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.
Despite an overly soft mattress, and despite sharing a room with a dad who snores, I woke up on Thursday from my best night’s sleep of the trip. I know this because my Sleep Cycle app awarded me 93% sleep quality.
Breakfast at The Round Top Inn is usually served at 9 a.m. (and usually not served on weekdays, I later learned. Maybe they did it for us because so much of the town was closed.) Anyway, 9 was too late for the bikers, who were usually heading out around then, so Tim, the most “ask-y” of us in Ask vs. Guess culture theory, asked the innkeeper — who also happened to be the cook — if we could push it back to 8. The answer was yes.
It was a delicious, filling, sugary feast of French toast, fruit, and bacon. I cleaned my plate as usual.
Probably about 1,500 calories, but who’s counting
Another cute building at The Round Top Inn
Last day, woo!
I didn’t stay at the inn much longer after the guys left. I heard the innkeeper cleaning Mark and Tim’s room next door, and, being a guesser (albeit one who’s trying to become more of an asker), guessed she’d want me to go soon so she could get that part of her day over with.
So I decided to drive to Navasota at a leisurely pace and stop for any and all photo ops. Here are a few selections:
True or False: There is a person in this picture
The bikers had laborethed all week and would soon enter into rest
Hey, a train
Hey, a painted building
I turned onto a side street to take the Independence Day photo, and I’m pretty sure that the guys passed me en photographiant, because I ran into them right after this picture was taken. Ginger and I pulled off to the side of the road as usual, but this time I felt the car — and myself — tilt pretty severely in the grass before settling onto flat ground.
The guys were all in good spirits but were concerned about whether I’d be able to make it back up onto the road. I, perhaps somewhat in denial, didn’t think I’d have trouble at all. “It’s steeper than you think,” Mark said, and the others agreed. Tim scoped out a spot a few yards away and advised me to build up speed and then pull up onto the road just before a signpost. But that seemed risky to me, because there wouldn’t be much of a chance to look for traffic, and in my nervousness I might hit the sign.
So I went with my own plan, which was to turn a little bit to the right and swing Ginger around so her tires would face the hill. This was risky in a different way, because I’d have to swing back into my lane to avoid oncoming traffic as soon as I got on the road. I didn’t think of that until later, though.
I got Ginger into position, looked both ways to make sure all was clear, and gunned it. The front tires cleared the hill easily. The back ones, to my surprise, spun on the edge. My heart lurched in a brief moment of oh shit, but I didn’t let my foot off the gas, and within a few seconds I was back up on the blacktop, the air misty and perfumed with burnt rubber. No cars were coming, so I stopped and rolled down my window and gave the guys a thumbs up.
I will forever lament that there is no video of this, my finest minivan moment.
Of course, after my triumph I started experiencing phantom car problems. Does something feel off? Did I hurt you, Ginger? But no, Ginger was fine, everything was groovy again. And within a half hour or so I’d made it to Navasota.
Brief aside: L4 was supposed to take place in March of this year, but we pushed it back after Tim started having eye problems. When I was canceling our reservations for The Best Western back in January, their confirmation screen delighted me with its great example of poor user interface design:
Wait…
Best Western, Navasota, TX
The Navasota Best Western looks like it was probably moderately nice in 1972. And it was okay in 2014, I guess, though my bathroom floor was dirty and the pillows were too puffy. And apparently Tim’s and Mark’s toilets were installed at an angle. Our other option was a Comfort Inn, and I suspect it was of similar quality.
I checked in, then headed out to pick up beer when the GPS app showed the bikers nearing town. I caught them just as I was pulling into Walmart.
Walmart, Navasota, TX
This was nothing like most Walmarts; it reminded me of a run-down Clover, a beloved discount store from my youth. The inside was cramped and dingy and looked as the outside suggests: a slightly disturbing 1988 alternate reality. Everything just felt a little wrong in there. There was no refrigerated beer, so I picked up a warm six-pack.
The guys had not followed my laboriously pecked out Google bike instructions and so had to approach the hotel from the wrong direction (meaning bike into oncoming traffic) rather than add three miles to their trip. The thought of this gave me some heart palpitations on my drive back. Thankfully the distance they had to cover going the wrong way was only a couple hundred yards.
We hung out at the pool for a bit, and Brian accidentally swam a lap with his Fitbit on (typical!). But he was lucky that day; it came back to life after the hot sun dried it out.
No Fitbits were harmed in the making of this picture
After the pool we all rested or worked or whatever for a couple of hours. I researched the three restaurant options in Navasota and decided on the barbecue joint, because we had not yet enjoyed barbecue on this leg.
