Day 39 [Mamou, LA]

Keeping an eye on the weather I didn't know if I'd be moving today, but finally around 11:30am I began pedaling.  The rain that I thought had ceased slowly started to get heavier until I was drenched, and then it finally stopped for good once it was sure that I was soaked.  Then, for the first time on the trip I had my front tire go flat on me.  I know all to well what it feels like to have the rear tire go flat, but the front flat is a new sensation.  It took me a hundred feet or so to realize what was going on, and riding the flat caused me to have to apply three patches instead of one.  This setback combined with my late start caused me to fall short of my goal for the day of 80 miles, which would have brought me to a campground.  I stopped at 60 miles in the small town of Mamou, where I found a hotel for $40 cash.  It was already 7pm so my daylight was running out.  It's actually a very nice room, but an odd hotel.  I had to call the number on the door to get the owner to drive out and check me in.  It's also weird because they leave all of the unoccupied room doors open.  It's kind of creepy to see a hallway full of dark rooms (there's only one other guest here) especially in this old building.  Here's to a ghost-free night and a good ride tomorrow! 

Day 38 [Deridder, LA]

Update 5:00 am: I was awoken in my tent around 4:30 this morning by strong winds and rain.  Took shelter in the laundry room here at the RV park.  Looks like it may be like this all day and I doubt I'll be able to ride.  I Google'd things to do in Deridder and #3 on the list was "Dairy Queen".  So it looks like if I am stuck here, it'll be with boredom.

Today I feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment as I have conquered our biggest state in the lower 48 by riding through the dead center of it.  Texas represented about one third of my total trip and it was quite interesting to very slowly see it change from a dead desert to a state of dense vegetation.  The western most part of Texas is best left for the cows and ranchers.  There's really no reason to be there unless you hate fresh food and living things.  Once you get towards the middle, the state starts to bloom and just keeps getting prettier the further east you travel.  All in all, Texas took me 18 days and 920 miles to cross.  Parts of it (mainly Austin) I loved.  Other parts not so much.  Some of those days where I'd be doing stretches of 60 or 70 miles without civilization out in the desert...well let's just say there were many moments where I didn't think I was going to make it.  It was all just part of my adventure though, and I am glad I can look back on it and say I did it.

Today was much better than I'd hoped.  I had 50 miles done, and the state line crossed by noon!  The winds that I expected were present, but much milder than originally planned for.  Much of the day was spent at 15-20 mph.  That's warp speed for a loaded touring bike.  There's some bad weather moving in that I want to outrun, and as long as it doesn't impede upon tomorrow's ride I should have another big mileage day.  Since I managed to miss my "welcome to Texas" sign when I entered the state, I took a picture at my exit point just for good measure.

Day 37 [Silsbee, TX]

I took a short day today for rest, but battled some strong winds from the east for almost the entire duration of the ride.  Just a few miles out from my campground I got the first flat tire I've had in awhile.  Those gatorskins I bought are good, but I suppose not invincible.  Lucky for me I happened to break down right in front a small one-man shop that sold golf carts and bicycles!  As I was going through the motions of fixing the flat, the owner of the shop crossed the street in his truck and told me to load everything in it.  Back in his shop we used an air-compressor to re-inflate the tire, which made life a lot easier than cranking it out with my dinky hand pump.  He then showed me around his shop, which housed many gas and electric bicycles, as well as some tricked out golf carts (even one made by Lamborghini).  Mr. J.P. White then told me he knew where the campground I was going was, and he'd be glad to take me there.  He did, but not before taking me to McDonalds and instructing me to order anything I wanted with him paying for it.  If only every flat tire turned out so awesome.  

Since I had an easy day, I had plenty of time to update the blog and do my laundry before dinner.  I enjoyed a sit down meal at Chili's tonight with a couple that I had met in New Mexico, David and Nancy.  We had a great feast at Chili's and a fun time filling each other in with stories from the road since the last time we met.  They were very kind to treat me to dinner.  Two free meals in one day!  I think I am finally starting to get the hang of this life on the road thing.  Tomorrow will be a long haul to Deridder.  70+ miles with a headwind, so there's that to look forward to.  Time for a full night's rest on a full belly. 

