Skip to main content
Home
Blue Boat Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Travels
    • Arizona
    • Battle Creek (1997)
    • Ben's Bike for Balance (2002)
    • Europe 2016
    • Grand Canyon trip, June 2008
    • Hawaii (2003)
    • Italy
    • Japan (1993)
    • Las Vegas, June 2008
    • Mexico (1990s)
    • New Mexico (2000)
    • Savannah trip (2012)
    • Wheeled Migration (2004-05)
  • About the House
    • The Best Laid Plots
    • 10 lessons learned from rewiring our house
    • Electricity Consumption
    • In Sickness and in Health
    • We're moving to Nebraska!
  • Autoharp
  • Gardening
User account menu
  • Log in
By Ben, 15 January, 2005

Jan 15: A Week in East Texas

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on January 15, 2005]

It's hard to believe it's been only a week since I left Austin! Here's what's transpired since I wrote last Friday morning...

Gypsy didn't get up until about 11:00, and she pronounced the weather unfit for a trip to Pedernales Falls, so we played a couple games of Settlers of Catan and then I rode on to Cat's. The trip took only a little over an hour, which surprised me and caused me to underestimate the following day's ride.

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 15 January, 2005

to Silsbee, TX

Right after I wrote that it was "a beautiful last night in Texas," I lay down to sleep and smelled a horrible smell... at first I thought I must have put my tent down over a previous camper's cathole; then I decided the smell was more like rotting brussels sprouts, so it must be someone's old garbage.  (Either would be plausible; this was a very "primitive" campground with no restrooms or trashcans nearby.)  But a few hours later when I stepped outside the tent, I realized the smell was everywhere... the wind had shifted, and I was downwind from a paper mill!

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 14 January, 2005

to Lumberton

I was on the road at sunrise this morning, knowing I had a full day's ride ahead of me.  I made good time, mostly on two-lane back roads frequented by logging trucks.

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 14 January, 2005

to Indian Village

A big rainstorm passed through in the night.  I was all snug in my tent by the time it started, and I felt rather smug -- putting in earplugs to sleep through the thunder -- until I discovered that an enormous puddle was forming beside and under half the tent!  I felt like the fourth little pig whose brothers disowned him because he built his house out of nylon.  Fortunately the bottom of the tent stayed watertight.

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 13 January, 2005

to Coldspring

I spent the day passing in and out of Sam Houston National Forest, ending up back inside it.  The only interesting thing that happened was when I stopped for lunch in New Waverly at a concession trailer that had been designed for biker rallies.  The couple who operated the place were motorcycle bikers for a while, then attended rallies with their food trailer, and somehow wound up parked on the main drag in New Waverly, Texas, serving breakfast tacos to commuters.  We chatted for a while, and they gave me my ham-and-egg taco for free.

25.7 mi

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 12 January, 2005

To Sam Houston National Forest

Today was hot and sticky; I started the day in nothing but a T-shirt and shorts, and by midday I wished I could wear less.

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 11 January, 2005

to Navasota

Today was hot and humid.  I had to put everything away damp, and the laundry didn't even start to dry until midday when the sun came out.

There were a lot of vultures along the road today, but aside from that the ride was pleasant, following a lot of back roads with hardly any traffic (which made the vultures a bit more unnerving!).

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 10 January, 2005

To Lake Sommerville

I thought today's ride might be too ambitious, but it turned out to be just right.  I started to feel some knee pain in the late morning, but I took a leisurely lunch break and it cleared up.  The weather was gorgeous in the afternoon: mid-70s and partly sunny.

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 9 January, 2005

To Bastrop State Park, TX

I left Cat's at about 9:30, so as to miss rush hour, forgetting that this was a Saturday.  I followed TX 71 most of the way to Bastrop, a town which, despite a name that suggests something you might use to flog an incorrigible child, was "voted most historic town in Texas."  I didn't stop to find out why but buzzed on through to the nearby state park.

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration
By Ben, 8 January, 2005

To Cat's

Gypsy didn't get up until about 11:00, and she pronounced the weather unfit for a trip to Pedernales Falls, so we played a couple more games of Settlers of Catan and then I rode on to Cat's.  The trip took only a little over an hour, which surprised me.

Tags

  • Wheeled Migration

Pagination

  • First page
  • Previous page
  • …
  • Page 31
  • Page 32
  • Page 33
  • Page 34
  • Current page 35
  • Page 36
  • Page 37
  • Page 38
  • Page 39
  • …
  • Next page
  • Last page
RSS feed

Footer message

All content of this site is copyright © Ben and Jessie Stallings. Please do not use without permission.

"Blue Boat Home" is the name of a UU hymn by Peter Mayer, about how we are all travelers on the Earth. We have his permission and blessing to use the name for this site.