Another day of wind. I set out on my own through what was probably not the best part of Port Arthur, but that early in the day it was still very quiet. Then we went over a really big bridge – our hill for the day – and onto horrible chip seal for our departure out of Texas. Since we were finally leaving Texas and entering Louisiana there were plenty of reasons to stop and take celebratory pictures.
Checkpoint was awesome! Just a little store in the middle of nowhere, but it had Shirley, who cooked us up a feast. Turkey, ham, veggies and german chocolate cake with pecans in the frosting and all for free. She could have made money on us, but instead she just fed us, we wanted to adopt her. Shirley also told me how to measure a gator – inches from eyes to snout equals the length of the gator in feet, and also about crawfish and how to cook them.
After checkpoint we rode through a tall grassy swamp where we saw gator eyes and snouts, white herons and what looked like really light pink flamingos. We were on the gulf again where it was real windy and we had to work for the next 15 miles or so. I had been riding alone and finally got tired of riding into the wind and wanted the day to be done, so I put my head down and pedaled hard. Don hopped on behind me and wondered who was up ahead and I said “Sig, let’s go get him,” so we stomped on the pedals and caught him. When I got up to Sig I asked “Who’s that” pointing up the road. He said “Bob,” I replied “Ha! I think I’ll go catch him” and off I went – caught and flew past him, not stopping until I almost ran into a truck waiting for the ferry. We threaded our way through the line of cars and were able to get on the ferry just as it was leaving – great timing.
Just a couple miles more and we were to our “modest motel.” A little cleaning up, a snack, some sorting and rearranging of gear, a bit of a rest, and it was time to go to dinner.
58.8 miles