Day 36 [Thicket, TX]

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!  I didn't even realize it when I took the picture of this old house today, but how fitting.  I rode by quite a few homes that time has forgotten today, and many microscopic towns as well.  Personally I don't understand how some of these little places are even on the map, but apparently out here all you need to be considered a "town" is to have a church.  For example, the town I am staying in tonight has a tiny RV park (with just one other guest), a church, and a vending machine.  Thank to Verizon's amazing service I'm still able to get online, though!  Today the roads flattened out after about the first 20 miles, but there were some mild headwinds to fight.  I get the comfort of air conditioning tonight, because this RV park let me stay in a trailer instead of camping out.  That also means I don't have to put out my tent, which I enjoy because the morning routine of packing everything up has become the bane of my existence.  At one point during my ride today another guy on a bicycle came up next to me and chatted on with me for 10 miles or so.  He was just out for a short ride, but he had a lot of questions about my adventure and the company always makes the miles go quicker.  Not everyone you pass is so nice and friendly, however.  I'd like to take this opportunity to express my thoughts on all of the elitist cyclists with their thumbs up their butts thinking that they're to good to wave to a touring cyclist.  You're not cool because you weigh less than your 5,000 dollar carbon-fiber bike.  I wouldn't rant about this if it hadn't happened to me multiple times, but  for whatever reason there are so many of these awful pricks riding around on bicycles that can't remember why they started riding bikes in the first place: for fun.  Enough on that.  I'm comfortable in my country bumpkin trailer and am probably going to go watch some Deadwood episodes now.

Day 35 [Pumpkin, TX]

Yes, I am staying in a town called Pumpkin tonight.  A town so small and cutely named that Google Maps refuses to recognize its existence.  Today brought more hills, but gentler ones.  I can tell that they are dying out and I will soon be out of the Texas hill country, and Texas all together for that matter.  Today was much cooler than yesterday, in which I was hemorrhaging sweat and as a result had gnats ransacking my face.  The only bug issues I had today was one worthless beetle-sized bug that fly head on into my left eye.  That little kamikaze bastard hurt me pretty good.  The ride today was very pretty because it was mostly through Sam Houston National Forest.  Trees on both sides and not many cars, mostly just the occasional park ranger asking me if I was okay when I'd just be dismounting the bike to take a leak.  Anyway, the past few days I have been learning how to increase my hobo level.  I have all but stopped looking for good lunches and have started resorting to sitting outside convenience stores eating turkey n' cheese Lunchables midday...and sometimes for breakfast.  Don't really care what it is or who's watching me bum it up, just let me wolf it down and get back to pedaling, please.  The past three days have been 65, 70, and 60 mile days, respectively.  My legs are starting to get burnt out from the hills so I think tomorrow will be a 50 mile day, and then a 35 miler the following day.

Day 34 [Navasota, TX]

If I haven't tested my legs yet during the trip then I surely did today.  Mile after mile of hills that just never stopped coming.  Just shy of 70 miles worth of hills, in fact, that took me 7 hours of pedal-time to pass.  Little towns came and went for the first 30 miles, but after that it was pretty rural riding.  I apparently stumbled upon the world's smallest Catholic church during the ride, too.  One thing I can be happy about with today's ride is that my butt was the least of my worries.  For the first time in awhile, I was able to cuss and bitch about my legs hurting instead of my bottom!  Very happy with that new saddle so far.  Tonight  I am staying at a free municipal RV park, the first of it's kind that I've seen so far.  I can't complain that much since it cost me nothing, but I can tell you that I had to kill about 5 cockroaches before I could step into the shower here.  They even had a toilet plunger in the shower, so I got the point and used that to start whacking all these insects to death.

Day 33 [La Grange, TX]

I truly loved Austin, TX.  Out of all the cities I've been to in the US this really might be my favorite.  It's kind of hard to explain why though.  There's really just something about this city.  It's not too city-like, it's clean, and is just freaking cool!  I feel like if I had been touring with someone else, or met someone off of couchsurfing that I would have stayed there for a week or more.  I stopped by an REI store while in town and swapped out my worn tires for some fresh ones that will hopefully prove to be a bit more puncture resistant.  In addition, I returned my cushy bike saddle for a hard leather Brooks one.  It seemed counter-intuitive at first that a rock hard saddle would provide more comfort, but after some thought it made sense.  Riding in bike shorts with a plush saddle ultimately just equates to a lot of moving around under my butt.  You don't need double padding like I was employing, and doing so just submits you to so much discomfort on long distance rides.  Brooks saddles are renowned in the bicycle world as being a top notch seat once you break it in.  It will take me a few hundred miles to satisfy the break in period, but today was the least painful 60+ mile ride of my trip so far.  All in all things are looking great for the second half of this journey.  I can't wait to see what some of these states closer to home hold for me.  Texas was awesome, albeit a bear during some stretches.  I will now be riding routes with towns much more closely spaced together.  The benefit of this is knowing I can get fresh, cold water every 20-30 miles.  This'll allow me to push on for longer distances each day without the worry of being stranded in a "village" of 17 people.