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 resistors managed to avoid the fire and eventually set up a system whereby they were left flour, salt, and Other provisions at what came to be known as the honey island — a large tree with a honeybee hive in it and a hole at the base to hide the contraband.

I also asked him why every house has a fence and a gate. He said it was mainly for keeping cattle and horses in — and for lots without cattle and horses, it’s about showing “this is mine.” We both agreed having to deal with an electronic gate over and over during the day would Be a colossal pain in the butt.

We bid him adieu after ice cream treats and continued on to Silsbee. Some of the roads were very busy with logging and pulp trucks as there is a mill in Silsbee We had to ride in the travel lane because the shoulder was only 2 feet wide and had a rumble strip down the middle of it. I know trucks can’t slow quickly and they may not know about the rumble strip, but going close past us and honking the horn as they do it does not change the fact that there is nowhere left to ride Luckily most trucks gave us plenty of room and we made it safely.

Our GPS app routed us on a 1 mile detour that brought us past a house decked out for Halloween with skeletons hanging from trees, lounging in a bubble bath and committing atrocities against each other. We could not pass up the opportunity to take pictures.

We rolled into the Red Cloud RV Park and set up camp. It’s on the edge of the interstate AND there is a train nearby. Where is the barking dog?

We met another southern tier rider, Lisa, from State College PA. She’s riding to Saint Augustine as well but more quickly than us. It was fun to compare notes of the places we’ve been. 

Things I learned today:

• You can fix a watch band with duck tape if you don’t care how it looks
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• There is never a bad time to eat a Chipwich.