And alas, we were still not to enjoy barbecue on this leg, because the place was lousy. I didn’t ride through the center of Navasota as the guys had, so my impressions have fewer data points, but my sense of this city is that it’s pretty poor. Having just skimmed the Wikipedia entry for it, it seems like it does have some charms, though, so maybe I missed something in my restaurant research efforts. Anyway, nobody likes to have a crappy dinner, least of all the SAG lady, so our last day unfortunately ended on a less than perfect note.
Birds on wires
Back in my room, I was hoping to watch some postseason baseball, but the games had been played earlier in the day, so I turned on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and half-watched it while I packed. He happened to be in New York City, and I naturally reflected on how different Navasota is from New York, and isn’t it weird that I’m here but watching a show about home, and I can’t wait to sleep in my bed again. But I also learned an obvious yet valuable tip: when in New York and in search of a bathroom, go into a bar and order a beer. Then you get a bathroom and a beer. Last weekend, after a long and quickly-turning-desperate search for a restroom in lower Manhattan, this advice flashed into my head, and within five minutes my problem was solved. Thanks, Anthony.
And most of all, thanks, Tim, Brian (Dad), and Mark for another experience that I will remember forever.
And, of course, thank you, Ginger, for your reliability and fortitude!
Hotel Art of the Day
We have an unusual piece today: a very damaged but likely real work of art by artist Maurice Utrillo.
Winter Scene by Maurice Utrillo, probably 1920s-30s
Watercolor, ~20″x16″
Round Top Inn, Round Top, TX
In searching for information about this I found this listing from 2005 from a site selling a reproduction of the piece (photo below). It’s quite a good reproduction, too, as far as I can tell. What a shame that the version at the inn was not better preserved.
Reproduction of Winter Scene
Now, is it possible that the inn’s version is also a reproduction? I suppose so. But I suspect that the owners, at least, believe it’s the real thing, because otherwise why hang something in such poor condition?
Scores will be based solely on the version I saw in person.
Hotel Art Score
6/10. The fact that it’s damaged adds some romance to it; it’s clearly quite old, and has been around — who knows what sort of life it’s had? And it appears to be a cozy street scene. It certainly looks French. So it’s ticked off a number of B&B art boxes. But it is really in quite bad shape, which makes it somewhat unpleasant to look at. It’s difficult to experience any real feelings about it through those water stains. And in a certain frame of mind, late at night in your dim, remote Texas bedroom with no cell signal, it might just seem spooky and sinister.
Art Art Score
6/10. It’s clear, even through the stains, that there’s real technique and confidence at play here. The composition, with its curving, inviting street and roofs of different heights, is pleasing, and it’s easy to imagine that this was an accurate depiction of a day in France long ago. But the color, which is crucial to understanding its festivity and warmth, is gone. So much has been lost, and it makes me a little sad.
But I don’t want to end with an expression of sadness, so here’s the art from the Best Western. It’s a bad photo but you don’t care:
Bouquet on scrap paper background
Mixed Media, ~14″x18″
Best Western, Navasota, TX
Hotel Art Score
5/10. This seems like an older version of the mass-produced art chain hotels have now. It seems like it might have come from the same alternate reality as the Navasota Walmart. The funniest part about this is that the words in the background scraps are not at all legible. You’d think they’d be little bits of wisdom, like, “love is where your story begins,” or maybe snippets of Robert Frost poems, but they could be obituaries for all I know.
Art Art Score
2/10. Why am I giving it a 2 and not a 1? Because a I promised a happy ending. And the flowers in the foreground are nicely executed.
Are you familiar with GeoGuessr? It’s a game that drops you in the Google street map view of a random place, and you have to guess where you are using any clues at your disposal — types of cars, vegetation, architecture, signage. Once it put me in Australia and I thought I was in Florida. But once it put me in New Mexico and my guess was very accurate thanks to my having been there in L2.
There have been times during this trip when my surroundings have felt very comfortable, when it’s as if I’m on a drive through a familiarly rural part of Pennsylvania. If GeoGuessr plopped me onto a two-lane road in central Texas I might think I was in Bucks County, at least for a few seconds. But there are definite differences in the roads and surroundings. The distance between double yellow lines is wider, for instance, and I always want to push them a few pixels together because I have trained myself to think in terms of screens. (You can see the yellow lines on the guys’ recent entries.) There are also way more buffalo.
