cross country Silsbee, TX to Lake Charles, LA

you know you're in Louisiana when........You ride on a tiny little itty bitty side road for .3 miles but get to shoot a picture of a lovely and evocative road name.

Today we finally got out of Texas. Don't get me wrong, Texas is a great state and the scenery, especially in the western part has been fantastic and rides interesting, challenging and varied. It just seems like we have been inching across the state forever, and the enormity of the task has sort overwhelmed all of the memories of California and Arizona. In fact the 18 days we have spent in the state represent 1/3 of the time we will be travelling so it should take some sort of memory priority, it just seems wrong somehow.

When we entered Texas, we never did pass any sort of road sign announcing that we were in Texas or welcoming us to the state. I figured we would probably come across one on the Texas Louisiana border, along with a sign welcoming us to Louisiana and that I would be able to get a retrospective Texas border sign as well as a current Louisiana sign. I guess you have to be on the big roads to be bid farewell and welcome as the only indication we had that we had changed states was the small Texas star on the bridge over the river, and an immediate change in the paving from cement and tar to chip seal over blacktop. It's been like that all along, you can tell when you pass a county line sign by the straight edged all the way across the road change in the type and quality of paving. It all seems to be indicative of how much money each county has to spend and whether Tx DOT has been around recently.

Aside from a rather shaky start which required two detours because we missed a cue on the cue sheet and ended up with us protaging our bikes down off the highway, across a field, up and over a railroad track and back onto another road for a 2 mile backtrack. The route we are riding today and tomorrow are new to Woman Tours so the cue distances are not precise. It was sort of a matter of by guess or by golly all day, with 3 mile cues turning into five mile cues, and other cues not showing up at all. All I can say is that it added interest to what have been a long and rather tedious day.

People are starting to realize that reality looms in the not too distant future, with arrangements to be made for ending the ride, shipping the bikes off and saying goodbye to women who have become a combination of loving sister, confidant, mother figure, best friend and councilor to each other. Long easy distances like the middle of today's ride give people time to remember, but also to brood. Part of it is also the fact that for the first time in the entire trip, we are facing the possibility of some very real weather in the form of rain and thunder storms. Only a few of the riders are from the south or midwest and the rest are all a dither about the possibility of hail, or lightning. Of course it didn't help that at dinner last night, Linda, the cook and co guide, ran through some general safety tips for dressing for the rain, riding in the rain and what to do in case of imminent thunder, lightning, hail or tornados. Now most of the riders seem convinced that the wrath of God is (appropriately or not) about to fall on the group. What seems to make people most uncomfortable is the thought of pulling up onto someone's porch and asking for shelter. Having been through some similar weather last year on the Underground Railroad tour, I can easily say that no one I asked for shelter, hesitated to welcome me onto the porch or into the house, so perhaps I feel a bit more sanguine about it than most.

We have been exceptionally lucky with the weather, and in spite of the griping about the head winds, which were pretty severe even by standards in a couple of cases, there really hasn't been anything to complain about. Without exception we have had cool to mildly warm, dry and sunny days with temperatures in the 60's and 70'ss. I think yesterday was the first time anyone noticed the abrupt change in humidity,although it definitely was more noticeable today, but by and large, even today's temperatures in the high 70's with increasing humidity was mitigated by swirling winds coming in ahead of the cold front and was really close to the conditions I am accustomed to riding in. There have been complaints that the ride is boring, just doing miles and miles between ranks of pine trees, clear cut plots, cypress swamp and farmland. Personally I find it fascinating to see how the land shows its' bones and how people live upon it, so to me, it is how I am accustomed to riding, going for miles and miles in a direction with the world rolling by on either side like an endless film strip.

It was a very peaceful ride, and the only bad part was the two bridge crossings with heavy traffic and no shoulder, but the SAG vehicle hung back to play blockade escort so even those were relatively uneventful.

We celebrated the state crossing with margaritas, and Jackie Marchand, the owner of Woman Tours, who had just finished leading a short tour on the Mississippi, stopped by to meet everyone and say hi, so all in all it was a lovely day and tomorrow will be what it will be and we will ride or not as we feel so inclined for our safety and mental well being.

Today's Stats

distance 76.95 miles

ride time 6:15

Speed 12.3 mph due to having to stop and recalculate real mileage against supposed cue sheet mileage at every turn.