Author: tomdlouhy

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!

Miles completed: 61.4

Cumulative miles: 2007.6

Miles to St Augustine: 1060

On the way from the Shepherd Sanctuary to Silsbee, TX, I surpassed the 2000 mile mark for miles traveled on my bike. Incredible! I’m about 2/3rds done with this trip and have about 3 weeks to go. Looking forward to what is still to come.

About 20 miles into the ride, I saw some of our bikers at the Doughnut Express. I joined them and had a kolache. It seems there are so many different ways to make a kolache. This one had a small link sausage inside and the pastry tasted like a super soft croissant. Pretty tasty after riding 20 miles.

After that stop, I was on a mission to get to a sports bar to see the Packers. So I rode hard and didn’t take pictures along the way. As advertised, the ride was very flat and generally lined with large trees. There wasn’t much that attracted my attention today.

At noon, I was able to listen to the Packers on Sirius radio through my phone. At the start of the second half I arrived at Phil’s sports bar. It was not my vision of a sports bar. They did have two TVs and they were both playing the Houston Texans game. I couldn’t get the Packers on YouTube through my phone, so I just followed the game on my app. Well the game didn’t turn out good, but I enjoyed my time at Phil’s with Chris, Dana, and Felix. We had a few beers and microwave popcorn (3 bags), because that was the best food they had!

After the game, we rode the last 5 miles to camp and enjoyed a Caesar Salad with blackened salmon made by Mark and Togan, much better than Phil’s bar!!!

Miles completed: 51.1

Cumulative miles: 1946.2

Miles to St Augustine: 1121

Today we rode from Sam Houston National Forest to the Shepherd Sanctuary near Shepherd, TX. It was another great ride through farms and forests with rolling terrains. I’m told that starting tomorrow, we will enter some very flat parts of Texas and we will have very few hills the rest of the way to St Augustine.

Today was the start of Texas’ deer hunting season. Interestingly, I only heard one firearm shot the entire day while we were preparing breakfast. But I took no chances and wore my red bike shirt today!

This morning was a little cool, but better than the past two cold mornings, so most of the group planned to stop at Honey’s Coffee shop in New Waverly, TX just 7 miles into the ride. Honey’s is known for their orange biscuits. It was a biscuit served over some warm orange custard-like sauce. It wasn’t what I was expecting but of course it was delicious.

There were several local bike riders out today on this Saturday morning. We met one of those riders, Tiffany, at Honey’s. Tiffany lives in the area and works at a bike shop about 15 miles away in Conroe, TX and was heading to work after her coffee. She looked at our route for the day and provided some comments about the roads, potential dogs, etc. She also told us to stop at a little farm stand about 2 miles up the road. She called the owner and said she would buy us cookies. Only Felix, Dana, and I stopped at the Farm Stand. We split a package of two chocolate chip cookies and they tasted great. Thank you Tiffany for the conversation and cookies!!!

We are staying tonight at the Shepherd Sanctuary. It is hard to describe so I’ve added a few pictures. There are several “cabins” and we are staying in them so I have a bed tonight. Yay!

Pat and Dale made dinner tonight and they may be our two best chefs. Dale made a low country boil with shrimp, sausage, corn on the cob, potatoes, etc. Pat made a beet salad and coleslaw. All the meals have been great, but this one was probably the best!

On a separate note, Dale has decided to leave our group. He is still going to finish the ride, but is going to ride his own route the rest of the way starting tomorrow. His wife is coming to be his support vehicle the rest of the way. We wished Dale the best in his adventure the rest of the way.

Miles Completed: 71.9

Cumulative miles: 1895.1

Miles to St Augustine: 1172

Today we rode from Yegua Creek State Park to a campground on Lake Conroe in Sam Houston National Forest near New Waverly, TX. Once again we had nice riding through mostly farm land in East Texas. For reference, we are about 50 miles north of Houston right now.

Our route took us through Independence, TX. I learned that Baylor University started here in 1845 and was at this site until 1886 when it moved to Waco. Also, the Independence Baptist Church started in 1839 and is where Sam Houston and his wife attended church. His wife is buried across the street from the church.

In nearby Washington, TX on the Brazos River, the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed during the Convention of 1836, and the area is known as the Birthplace of Texas.

We also traveled through Sam Houston National Forest which has a lot of tall pine trees. We crossed Lake Conroe and camped in the National Forest.