Relatedly, I have felt very safe throughout this leg. On each of these trips I think about what I would do if the car broke down on a deserted road and I didn’t have a cell signal. The answer would pretty much always have to be wait for someone to drive past and try to flag them down, though I’d also pop the hood and check levels of fluids because that’s the only thing I know how to do. And then maybe I’d bang my head on the steering wheel because it worked for Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. But whereas at times on L2 and L3 I felt vaguely unsettled at the hypothetical idea of having to rely on the help of a stranger, this time I never felt like the potential stranger could be a psycho just waiting to run across a helpless lady on the side of the road.
Destination: Round Top, TX
Realizing my lunch options in Round Top might be limited, I decided to pick something up in Bastrop, which had a bunch of fast food chains near its cluster of hotels. Is there a name for the part of a small town where all the hotels are? Hotel Plaza? Hotel Park? I wasn’t going to go back to Schlotzsky’s and satisfy charm robot. After driving in a six-mile loop I opted for Taco Bell because I’d eaten a lot at the Hampton Inn breakfast (a muffin, an omelet, a banana, and something else I think) and wanted to eat light. I have trouble not eating all of the food in front of me so the best thing is always to put less food on my lap.
I went through the drive-thru and ordered a chicken taco. The guy taking my order asked what kind of sauce I wanted. “I never go here so I don’t know what my options are,” I said, annoyed at being the person who tries to explain things about myself to waiters. There was mild, hot, and fire; I chose hot. The taco was a 5/10.
Coulda been worse
Here are a bunch of photos I took while driving:
Road sign for munchkins — there was another one at this height a little before it
Hard to see, but this water tower has a happy face on it. I passed a couple of these and they lifted my mood, because they are cute and seem beneficent
What?
Not Pennsylvania
The trees in this field were in small groups, as if at a cocktail party
I arrived at our B&B exactly at 3, having learned from past mistakes. The Round Top Inn is a former cigar factory and is quite lovely inside and out. Round Top (pop. 90 as of 2010) is an interesting little town — it looks like a haven for artists, though much of it was closed when we were there. We’d missed their big yearly event, a week-long antique fair, by just a few days, and the owner of the inn told me she was still recovering from it.
The following may or may not be a reenactment:
My Philadelphia accent definitely got stronger after a week of hanging out with the guys.
Tim reads a lengthy but interesting installment of Crossing the Borderlands at the Round Top Inn
Building at the Round Top Inn
Utensil fiesta, and our first and last Mexican meal of L4
The cowboys had mustaches, too
The brothers walking back to the inn after dinner
From the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Round Top
Hotel Art of the Day
Flowers on a textured background
Digital print, 16″x16″
Hampton Inn, Bastrop
Hotel Art Score
6/10. It’s completely inoffensive and just fine for hotel art. Its objective is to make you feel cheery, to remind you of actual flowers and the nice feelings nature can give you. It’s inspiring very neutral feelings in me but certainly not bad ones.
Art Art Score
3/10. It’s completely inoffensive. There is no soul. But hotel art doesn’t really need soul.
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.
Thursday October 16, 2014, 50 miles (80 km) – Total so far: 404 miles (650 km)
Had to get at least some input of hotel art into this blog. How does this rate? It’s in the room Tim and I shared at The Round Top Inn.
Another great week of riding has ended. It started with hard, long days of terrible weather, and then ended with 3 perfect bicycling days. Today was the best day so far and the pictures will tell the story.
We were on the ACA route again today. The road east of Round Top has no shoulder but traffic was light.
We crossed The Brazos River a few miles west of Navasota . This bar is 40 miles away from the river. It’s a wide river for Texas and the bridge is narrow. There is construction of a new wider bridge but it’s in the early stages and has a way to go before it is completed.
The views kept improving the further east we rode and we paused frequently for pictures. Texas keeps surprising.
We are on The Texas Independence Trail. Many historic markers today and structures from the 19th century. Near the town of Independence we saw this place and the one in the next picture.
Go Speed Racer.
We are nearing the town of William Penn where we turned onto William Penn Road. It was 10 miles long with very little traffic. I think the map makers at ACA take the time to find as many of theses back roads as possible to try to keep riders safe.
We will see you next time when the brothers ride again. We hope you enjoyed reading the posts as much as we enjoyed writing them. Catch you later.
I think today’s ride was one of our best. We all seemed not to want to rush through it, but instead take advantage of the great riding conditions and the fantastic photo ops. At one point we joked that if we didn’t stop taking pictures, we’d never make it to Navasota. Well, we took a lot of photos and still made it to our hotel (a Best Western, tonight) in Navasota. So without further ado, here are today’s pictures and the one video I took.
What could possibly go better than pumpkins and prickly pear cactus? Everyone’s front lawn should be so adorned this time of year, don’t you think?
We didn’t even merit a single chase by dogs today – this lone doggy was the only one we saw and he just wasn’t interested.
