot for viewing songbirds. Right up her alley! 

Geronimo surrenders momument, Skeleton Valley, AZ

Continental Divide (Animas, NM)

Day 11  Portal to Columbus NM, plan:  99 miles 

For the first 8 miles, we got to go back down the hill we had to climb to get to Portal and it was cold.  For days we have been travelling right along the border with Mexico.  The landscape is quit sparse, so mark our surprise when we came across a Target store in the middle of nowhere.  Much to my chagrin, there was still a little bit of climbing.  I got to within 9 miles of the day’s destination when we ran out of daylight so the bike and I hitched a ride in the van.  1757 feet up, 2452 feet down.

We stayed in a cute hotel in Columbus.  The owners feed us a set dinner that was delicious and then out came homemade blueberry cobbler.  Yum!! I got some laundry done so I’m good for a few more days.

Waiting for the store to open

Day 12 Columbus NM to El Paso TX,  plan:  78 miles 

This day was a flatlander’s dream, some climbing but mostly flat.  My kind of day! The scenery was pretty much the same ol’ same ol’.  We stayed in downtown El Paso.  Unfortunately we did not pass by the Texas state sign when we crossed the border; it was somewhere in El Paso but we didn’t get to see it.  1211 feet up, 1537 feet down.

Image from Internet

Day 13  El Paso TX to Ft Hancock TX,  plan:  55 miles 

Since this was a short day, we were going to leave after rush hour, around 10 a.m.  The forecast was for big winds building by the hour so we left at 9 a.m.  The best part was it was another flatlander day, and I was hoping for that wind to be a tail wind.  By noon, the winds arrived and they were a cross wind until the last 4 miles when it was at our backs.  The landscape finally changed, thank God.  Lots of pecan groves and green space, and lots of irrigation.  258 feet up, 380 feet down. Not much happening in Ft. Hancock.  Tomorrow, the forecast is for winds up to 55 mph.

Pecan Trees

Picking cotton

Day 14:   FT. Hancock to Van Horn, plan:  73 miles  

We actually got to see cattle, horses, and goats today!  It was a fun day with a little bit of climbing, dealing with cross winds, and trying to outrun a big nasty sky that was following us.   We arrived in town just in time as the skies opened shortly after we got here and the rain came down.  We also crossed into another time zone so now we are on Central time. One more riding day then we’re off the bikes for a day.  1785 feet up, 268 feet down.

I always say it’s worth looking where you are going and keeping your eyes peeled for what you might find on the road. Today’s find was a US dollar coin.  (Kate’s note:  only two women have been on the US one dollar coin. The first was Susan B. Anthony, a social reformer, women’s rights activist, and suffragist. The second was Sacagawea, a native American who helped Lewis and Clark on their mission to explore the Louisiana Territory. Hers was also the first gold coloured American dollar.)

Sacagawea dollar coin

Day 15 Van Horn TX to Ft Davis TX, plan:  83 miles  

My legs were heavy today, making my cycling a bit more laboured. What a rush for the first 30 km, however, as it was downhill with a nice tailwind!  I had to know that wasn’t going to last.  We were then met with a long steady incline and a slight cross wind. The last 30 km were all downhill, though, yahoo!

There were two events of note, today.  One was my first flat tire.  We had pulled into a lot next to the van for lunch and all was well.  Afterward, I walked my bike out to the road to see the front tire was flat and we couldn’t find any reason why. I got it fixed and off I went.  The other event was when we found a Prada store out in the middle of nowhere.  Unfortunately, it wasn't open.  I understand someone told Prada about the store and they sent shoes and purses.  It got broken in to, so now they only display the right shoe. Someone’s always got to ruin things. The store is about a mile outside of Valentine, TX.   2200 feet up, 1400 feet down

Prada Store

Day 16  Ft Davis TX, plan:  Rest day  Altitude:  4900 ft

I had a fairly good sleep.  After breakfast, it was time for laundry.  I then gave the bike a nice bath and some lube.  Everyone is grateful for the day off ... including my bike. 

Little Sandy at the end of week two