| Page 10 Day 43 - Mon. 2-25-92 - Mileage today 48.9 - Climbed today 2,159' HAPPY BIRTHDAY DENISE Today is Denise's Birthday. Denise is Myron’s daughter. She is the brains behind this website. If it wasn’t for Denise youall( I'm in Texas ) youall wouldn’t hear from us. Thank you Denise for all you’ve done to make this trip a success. Denise you must know that, your dad is very proud of you. He talks about you often. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! We have been riding for several days now along huge ranches. Originally these ranches were cattle ranches. But, here in west Texas they are 7 years into a drought. A lot of the ranches we've passes have supplemented by turning the ranch into a hunting ranch. Some have gone as far as to promoting HARNESS HUNTING. That is what I call it anyway. Now I'm not a hunter so, admittedly I'm bias. But when I think of a hunter I think of someone who is very skilled at tracking and stalking an animal, killing it, skinning it and eating it. Harness hunting which is what we see here is large ranches with tall fences to keep the animals in, with hunting huts or blinds that stand about 10 foot off the ground, near timed feeders. The times feeders are contraptions that feed the deer, deer corn at certain times, thus training the deer. The so-called hunters then wait in their huts for feeding time and BANG its curtains for the deer - not much skill involved in that. You might as well lead the deer up in a harness and shoot it. The bike lanes in Texas are fitting to Texas's reputation, that is to say they are as large as a regular car lane and in as good of shape. It has been a real pleasure ridding in Texas. The bike lanes are second to none and the people are very courteous. We met Jimmy Stewart today. Actually his name is Jay Myers. Jay lives in Carrizo Springs. He was very interesting to talk to. He has done a lot in his 81 years. If I were to guess Jays age, it would have been late 50's early 60's. He reminded me of Jimmy Stewart. His looks were somewhat the same but, it was more his mannerisms. Nice talking with you Jay. I'm really ready for the Gulf Coast. I cant wait to jump in that beautiful water. We have been in the desert since the start of the trip 40 days ago. Myron and I were stopped and questioned by Duke Burruss. Duke is a senior economist for a firm in S.C. There is a lot of road construction going on thru rural Texas. Duke wanted to know what our thought were on revitalizing rural communities that have all but died due to Interstates bypassing them. Have I mentioned that I'm ready for the gulf. Day 44 - Tue. 2-26-02 - Mileage today 78.9 - Climbed today 2,160' YOU HAVE MUD IN YOUR TRASH For those of you who have never ridden with Myron, he likes to follow so close behind you that he can read the writing on the tire. For those of you who have ridden with him you know what I'm talking about. I have the habit of caring my trash on the back of my bike. Just after we started out today Myron calls out,” you have mud in your trash" I chuckle to myself and call back," that’s not mud". Myron said, what, then silence. After a short pause I hear, Oh god no. Eeoow, you didn’t. Yes Myron I did. Nature called and I had to answer. There wasn’t anyplace to go that wasn’t in front of God and everybody. So, I took my trash into my tent and took careful aim and made a deposit. Myron stayed 2 to 3 hundred yards behind me after that. He says out of sight out of mind. We now have a cold spell. After several real nice days, we are in the low 40's during the day and low 20's at night. With a 20 to 25 mph wind, it gets down rite cold. We passed thru Laredo today. I must have been on the bike too long because I think A city like Laredo is something to bypass if at all possible. It might be a different story if I was driving. I'm sure it is a nice city. WE are camped in an RV park in San Ygnacio. Day 45 - Wed. 2-27-02 - Mileage today 17.3 - Climbed today 1,260' We had a short day today. We would like to thank Carol at the San Ygnacio RV Park. Carol went above the call of duty when she made us hot tea and brought it to us. She was concerned about how cold it was out. We met Estel and Eva Segar. Eva is the author of many books; the most noted is Yellow Britches. We had a nice time talking with Estel. We stopped in Zapata, TX. at the chamber of commerce for info. And they insisted we stay in town until they can get a newspaper interview about us. I'm having a terrible time with allergies. There must be something in the air. My eyes itch I sneeze and am stuffed up. Nothing seems to help. What did people do in the days of old? Are there any home remedies? Myron has had a hard time in finding someplace to have his vitamins sent to. Thanks to Elma at the chamber of commerce in Raymondville Myron was able to find a place about a week from now. Thanks to Belinda at the Western Auto, We have a place to sleep tonight. Belinda called several places for us. She asked a friend who owns a motel if we could pitch a tent. Finally a big THANKS to Joe and Espinoza owners of the REDWOOS LODGE in Zapata for allowing us to set up our tents in the back away from traffic free of charge. Day 46 – Thursday 2-28-02 - Mileage today 42.3 - Climbed today 1,810' We woke up to a wet drizzly day and it stayed that way all day. We were heading south on Hwy 86 just outside of Zapata, when we decided that traffic was too much especially truck traffic from Mexico. We were cycling the extreme edge of the road and in some cases forced to ride in the road because of no shoulder in places. Trucks would pass slow moving vehicles heading directly at you. It was too dangerous especially in the poor visibility, so we opted for a quieter, safer route. We sidetracked to route 2689 and then south again on route 649. We will bypass Brownsville and head for Raymondville via quiet county routes. Once we were on the quiet county route we began to relax and enjoy the ride. We are camped in a HARNESS HUNTING ranch. The owner is not around but the gate was unlocked and it didn’t have a No Trespassing sign so we let ourselves in. I hope it isn’t biker season. Day 47 - Fri.3-1-02 - Mileage today 59.6 - Climbed today 1,080' It rained last night. We quickly went from dry desert were almost nothing lives, to humid conditions in two short days. In the north you didn’t even see or hear birds much less anything else. Down towards the gulf we began to see living plants and hear birds, and see live stalk. I can tell we are close to the gulf. I can feel the humidity rise and it is warm. Day 48 - Sat. 3-2-02 - Mileage today 24.4 - Climbed today 800' It wasn’t planned but it turned out to be a short day. It was warm and humid last night and we woke up to a stiff tailwind. We rode the 24 miles into Raymondville in less than 1-1/2 hours. We got into Raymondville and had breakfast then Myron picked up a shipment of vitamins he had shipped to the local drug store. As we were having breakfast the wind shifted to come from the north and it was cold. We talked with some locals and they sail were in for several days of cold windy weather. We went grocery shopping and decided to stay in town. Michael at the Cingular phone office suggested that we stay at the gateway RV Park. We tried to call but no one was in the office. We rode out anyway. They normally don’t accept tenters but the made an exception in our case. We set up our tents in 35 mph winds - quite difficult. We took showers and did laundry. We met Howard and Marie while doing laundry and we talked for 4 hours. Howard and Marie are from Iowa, like many people we’ve met they have been wonderful to us. Howard was helpful in letting us know what road conditions were like in Louisiana. Thank you to all who have helped us along the way. |
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