I didn’t make a lot of stops today because it was another cooking day for me, and I wanted to get to camp early. I was paired up with our tour co-leader Simona. Simona is really good about using up things in our food coolers and food bins. So we created a meal that ended up working really well. Here’s what we had:

Appetizers were veggies (carrots, celery, cucumbers, and snack peppers) and guacamole. The main course was penne pasta with smoked sausage and our secret sauce. We also had salad and a Mexican bread with garlic butter rolled into a ball and decorated like a pumpkin (sorry I didn’t get a picture of that!). The secret sauce? One large jar of marinara sauce, two small jars of pizza sauce, and two bags of frozen broccoli. It worked!

We had one box of penne pasta in our food bin and Simona bought a second box at the store. When she looked and the two pastas were different brands, she said that was a mortal sin for Italian cooks. Simona’s mother is Italian and she would not have allowed it! Well I did and the two boxes went into the boiling water. I don’t think anyone noticed…

For desert, Simona bought some Mexican desert which was like bread with colored sugar on it. We forgot to get a Halloween desert, so we dug some candy out of the food bins and gave everyone some Halloween treats.

Overall, it was a successful cooking day!

Miles Completed: 65.7

Cumulative miles: 1823.2

Miles to St Augustine: 1243

Public Service Announcement #2:

I want to let you all know that we’ve exceeded my fundraising goal of $3080 representing the roughly 3080 miles I’ll be riding on this trip. THANK YOU to everyone that donated.

We don’t have to stop. If you’re still considering a donation, you have one more day.

And now…again…back to our regularly scheduled programming:

Today’s ride took us from Buescher State Park to Yegua Creek State Park near Somerville, TX. Most of the ride was on Texas Farm Roads that were not heavily traveled. It was another pleasurable ride with a good number of rolling hills that kept me challenged.

Our ride went through the town of Round Top, TX. Although Round Top’s sign says the population is only 87, the town had a good vibe. It had an area with shops, restaurants, and a small motel all near the town square. The highlight though was Royers Cafe and Royers Pie Haven. We went to the Cafe and I had to have a slice of pie and coffee. They had many traditional and unique pies. I chose the Cafe’s Original Buttermilk Pie. It was like a dense custard and very good. It is touted as “an old southern classic”.

They also had a pie called Texas Trash Pie and in 2016, it was the #1 mail order gift on the Today Show. Who knew?

Our tour leader Tammy was driving the van today and she stopped by the Pie store and purchased a whole Troy’s Junkberry Pie which we shared for desert at camp tonight. The Junkberry pie includes all kinds of fruits and berries. A great way to finish Pie Day (even if it isn’t March 14).

Miles Completed: 54.5

Cumulative miles: 1757.5

Miles to St Augustine: 1308

Public Service Announcement:

Many of you have made donations to Pedal the Cause and your contributions have exceeded $2500 which Pedal the Cause calls the Yellow Jersey level. THANK YOU!

If anyone wants to still make a donation, you have until the end of the day on October 31 (2 more days). That’s the day Pedal the Cause closes the website for the end of the season. To make a donation, look in the menu in the upper right corner and find “Donate to Pedal The Cause” and then you’ll find the link to the donation page.

Thanks for considering a donation.

And now…back to our regularly scheduled programming:

Today’s ride took us from Austin to Buescher State Park. As much as I disliked Monday’s ride into Austin, I liked this ride out of Austin even more. This was one of my favorite riding days.

It was a cool, windy morning in Austin with wind chills around 42 degrees. Anticipating an “easy” ride, we decided to leave the Holiday Inn Express later than usual. I rode out with a group of riders at 9:00 which turned out great because the sun was out and temperatures were warming. The route out of Austin included great bike paths and bike lanes. By the time we reached two lane roads with no shoulders, the traffic was very light. We also rode a reasonably fast pace because the 20 MPH winds were helping us most of the way.

The main town along the way was Bastrop. Felix, Chris, Brent, and I stopped at a Starbucks for about 30 minutes for a nice break. After leaving Bastrop, we entered Bastrop State Park. We were on a 2-lane park road from Bastrop State Park to Buescher State Park, for about 14 miles. The park road was beautiful, well-paved, had a lot of curves and some challenging short but very steep hills (Mark’s computer said we went up a 16% incline in one spot). During that 14 miles, guess how many vehicles I saw on the park road…wait for it…Two!!! Imagine riding on a scenic fun road with no traffic for 14 miles. That was my favorite 14 mile segment of the whole trip so far.

