Apr 3, 2014

Day 29: April 2, Austin to La Grange

sophia Blog Post

It’s so confusing getting back into the swing of things after taking a few days off. The alarm went off so early this morning, but we packed up and hit the road out of our Austin airbnb around 8:30. Today my mom and Virginia were going to spend the day hanging out and then drive to La Grange, our destination, to get dinner and see what we look like after a day of biking. They carried all our bags, which was incredibly luxurious for us.

The first 25 miles or so were a dream. Once we cleared the outer Austin area, we were surrounded by fields of green grass, trees and wildflowers; it was the most nature we’ve seen since San Diego. One way there was a field of green grass and purply blue flowers, and on the other side the field was dotted with red and yellow flowers – much more exciting to look at all day than the desert. But sure enough the wind started whipping in our faces and the hills started, and we were extra glad to not be shlepping all of our stuff with us. Every day find ourselves wondering aloud, can the wind really keep doing this the whole way across the country?

We were in sour moods when our motherly visitors drove up along side, about 5 miles outside of town. They said they would go on ahead because there was a bakery with some Czech delicacy that we just had to try, so we met them at a cute little cafe in town where we each downed multiple iced teas and lemonades. They also brought us some seriously delicious BBQ from Salt Lick, which they’d had for lunch, and we all huddled at a picnic table for dinner and dessert. It was an excellent ending to a not-so-excellent day of biking!

Apr 3, 2014

Days 26 – 28: March 30 – April 1, Hanging in Austin

madeleine Blog Post

Concerned Mother #1 (Mad’s mom, Karen) arrived first, followed shortly by Concerned Mother #2 (my mom), and we spent a few days exploring Austin, where none of us had been before. We were joined for part of it by Virginia, who I am somehow related to through various marriages (step-aunt-in-law?) and who is an Austin native. She showed us the inside scoop which undoubtedly led to a more interesting and authentic experience than we would have otherwise had.

We finished up our stay in Austin with a fun evening out for some local beers and food. All in all we had a great time, and next are antsy to finish up Texas!

 

 

 

 

Apr 1, 2014

Days 24 – 26: March 28 – March 30, Comstock to Del Rio to Austin!

sophia Blog Post

Heading East out of Comstock towards Del Rio and eventually towards Austin, we were so excited to get to Austin we couldn’t have peddled fast enough. The wind was with us, and as we descended officially out of the high desert and into the green and lake-filled section of Texas, we just flew, finally aided with strong tail winds. Del Rio was the biggest city, town, group of people and stores that we had seen in a long time, and we both felt a strange sense of relief as we started to see the big chain stores that the more scarcely populated areas of Texas we had been in lacked. I never thought I’d be relieved or excited to see Applebees and Shell Gas and Target, and though we didn’t go into any of them it was still exciting to know that the most remote portion of our journey was over.

The last time we had seen green trees and plentiful natural water was San Diego, so going through Del Rio and up towards Austin was almost like nature shock, in the most exciting way possible. Then get closer to Austin, the rolling hills are endless but green and lush and like nothing that I, never having been to Texas previously, had expected.

We were mostly excited to get to Austin because BOTH of our mothers were coming to meet us. They apparently didn’t believe that we are both truly alive and well, so they came to see us in the flesh. We got there as soon as we could.

 

Mar 31, 2014

Day 23: March 27, Sanderson to Comstock

sophia Blog Post

We had planned much of the last four or five days around the fact that on this day, Thursday, we would have favorable winds going the 90 miles from Sanderson to Comstock. This, as opposed to the gnarly winds from the East we had been getting non-stop, would ensure that we got to Comstock safely after riding through miles and miles of flat desert and no towns.

The day started off promising, we got up and out of camp by 8:30am and started by flying through our first 20 miles, where we stopped in a “town” called Dryden (5 buildings, 4 of which were abandoned and boarded up and the one sold us Gatorade and nothing else) to rest for a minute. When we got back on our bikes the wind started up, and in the wrong direction,  and the long-mentioned rolling hills of Texas began coming our way. Up and down and up and down we went, the ups always taking way too long compared to the downs, and the wind preventing us from ever having a chance to stop peddling.

The one place with services in this 90 mile ride is a tiny town called Langtry, 60 miles in, where there is one small museum, and one motel/convenience store/ souvenier store/ diner. That’s all of those in one building. We were excited to see Frankie there, so we sat down for lunch and despite everything on the menu costing between $2 and $6, we spent $45 between the 3 of us. We ate a feast: egg/bean/potato burritos, home fries, homemade apple pie, Gatorade, water, and whatever else came within a 3 ft. radius of our mouths. Whatever, we needed our strength.

The last 30 miles of this day were deathly. The wind picked up considerably and jostled us back and forth as it spun its way through the obstacle-less Texas landscape, and the hills got steeper and higher. We struggled heartily during this section; it was not fun. But finally it came to an end, in the miniature town of Comstock, where we found the one bar that was plastered with racist bumper stickers and we made fast friends with a threesome of motercyclists who were on their way west. We chatted with them, they even bought us a beer (“you need your calories!”) and gave us their business card and cell phone numbers, in case we wanted to hang out when we got to Austin, where they lived. It was the thousandth time this trip when we caught ourselves in a social situation we had never previously thought we’d be, and it turned out to be as great as every other one.

Frankie rolled in shortly behind us, and the three of us split a cheap motel room where the proprietor got drunk and fed us stuffed mushrooms and, unexpectedly, busted out a 6-pack of Reese’s Klondike bars and told us we needed to eat them. So we did, and they were delicious.

Mar 28, 2014

Day 22: March 26, Marathon to Sanderson

sophia Blog Post

We had fresh legs when we woke up in Marathon for the second day and were excited to get back on the road. We stopped at our trusty local diner for another one of our power breakfasts, and went to town. 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, bacon and biscuits each, along with endless coffee = power. It wasn’t a very long day ahead of us, so we stopped every 15 miles or so to chat and reflect upon the endless miles of flat desert that we had been staring at, and kept on going.

55 miles later when we got to Sanderson, our destination, it was only 2pm and we ran into our two bicyclist friends from earlier days, Frankie and Nate, at the only convenience store in town. We wound up eating Starbursts and shooting the breeze for 2 hours outside the market, while Frankie drank his customary recovery drink of a 32oz. Pepsi. We found our RV Park campsite, refused showers because they cost $3 each and that’s ridiculous, discovered that the shack down the street was actually a TexMex restaurant, jammed ourselves full whatever they gave us, watched “Parks and Recreation” off the RV Park wifi, and went to bed.