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 50- Mexico Beach FL

 We worried about the cool temps predicted for this morning, but the truth was, 46° in the sunshine was pretty pleasant with the right layers. I had a chance to work out some navigation because ride with GPS gave me an old route that didn’t start at the La Quinta, but at a point 7 miles away. I would’ve done better with a paper map, but struggled enough with the phone to figure it out. Even a little win feels good. We rode the 18 mile Timpoochee trail. It went past several lakes and state parks and through some rather fancy planned neighborhoods.  Ankur made a statement yesterday about how much of what we’ve seen has been man-made or planned by men, often as a result of hurricane damage. I found this to be a great contrast to parts of the southwest where nature seems to be taking back the land, growing up over abandoned houses. When I turned onto 98 E. I noticed beach access and headed down to look at the water. There was a kiosk there about artificial fish reefs that caught m...
1 comment
Read more

Day 37- Silsbee Texas

 It’s Halloween and I’m sorry I could not pull together any sort of costume. I did take a stab at it in Austin, but Target let me down. Ann, however, managed to get her friends to take her somewhere where she got pieces to make a very patriotic character. It was fun to ride with her as the drivers honked their approval. As we prepare to leave Texas tomorrow we are beginning to see more water. This morning we crossed the Trinity river right off the bat.  We made a stop after lunch at the Honey Island General Store and met Chuck, the owner. I asked him how the town got its name, and he said “here’s the story I believe…” The people of the town did not own slaves during the Civil War, and as such, did not want to fight for slaveowners rights. The powers that be didn’t approve and decided to set fire to the area they thought the resistors were hiding in. This area was known as the big thicket, a Jungle-y type area with such thick underbrush that it still has not been developed. The...
2 comments
Read more

Day 35- New Waverly, Texas

 Today’s ride was more of the same — farm fields, horses, cattle, even some cows with floppy ears that made them look like they had been mixed with sheep. My day’s regret was not getting a picture. It’s too bad the weather was still gray when we left because the lake and the beach in Somerville would be great in the sun, but with 71 miles ahead of us we were up and out early. Our first stop was Independence, home of the original Baylor University. It started as a girls school, then Baylor Academy (coed- you go, progressive Texas!) and finally the University before it moved to Waco. Locals told us that the current dean has freshman and seniors come to the site each year; freshmen to learn the history, and seniors to say goodbye. The site also included some early Texas homes from the 1820s. One was called a dog- trot house, called that because it has a breezeway in the middle. The center area was often used as a dog kennel. They also had examples of other homes from the 1820s which i...
1 comment
Read more