Also, I’ve told you before that I ride solo a lot, but today I rode with Felix, Chris, and Brent essentially the whole day, so that was a nice change.

We got to camp by 2:00 and had the entire afternoon to pitch tents and relax. It was a nice sunny afternoon but never reached 70 degrees. We are going into a mini cold spell and expecting the low to be around 43 tonight. I’ll report tomorrow how the camping turned out.

I spent the night at our niece’s house and got a good night’s sleep. This morning I took the opportunity to repack my bags and charge all of my electronics. After a leisurely morning, Margaret and Nancy and I drove into Austin for a little shopping and sightseeing. We ate lunch at the historic Stubb’s BBQ.

Now a little about my relatives in Austin. Shannon (Margaret’s niece) teaches family and consumer sciences at the local middle school and also does work with the special education kids. She was recognized as educator of the year this past year. Her husband Chris is co-CEO of Sandbox Industries which invests in innovative solutions for the insurance industry among other things. They have three daughters that are excellent students, but their extra-curricular activities are amazing.

Alexandra is a freshman at Belmont University in Nashville studying sound engineering. She has already earned key roles in school activities and productions as a freshman. The exposure to the music industry in Nashville is incredible and she is taking full advantage of it.

Adrianna is a junior at Westlake HS. She is an excellent singer and dancer. She is currently practicing for her part in Austin’s Zach Theater production of the musical “A Christmas Carol” which will be playing Nov 19 – Jan 3.

Anastasia is a sophomore at Westlake HS. Her passion is band. She plays saxophone and is currently competing in regional competitions. She also does the color guard with the band at football games and competitions.

I’m lucky to have a rest day in Austin to spend a little time with them. Thanks Chris and Shannon for the hospitality!!!

Miles Completed: 66.0

Cumulative miles: 1703.0

Miles to St Augustine: 1362

Today we rode from Stonewall to Austin, TX. This is considered our last ride through the Texas Hill Country and it was a challenging ride with many ups and downs throughout the ride. There are limited to no shoulders on many of the back roads through the hill country and when we are in the country with limited traffic it is not a problem. But the closer we came to Austin the heavy traffic on hilly and curvy roads with no shoulder to ride on became stressful. Some drivers are not friendly to cyclists. I did not enjoy a good portion of the ride today because of that.

Early in our ride today, we went past the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site. We then reached Johnson City which is the hometown of LBJ. It’s amazing how some of our past presidents came from rural areas, which seems less likely today.

My wife Margaret and her sister Nancy came to Austin to visit relatives and to see me too! They met me on the route as we entered the Austin suburbs, at a point near where Margaret’s niece Shannon and her family live. Unfortunately, because we got spread out so much today, none of the other riders came by when they were there. But they did get to meet some of them when they picked me up at the hotel in downtown Austin.

We are staying with Margaret’s niece, Shannon, and her family tonight. I’m looking forward to catching up with them. We have a rest day in Austin tomorrow and I’ll provide an update on this amazing family.

Miles Completed: 56.5

Cumulative miles: 1637.0

Miles to St Augustine: 1428

Today we rode from Kerrville through Fredericksburg to Stonewall, TX with a short side trip to Luckenbach. But once again, let’s start at morning camp. We all woke up to soaking wet tents again. But there was no rain or storm. The humidity was at 100% and the dew was everywhere. Tents, bikes, and everything was soaked. But we packed up and moved on. Luckily, the sun was out this afternoon and everything got dried out again.

We continued our ride through some low traffic roads through the Texas Hill Country. It was enjoyable being out there with the quietness and beautiful scenery. It felt that we had the hills to ourselves. About 10 miles into the ride I decided to stop and take my first picture of the day. While stopped, I heard a fast bike rider coming. I wasn’t sure who it was in our group. But they weren’t from our group. A fast lady rider came flying by and she checked that I didn’t need help and continued on.

A few miles later I saw a deer run across the road in front of me, so I rode up to the spot it crossed and looked back from where it came from. I saw three more deer looking at me. After a minute I clapped my hands and made noise until they bounded away. Ironically, another bike rider came by at that time, this time a male about my age. I started wondering about where they were coming from, when another lady rider came by. We talked a little and she actually moved to the Texas Hill Country because she loved riding her bike in the area. She said some people from Austin come out and ride in that area too. While we were talking, our Adventure Cycling van drove by. We talked about our cross country ride before she moved on. About 15 minutes later another van and trailer passed me and it was the Cycle of Life bicycle tour van. Two more riders came by and said they are with a group of 13 riders doing the same Southern Tier trip as we were. I hadn’t seen other cyclists in days or weeks and now I’m seeing a bunch.

