Monday,3/2 was a planned rest day and it turned out to be perfect timing. Our bodies needed a rest. My bike needed some maintenance, basically two new tires and some new tubes, to hopefully cut down on my propensity for flat tires on this leg. Most importantly it poured rain all day and it would have been impossible to ride.

Our accomodations were unique. It was a B&B in an old plantation that was in the same family for something like eight generations. It was a land grant from the Spanish government in 1798 when this part of our country was part of Spain. Mark and I shared a cottage and Matt joined us after his much delayed flight arrived. According to Matt, the Baton Rouge airport has the fastest luggage pickup of any place he has ever flown. Also went to a Lebanese restaurant in St. Francisville. First time for everything, I liked it. Neat little town. Reminds me of the Eastern Shore. According to Matt, I snored so much, he moved to te couch at about 2 am to try to get some sleep. He’s insisting I use Breath Right the rest of the trip.

Our first full day in Louisiana started out cold and warmed up nicely by afternoon. We covered 78 miles and finished a little before 4pm. Brian and I went to 4pm mass at Sacred Heart. We saw lots of rice paddies, smoke from fields being set on fire, wide load trailers on flat bed trucks and farm equipment that took up the whole road.

The extra wide trailers forced us off the road onto the grass at one point and the farm equipment had to pull off the road to let us by. The smoke from the deliberately set fires covered the road which caused Mark to start whistling “Smoke gets in your eyes” by the Platters. That tune stuck in my head for about 30 miles. Thanks a lot Mark.

Dogs were not an issue today. Brian got chased by one dog who didn’t bother with Mark and I. The wind was sometimes a challenge, depending on the direction we were heading and whether we were in the middle of rice paddies and totally exposed. All in all a good day.

Tomorrow may be a different story. 80% chance of rain starting in the middle of the night and lasting throughout the day and into the next. Stay tuned to tomorrow’s blog. This would be a first for us if we have rain all day.

Glad that ride is over. Just as demanding as yesterday even though a little shorter. The wind was consistently a headwind. We started out at 8am again and saw our breath for the first hour or so. We have every layer on that we brought and barely stay warm enough.

I thought I got my second flat but after we changed the tube, we figured out my valve stem was unscrewed and the air was leaking out every time I hit a bump. I will buy some extra tubes when we get to our first bike store which won’t be until Baton Rouge on Mon.

I guess it’s fair to say we gutted it out today. Lots of dogs again today. It got to the point everytime we came up on a mailbox, we start searching for the charging dog(s). Only one or two were aggressive to the point of trying to nip us. Not fun–it really gives me an adrenaline rush when I start peddling as fast as I can to outrun it.

All of us are going to bed by 8:30. We know we can cope with the long daily rides, if we have lots of sleep. That’s the plan plus a daily supply of Advil. Looking forward to Matt joining us. 83.5 miles today; another 70 plus tomorrow.

I wish I could remember how many nights we have spent in Texas. I have a tremendous appreciation for the state and its diversity. Today was like riding thru the Jersey Pine Barrens. Pine tree forests on both sides of the road. The terrain is now flat as a pancake and the roads are straight as an arrow for mile on end.
Not many photo ops today. We have been too cold to stop and even when we take a break, we keep moving around to maintain body heat. It finally warmed up around 3 this afternoon and we started peeling some of our layers.
Lots of dogs chased us today. We altered our route to stay off main roads but the drawback on the back roads is the dogs that chase us. Not too scary; we might be getting use to it but I admit I don’t enjoy having a dog charge me. Have to think about the trade off when we plan our route. Adventure cycling warns of lots of loose dogs in Louisianna, Swell!!
It was along day–our second longest this leg but good to get it out of the way. 89 miles didn’t feel too bad. Mostly a cross wind today. Sometimes a little assist and some times a little headwind. I am going to sleep well tonight. Good night.

A cold but good start to L5. It was raining lightly in Houston when Beth and Brian picked me up at my hotel. Back home it was subfreezing for the umpteenth day in a row. In Houston, temps were around 40, down right balmy I’ld say.
All three of us put our bikes together without any issues. ‘Its a miracle’ or the last leg was recent enough that we could remember the little tricks needed to assemble the bikes. We left the hotel Beth and Brian stayed in last night in Navasota around noon under partly sunny skies. That’s what fooled us. The sun went away and it got colder and colder as we rode the 42 miles which was today’s distance. We didn’t stop for lunch. We just wanted to get to our hotel and take a warm shower. On the plus side, average speed was 16.3 mph and very smooth road surface.
Figuring out tomorrow’s route in Beth’s room with our usual post ride beer(s). Thanks Beth for always having a few cold brewskies at the end of each day’s ride.

What a beautiful way to finish L4. I have posted pictures of some of our vistas on today’s ride. We all agreed this was one of the prettiest rides of the whole trip. It did nothing to diminish our appreciation of the State of Texas.

I was also impressed with the town of Round Top where we stayed last night. We stayed in the Round Top Inn, a B&B in several 18th century homes and a cigar making one room factory building that have been renovated into modern hotel rooms. Kudos to the owner and staff.

