Skip to main content

Day 31- Austin 47 miles

 Texas must have had some kind of break up last night because her hissy fit was epic! We noticed thunderheads and sheet lightning in the distance and were sitting around a picnic table talking and minding our own business when all of a sudden the temperature dropped about 10° and the wind picked up to about 30 mph. It blew cups and cans off the table and leaves were flying everywhere. We grabbed our stuff and made for our tents just in time for her to hurl rain, thunder, and lightning at us. The rain was short-lived but the wind continued and included gusts up to 50 mph. My tent did an admirable job but there was a fine layer of sand over everything this morning.

And it was cold! 51° as we huddled around the coffee.

The wind finally let up by the time we were packed up and we were on the back roads to Austin by 830. Not much to see on the way – a little yard art and some truly over the top sized homes, narrow winding roads and of course, hills.


Carl, Jack and I rode as a group today and agreed that the PB&J we packed for lunch wouldn’t cut it. We found Sundance Barbecue, really just a roadside shack, and ordered barbecue sandwiches with brisket. Great decision! The owner’s been in business nine years and we could see why. Dee- Lish!



At that point we were only about 10 miles outside of Austin. Traffic picked up but we were able to ride a great bike path across the Colorado river and jumped right into downtown. Austin has fabulous bike lanes that are separated from traffic with poles, making you feel very safe. 






We waited for Carl to pick up his ballot at the post office and saw this REV vehicle with a handler on a scooter. It’s a robotic pizza delivery service! The vehicle looks like a tiny street sweeper. I had to look it up to figure out what was going on.


We’re on our own for dinner and have decided that food truck food is what we have to have. Plus it’s only two blocks away and we don’t have to ride there.I can’t decide if it will be tacos or tortillas or brisket again because it’s all good. 

It was better than good!

We’ll then be relaxing here at the Super 8. It’s already a much better experience than we had in Mesa Arizona. Tomorrow’s a rest day but I hope to explore the city and replace a tire that has a slit in it.


Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 26, 2022 at 4:44 AM

    Hooray for a rest day and a decent Super 8. Have a great day off! Debbie

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1- Ocean Beach to Alpine

 Day 1 is in the books! Great day that started at Dog  Beach and a back wheel dip in the Pacific. Tad, Kathy, and Charlotte met me down there. It was great to see them as we headed out. The ride was flat for the first 25 miles or so, but hot! Temps were in the 90s with blazing sun and clear blue skies. We separated out early into smaller groups. I found good peddling with Sue and Ann. We also crossed paths with Adam and Kelly, the tandem riders. Our route took us to through Mission Gorge regional park which was absolutely gorgeous. A nice pass that cut through the mountains and made it possible for us to miss an incredible climb. No worries; there are plenty more ahead of us. At 30 miles we made sure we were fully loaded with water and electrolytes. I’m not sure if I’ve ever consumed this much fluid in a single day. Then the climb began. On the map it looked evil, almost straight up. In reality it was less steep than it was long. It was 6 miles at about three or 4% grade. It d...
7 comments
Read more

Day 53- Perry FL

 We had a very windy night which made for a great sleeping. I set an alarm for 1:00 AM so I could see the Artemis unmanned moon rocket launch, but when I got up I found it had been pushed back and well, 70 miles, so I chose sleep over history. It was gray when we got up, and gray as we headed out. And chilly! I wished I’d opted for leggings over my shorts but was happy to have gloves. Small victories.The temp said it was almost 60 – my body threw the BS flag. I was cold all day. Not much to say about this ride. We had a 20 mile bike path that took us off route 98 for a while. We met another Bike traveler named Tony who had been on the road since June 26.  He started in Connecticut and rode to Indianapolis, then back towards Pittsburgh where he rode the trails to DC. He then went to Key West and is now on his way to New Orleans. We asked questions about his gear (there wasn’t much!) and traded a few stories and wished each other well. We got off the trail and crossed the St Mar...
3 comments
Read more

Day 45- Poplarville MS- Rest Day

 Today was our first day of rest after 12 days of riding, so of course I woke up at 1:30 AM. I was absolutely sure it was 6:30 AM and I was ready for the day. I love all these perks of getting older. As luck would have it, there was a lunar eclipse starting right around this time.  I was, of course, wide awake for it. I peeked out of the tent, took a look at the moon,  read for a while, peeked at the moon again, and decided I was hungry. I snuck out to my bike to grab a bar, there being no milk and cookies readily available like there are when this happens at home. I finally called it a night again around three. 630 finally came around for real and I was ready. The Snowflake Donut and Taco store. Beckoned and a bunch of us that off for coffee. The tacos looked pretty good but I held out for brunch back at the campground. After brunch, most of us loaded into the van and headed into New Orleans. We parked in the French quarter and headed right to café Dumond, will became im...
3 comments
Read more