What’s interesting is that I looked into the Cycle of Life tours as an option, before I chose Adventure Cycling. Cycle of Life tours stay in hotels and have meals cooked for them. I remember Katie J. telling me to sign up for the hotels!!! But they average 75 miles a day compared to our 60. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that much cycling each day and I made the right decision. Anyway, the Cycle of Life van stopped ahead for a water break for their riders and I stopped once more and talked to the owner who was driving the van. It was just a fun coincidence that our two groups crossed paths.

So I continued riding on to Fredericksburg where I planned to join Felix, Dana, and Chris for lunch. Normally, we all pack our lunches in the morning and I usually take the following with me: a PB&J sandwich, a banana, some trail mix, and a protein bar. But today, I didn’t take a sandwich because Felix wanted Texas BBQ. I met them at Eaker’s BBQ and they got there right when it opened at 11:00. I got there about 20 minutes later and the place was busy. But I got a brisket sandwich and it was awesome!!! We all enjoyed it!

We still had about 15 miles to our camp site, but for only about an extra 5 miles we could take a side trip to Luckenbach Texas. Dana, Felix, and I decided to go. Sing along again:

“Let’s go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon and Willie and the boys…”

Now Luckenbach is not a city or town, it’s an outdoor music venue with picnic tables and food and beer and just a casual atmosphere. On this Sunday afternoon, a lady was singing on stage and people were just enjoying a beautiful day. We talked to some packer fans and to some Texans with some good Texas accents. A fun time in Luckenbach Texas (but no Willie).

Now Felix informed us he was going to meet a friend at a brewery on the way to the campground, so off we went to Witcher Brewery. It was a large tap room with an awesome patio and yard. After a short visit, we headed back to camp. Overall, a fun side excursion!

For dinner tonight, most of us hopped in the van and headed back to Fredericksburg to go to a German restaurant. Fredericksburg was founded by German immigrants and it has become a fun touristy city and is only about an hour’s drive from Austin. We got back to camp and I was able to watch the second half of the Packers 35-25 win over Aaron Rodgers. Go Pack Go!

Miles Completed: 48.0

Cumulative miles: 1580.5

Miles to St Augustine: 1478

Today we rode from Vanderpool to a KOA near Kerrville, TX. But first let’s talk about last night. We were expecting a storm overnight and boy did we get one. At about 10:45 last night a strong storm hit us. For about 30 minutes, it was windy, pouring rain, and lightning all around us. Tammy and Simona got to the camp rec center and sent a note that we could either go over there or ride it out in our tents. Only Togan ran to the rec center and the rest of us stayed in our tents. We were afraid our tents might blow away without our weight in there. Also we would have got soaked! When the storm was roaring, I put on my rain jacket and rain pants and shoes in the tent in case I would need to make a run for it. For the rest of the night it was off and on rain and my tent got some moisture that dripped on me a little, but nothing too serious. The rain stopped about 5:30am in time for setting up breakfast. Thank goodness. I put my wet tent in a garbage bag and dried it out after we completed today’s ride.

After the rain, it was very cloudy and foggy this morning, but we had no rain during today’s ride.

Early in today’s ride, we had a hill with the steepest grade of the tour yet. The steepest part was a 12-15% grade over about a half mile. This part of the ride is known as the “Wall of Death” and “The Widowmaker”. I was ready for it and it didn’t seem as bad as advertised. I survived the Wall of Death!

The Texas Hill Country has lots of hunting farms/ranches. Many have fences 8-10 feet high to keep the deer and other animals on their land. During my ride, I saw hunters in a special jeep with seats high up to see the animals. They pulled up to a gate that I believe they were entering. Then I saw about 6 bighorn sheep that the hunters were looking at. It doesn’t seem much like hunting when a guide drives you to an animal on a hunting ranch.

During the latter part of the ride, we rode along the Guadalupe River for about 20 miles. We crossed it several times and the river looked majestic with good water flow likely due to the recent rains. But on July 4 of this year, the river turned deadly when floodwaters overtook young campers at Camp Mystic, killing 25 children and 2 counselors. I rode by Camp Mystic today and it was very emotional seeing the memorials and the devastation to the area. I can’t fathom that kind of tragedy. My heart goes out to those kids and their families. It has much more impact seeing it in person than viewing it on the news. I will remember this day well after this adventure is over.