The scenery today was awesome, and this wasn’t even the prettiest view.
We always make sure to check our tires for burrs and other prickly stuff after pulling off the road for a rest stop.
This is a better example of how beautiful and bucolic today’s scenery was.
Riding down TX 390 on the way to Independence, TX – nary a car to contend with. See the prickly pear near the driveway entrance – thought so! 🙂
Matt, Mike, Mary and Pat – believe it or not, Tim did not read every single historical marker we came by today. Really!
These pillars are all that remains of Baylor Female College, near Independence, TX. They are pretty impressive, so the campus building must have been also.
This is a photo of the main building of Baylor Female College near Independence – it shows the four pillars to the far right of the photo (see my previous photo).
On Legs 2 and 3, we saw groves of pecan trees along our route. On Leg 4, there were still lots of pecan trees, but I don’t think they were harvested – they just grew wild in lots and lots of places.
Beth and Ginger join us on one of our last rest stops of Leg 4.
Tim talking to Ernie Bazan, who stopped to talk to us along TX 105 East on the way into Navasota. Ernie runs a motel/campsite that caters to bikers doing the Southern Tier route.
Today’s ride was a mere 52 miles, which was easy by the standards of Leg 4. We arrived at our hotel, went for a swim in the hotel pool to cool off from the ride, disassembled and packed our bikes, and then went out for some Texas Barbeque (which wasn’t that good, unfortunately).
Our impression of Texas remains good! The drivers continued to be very courteous to us. Back home I 0ften run along roads that have divots in the asphalt along the center yellow dividing lines so that drivers have an audible warning if they cross over the dividing line. So rather than cross over the lines for walkers, runners or bikers and subject their tires to “potential” damage from the divots, many of the drivers back home will not move over at all, which I think is foolish, not to mention inconsiderate and dangerous. Here in Texas, none of the drivers acted that way – they all crossed the lines and drove over the divots to give us plenty of room, even if it meant slowing down to our speed before they could pass us.
Tomorrow we all fly home and will be dreaming and planning Leg 5, which will finally take us out of Texas. 🙁
There is not a lot to say about Day 5, which began in Kyle and ended in Bastrop. But I’ve been feeling guilty this whole trip for not giving a cosmic shout-out to Jan Hooks, who died on October 9, with a clip of her tour of the Alamo in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. We’ve been close to San Antonio for most of the trip, and Big Adventure is, after all, about the love of a bicycle. So here we are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYfjq3ZYZbA
I also want to give a shout-out to Tim, who has been writing out directions for me every morning. They were especially handy on day 3 (Bandera to Blanco) and day 5.
I like to compare the Sullivan siblings’ handwriting. Tim’s is the most like his mom’s, I think, though I don’t have samples of Ted’s, Denise’s or Kevin’s. Their scripts all look like they come from the same family, whereas mine and Chris’s bear no similarities.
Sunrise in Kyle
Rerouting, rerouting
See no evil, hear no evil, and Brian
The ride was fairly short, and I figured the riders would want lunch when they were done, so when I got to Bastrop I stopped at a Schlotzsky’s Deli for turkey sandwiches.
The guy behind the Schlotzsky’s register was like a charm robot. He was tanned, muscled, and buzz-cutted, and he talked quickly, clearly priding himself on his ability to work efficiently and make people smile at the same time. Snippet: “What’s that name again? You can tell me your name six times and I’ll forget it but I never forget the face of anyone I’ve met. Now are you gonna share that with a friend, should we upgrade to medium for a dollar?” He was training another cashier as she looked up at him with a dreamy smile and stars in her eyes. “Anything over $24.99, they use a credit card, they have to sign. $24.99 and under, no need to sign.” Swoon. As I was walking out, he said, “Thanks again ma’am hope to see you again real soon,” and I thought, “You really won’t, you won’t see me ever again in your life.” And now my face is seared into your memory. Sorry!
Greasy, delicious sustenance
After I checked in to the Hampton Inn in Bastrop, I promptly locked myself out by leaving my key cards in my room for the third time this trip. I’m not sure whether that has to do with being more distracted or more relaxed. Whatever the cause, people were always nice about it.
The guys arrived a little after two and spent a long time in the hot tub ribbing each other and telling family stories. I’ve probably already said this, but family stories are one of the best things about these trips for me. This was the day that they were officially halfway done with the journey across the country. They had definitely earned their marathon hot tub session.
Everyone thought the pool would be outside
Tim, an important lawyer, takes a call in the hot tub
We drove into quaint downtown Bastrop (pronounced with a short “a”) and had a very nice dinner there. I wish there’d been more time to explore this place.
Historical marker!