We are already talking about L5. Can’t wait to do some planning at home and comparison of calendars to set up the next trip. Hopefully it is sooner than later so I am motivated to keep up my training and stay in good riding condition. Over and out.

One of the many gorgeous vistas along today’s ride from Round Top to Navasota.

Another gorgeous vista along the route today.

One of many banana breaks.

Because of the unseasonably cold mornings and short mileage days, we are leaving the hotel a little past nine these last couple mornings. It warms up pretty quickly and we can shed the extra layers at our first rest stop.

Today we biked the first 18 miles or so thru Bastrop and Buescher State Parks on park roads that had almost no traffic. I think we passed 4 cars, all going in the opposite direction. Mark took his rest time by lying in the middle of the road. Go figure. Most of the time he sits in the middle of the road taking pictures.

We saw our first group of bikers this trip near Winchester this morning. They had biked from Austin and were on their way to Houston with a stay overnight in LaGrange. The road surfaces are definitely getting better as we travel east across Texas.

I would have to say this is my favorite state so far. We have talked to so many people because the people are just plain friendly. They have that ‘southern’ mannerism of ‘yes sir’ or ‘no sir’. So much history and they celebrate it with all the roadside historical markers. My kids know I’m in heaven with so many historical markers to stop and read. Best of all my brothers indulge me and stop with me. (Maybe it’s a Sullivan trait and they like to stop and read them too). Last day of L4 is tomorrow. I’m a little sad. Now Brian’s bike is making funny noises. Hopefully nothing to worry about. Life is good.

I’ll never understand why Mark likes to take his rest stops in the middle of the road. Laura, what’s your opinion? Be nice.

Some fellow bikers we met on the road to LaGrange. They are all ministers. They prayed for our safe return to our families. It was quite touching.

We decided on a leisurely start this morning since we figured our ride was less than 50 miles. Every day the road surfaces have been improving and we seem to have less chip seal roads. Today’s roads were a combination of state roads and farm roads (FM). I don’t remember any ranch roads today. The county roads still seem to be dirt roads.

Oil derricks and tanks were frequent sites. And dogs chasing us. I have no idea how Mark came up with the photo of a lunging dog for his post. It wasn’t that bad but it seemed every house had a dog that barked and ran after us (mostly on the other side of a fence).

I was struck by the amount of construction going on in Bastrop, our destination today. We rode into town on a road that looked like it was being widened and repaved. Commercial buildings were going up all around us and the Hampton Inn we are staying at seems brand new.

Only two more days of riding. My bike is working fine. Still wondering what caused the clicking. As always, lots and lots of laughs. Life is good.

The brothers firing up for a day in the saddle.

We passed a lot of oil small oil tanks in and amongst farm land. This one had a distinct oil smell.

Well we started out the door and immediately turned around as a heavy shower broke and would have drenched us if we had left 10 minutes earlier. After 40 minutes, the rains stopped and off we went. The wind gods were smiling on us today because we had a tail wind most of our 47+ miles. We were flying when it was directly at our backs and when it wasn’t, WOW was it a bear. The last 3 miles we were on a frontage road for I35. No wind break at all. We had a crosswind from left to right with gusts up to 30 mph. I seriously considered walking my bike.When the wind gusted, I had to lean left into the wind to keep upright. It was scary.

As planned, we spent the afternoon at the LBJ Presidential Library at the Univ. of Texas. It brought back so many memories from my high school and college days. The three assassinations, the race riots, the Viet Nam war, the lottery, the college campus sit-ins, even at Villanova. They were crazy times we grew up in. I won’t soon forget that museum.

The good news–whatever was clicking on my bike, stopped. Could it have been caused by the rainy/wet weather yesterday? I am hoping it doesn’t return. We’ll see.Three more days of riding.

Waiting for the rain to stop so we can get started on Day 4’s Ride.

Waiting for the rain to stop so we can get started on Day 4’s Ride.

One of our many short breaks.

After a scrumptious breakfast at the Diamond H B&B, we started today’s ride in a light rain. By the time it stopped raining, about an hour later, we were pretty soaked. A few drizzles here and there but no more rain. We would come upon wet roads, but somehow we avoided the rain. Lots and lots of hills, but at least the wind was not a factor today. We got a little lost in Comfort, TX, but no big deal.

We arrived at tonight’s destination in Blanco, TX around 4 pm after a 77 mile ride. Tired but not as tired as last night. Got barked at several times but not chased except for dogs in fenced yards.

I’m having a mechanical issue. My best guess is a bearing in my crank shaft is shot. The noise started around 25 miles into today’s ride, but doesn’t seem to affect the pedalling. I plan to call Frank to get his opinion on what to do. My hope is I can continue to ride L4 and replace the bearings when I get home. We will be near a bike store tomorrow if it has to be repaired in order to continue.

Really enjoying everyone’s company. We will be touring the LBJ Presidential Library tomorrow and having dinner in Austin, after a 42 mile day. Should be one of the highlights of L4.