Silsbee, TX - DeRidder, LA
As soon as we woke up Tim said that he wasn't riding today, I don't blame him since he was pretty bad off yesterday, and one more rest day is probably what he needs. The big surprise this morning is that Mel spent the night sick and isn't riding either. Bill shopped around for a back seater, but no one was willing, so he set up Patrick's bicycle to ride. It was a semi-sweet start of the day when only 5 of the 7 group members were hitting the road.
The ride today is a bit longer than yesterday, but just as flat. There are towns conveniently located at around 15, 30, and 45 miles making for perfect distances for breaks. The wind is calm, the weather is perfect, and as you can see by the assent and decent numbers above, it is a flat day.
One more thing is making today amazing. We are leaving Texas! We have been riding in Texas since 1 March, 22 days ago. Although Texas was beautiful, we are all ready to move on. Here we are at our last rest stop in Texas:
Before we hit the Louisiana border, we stopped at the Welcome to Texas sign since there wasn't a sign to greet us when we crossed over in El Paso. It's never too late.
We crossed the Sabine River and entered Louisiana. Woohoo! Four states down and four to go. We are actually getting there.
Shortly after entering Louisiana, we left the highway and turned onto a nice country road. It wasn't the smoothest road surface, but we only saw two cars for the entire 8 miles we were on it. Hopefully this is just a taste of the road we will be riding through Louisiana.
Well, most of us were enjoying the ride. Bill wasn't feeling 100%. His back was bothering him and he didn't really feel comfortable riding Patrick's bicycle and not having Mel on his back. However, he was a trooper and continued riding.
The RV park in town doesn't allow tents, so Bill, Mel, Tim, and I are staying at the Quality Inn in town. Since the hotel was 1 mile before the RV park, Bill and I peeled off and went directly to the motel. Once there, it wasn't too hard of a decision to not go to the RV Park for dinner and just eat local. Since Mel wasn't feeling well, Tim and I were on our own, so we ventured across the street to the Mexican restaurant. We ordered the shrimp fajitas for two and was amazed when this was delivered to our table:
The RV park in town doesn't allow tents, so Bill, Mel, Tim, and I are staying at the Quality Inn in town. Since the hotel was 1 mile before the RV park, Bill and I peeled off and went directly to the motel. Once there, it wasn't too hard of a decision to not go to the RV Park for dinner and just eat local. Since Mel wasn't feeling well, Tim and I were on our own, so we ventured across the street to the Mexican restaurant. We ordered the shrimp fajitas for two and was amazed when this was delivered to our table:
After dinner, we did laundry because we could, watched TV, and I caught up on the blog which I have now at 11:30 PM finally done. Patrick picks us up at 8:30 AM tomorrow morning, so I better get some sleep. Tomorrow is our first complete day in Louisiana.