Baxters Fine Dining, which began life as abattoir
Fancy feast: Blackened redfish with chile mashed yams, zucchini and tomatoes
Hotel Art of the Day
Sorry for the glare once again. I do my best, I really do.
Textured collage
Mixed media, 16″x16″
La Quinta Inn and Suites, Kyle, TX
Hotel Art Score
4/10. What you unfortunately can’t tell from the photo is that the off-white slips of paper appear to be stock market listings from a newspaper. Why? Why not, I guess. But seriously, why. We’ve got starbursts and circles and dots, all indicators of playfulness, and we’re going to overlay them on the stocks page. Maybe it’s to indicate that when in La Quinta, work is fun. The stock market? Just a game! Splash blop bloop. Wait, but it is a game, isn’t it? Everything is, when you get down to it. So I guess actually this is pretty existential.
It’s interesting to note, too, that all of the art in the rooms features open circles, which correspond to the bedspread design. So this piece was commissioned specifically for La Quinta. That’s more branding unification than I’m used to. Nice job, La Quinta?
Art Art Score
1/10.
Tuesday October 14, 2014, 60 miles (97 km) – Total so far: 354 miles (570 km)
Guess which one of us didn’t have to walk up any hills today? Give up? Me and my awesome Bike Friday! It’s am amazing road bike, by far the most comfortable bike I own and the most dependable one on this trip and it takes only 30 minutes to assemble and even less to pack up. The baggage handlers in the airport can’t even break it.
Baxter State Park has the steepest hills we have encountered so far. More than 15% grade in some places. There was a forest fire a few years ago and the unique Loblolly Pines were decimated but are starting to come back.
The no car bridge over the Colorado River leaving Bastrop this morning.
Wonder if Patrick Swayze works there?
Entering Baxter State Park and then enjoying no traffic for the next 18 miles but the hills were killers.
The remains of the burnt trees. We talked to a local who thought the fire started on Labor Day weekend in 2011, the result of a lightening strike.
Beautiful Monarch butterflies were flying south for the winter in Mexico all day. This one was in the park
A group of cycling ministers who prayed for our safety. It was touching and moving and I said, “Thank you” instead of “Amen” and they forgave me.
I love second lunch, too. I already had a sausage cheese sandwich earlier, and a candy bar and a granola bar, an apple and a banana and Beth still tells me I’m skinny and need to eat more. I’m trying Beth! I had a cheeseburger and a large coke at Sonic and probably could have had another.
Another Texas bike ornament. This one is near La Grange about 10 miles from Pound Top. I take all these shots by pulling out my phone and clicking away on the fly.
I remember all these oil and gas company signs. It was before WaWa took over the market. Back in the day.
Our home for the night. Only 2 rooms so Tim and I better not keep each other awake snoring tonight. I’ll let you know tomorrow how I slept.
Today we rode 60 miles in sunny and cloud-free skies. We definitely had some hills, especially in Bastrop State Park at the start of the ride. And we really didn’t have much traffic, until the very last road we were on, which was TX 159, which lead us into Round Top. I didn’t see anything worthy of a video, but I did take lots of photos today. Here they are:
3 years ago there was a forest fire that burned all of the pine tress in Bastrop State Park – it will probably take decades for it to return to what it was before the fire.
Planning the route for today’s ride to Round Top – Tim is always willing the share what he has figured out for us for the day.
These riders from the Tour de Tejas, all preachers or ministers headquartered in the Houston area, prayed for our safety on our ride in a short but moving prayer and we all appreciated it. Sorry for my thumb getting in the way of the shutter. 🙁
What do you think, Nancy? Should I bring back a mailbox like this for our house in Media?
La Grange, TX has a Sonic – it was a real godsend to us today since it was so hot and we were low on fluids – we all had a large Coke and a burger and they were both really really good!
Who’d a thunk old gasoline signs and antiques would mix so well? 🙂
Now we know where old gas station signs go once their stations die out – along TX 159 near Round Top. Learn something every day! 🙂
Tim and Mark at the Round Top Inn B&B – I was expecting Tim to stand on the top step so he’d look taller….
Today’s ride was 60 miles and tomorrow is our last ride of Leg 4, and is about 50 miles or so to Navasota, TX.
Toilet seat in Men’s room – that’s right the MEN’S ROOM – in Los Patrones Restaurant, Round Top, TX
We all ordered something different at this Mexican Restaurant in Round Top – I had beef enchiladas and they were excellent!
We were able to see the last of the sunset walking back to our B&B after dinner.
The Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Round Top – this may be the one area of Texas where another protestant denomination, namely the Lutherans, give the Baptists a run for their money….
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.