Saturday, April 1 - Cleveland, TX to Lumberton, TX

 Cleveland to Lumberton TX. The day started out with dense fog but ended up sunny and hot, 91 degrees. Two weeks ago, we were freezing. The weather has really changed and quickly. The terrain as well has flattened out and we only had about 900 feet of climbing over 70 miles. We had fun with a chicken roaming around a parking lot where we were taking a break. He liked us and we liked him. Not sure if he was more entertained or us. So they were doing controlled burns all day in the National Preserve we rode through. Except one part was an uncontrolled burn. Ha. There was a Ranger there observing though so I guess if it got too out of control, he could have called it in. Again, supper was great tonight with blackened red fish. Tomorrow, we arrive in Louisiana! Yay!

Friday, March 31 - Novasota, TX to Cleveland, TX

 Novasota to Cleveland TX. It’s green here and humid. We are just north of Houston, TX. It feels and looks like the east coast. Gone are the hills of the hill country. Gone are the high deserts and cactus of west Texas. Now we are in the flatter greener east Texas. We’ll be here two more days. We rode through Sam Houston National Forest and by Lake Conroe. We haven’t seen anything like this the whole trip. We will see more like this as we travel east. It’s a nice change. Yesterday at the end of the ride we went to Dairy Queen to celebrate with our new rider Shelley. Supper was shrimp and grits.

Thursday, March 30 - Giddings, TX to Navasota, TX

 Giddings to Navasota, TX - It’s getting greener as we move toward Houston. Even though it was in the 60s today we sweated quite a bit due to the humidity. We had another 5 miles of gravel road, but it broke up the ride a bit. Even though we should be in great condition, 80 miles a day, day after day, gets to you. So tomorrow we will tee it up and do it all over again. Ha. Things will start to change as we get toward Louisiana on Sunday. Things should flatten out. Texas is beautiful but the winds and terrain have been punishing. But I will still have fond memories. We had some rain today, first time for the trip. We also visited ruins of the first Baylor University.

Ruins from the first Baylor University

Wednesday, March 29 - Buda, TX to Giddings, TX

 Buda to Giddings TX. Cracks, dogs, gravel and flowers. We started the day on roads with cracks in the direction of travel. The fear was dropping a wheel in some of the larger cracks especially when following other bikes and not being able to see what was clearly ahead. Then we saw lots of free running dogs all in a 10-mile area. Most when yelled at would not chase but a few did. I think they just wanted to chase. But you never know what they will do. We ran up upon the Circuit of the Americas racecourse south of Austin. Kind of cool since one of the Formula One races I follow is run there each year. I think they also had a NASCAR race there last weekend. We saw lots and lots of Indian Paint Brush and Pink Ladies wildflowers. They are everywhere right now. That is one nice thing about riding in the spring. Finally, we had to ride a gravel road for about 8 miles and now I have come to the realization that gravel biking is not for me. Ha!