Day 39 – Goodbye Texas!

Miles Completed: 54.0

Cumulative miles: 2061.6

Miles to St Augustine: 1008

After 21 days and approximately 1114 miles, we left Texas and entered Louisiana!!! Four states completed, four states to go. Going into this trip, everyone said Texas would be flat and boring. Well from the seat of a bicycle that was wrong! Everyone in our group was impressed with the terrain, scenery, food, and people we saw in Texas. We all have a new appreciation for the size and diversity of Texas. It is awesome.

Oh my gosh, sorry for this interruption, but as I’m sitting in my tent writing this post, a train horn blasted me three times. It sounded like it was 10 feet away from me. I didn’t notice the tracks earlier today, but they are very close. If this happens while I’m sleeping tonight, I may jump out of my sleeping bag!

Okay, back to business…

Today’s ride was from Silsbee, TX to Merryville, LA. The first half of the ride was on a state highway with an extremely large shoulder that was easy to ride on, while the second half was on farm roads with little to no shoulder and a fair amount of traffic, including semis hauling logs. More on that later.

Because it was cold this morning (42 degrees), we waited until after 9:00 to start riding. About 15 miles into the ride, Dana and Felix stopped at a donut shop in Buna, TX. There are three donut shops in Buna and according to a customer at the shop, this was the best one (sample size of 1). I joined them a few minutes later and had a small breakfast burrito with bacon, egg, and cheese. That hit the spot just right. Co-leader Simona was riding sweep today and joined us a little later.

Once we left Buna, our next planned stop was in Kirbyville which was about 15 more miles.

Felix and Dana ride a little faster than me, so after a few miles, I slipped back from them. None of the other riders stopped in Buna, so Simona followed behind me all the way to Kirbyville.

I wanted to look for Pat in Kirbyville because he researchers local establishments each day and usually finds the best places for lunch or coffee. As I rode into Kirbyville, I saw several bikes at Tom Jr’s Meat Market. I thought we’re going to eat at a meat market? But it had a good name, so let’s check it out. In addition to selling meats, they had three ladies running a grill and serving hamburgers and sausages. I had a cheeseburger and it was great. A lot of locals were coming in for lunch too.

As a side note, you’re noticing that we’re stopping and eating more along the way. When a route is flat and less than 60 miles, everyone feels comfortable taking their time and exploring the local scene.

Now after Kirbyville, we had another 20 miles to camp. I started riding hard but as I said it was a narrow shoulder with a fair amount of traffic. Felix and Dana were close behind me most of the way. But I was getting a little stressed, so with about 7 miles to go, I pulled over, let Felix and Dana ride past, and took about a 5 minute break. After that, I rode solo into camp, and decided to ride casually and take pictures crossing the Sabine River into Louisiana. I enjoyed that last 7 miles a lot.

Tonight, I was again on the cooking rotation with Dale (remember Dale split away to ride his own route to Florida). But good news, we are camping at the Merryville Historical Society and Museum and they made us a Louisiana style dinner tonight, so I was off the hook for cooking. Lucky me!!!

During dinner, the local historian talked to us about Merryville and the area. It was referred to as “No Man’s Land” in the 1800’s because the US and Spain disagreed on who owned that area after the Louisiana Purchase. As a result, the area was not governed by anyone and it attracted criminals and others. But Merryville boomed because of traffic on the Sabine River and the logging industry. By the 1930’s the logging crashed in the area and the city dwindled, but those that remain have a fighting spirit as witnessed by the people we met today.

FYI – Yesterday, Margaret commented “Wow, not many pictures today”, so I thought I’d write a lot and give you extra pictures today!