You, Lord, go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Psalm 139:5
74.1 miles – 2,106 ft climb
Bruce left around 8:15 this morning in sunshine! It was so nice to not have everything wet around us. And the upside to boondocking is that you don’t have anything to unhook. All I had to do is clean up the inside of the RV and get it ready for traveling. I always check that all the windows are locked and shades are up or fastened, make sure the antenna and ceiling air vents are closed, put the soap dispensers in the sink, restock the fridge with waters, put any shoes left on the floor away, make sure everything is in a stable place for traveling. My friend, Christie once told me, “a place for everything, and everything in it’s place.” This is especially important in an RV!
It had been such a long time since I needed them, that I had to look all over for my sunglasses. Bruce is confused as to how I could actually misplace them. He said, “If they were any bigger, they’d be motorcycle goggles.” Thanks, honey. FYI they are generic bifocal sunglasses with the reader part on the bottom. Maybe I should only wear them when I’m alone in the RV.
The roads today were a little of everything. We started off on gravel, turned immediately onto a 2 lane highway with a decent shoulder. Then went to a divided 4 lane with a great shoulder. Turned off of that onto a 2 lane with no shoulder and then a farm road with no shoulder, then a farm road that didn’t even have a center line and ended on a fast, divided 4 lane with a lousy shoulder. The farm roads were completely empty and had a beautiful tree canopy part of the way. That’s Bruce’s favorite kind of road to ride. The wildest thing was when we first got into Texas, we turned onto a 2 lane road with not much shoulder and the speed limit was 70. Are they crazy? It was not that great of a road, so Harvey and I decided we would stick to 55.
But before I jump to Texas I have to tell you the best part of the day. I was cruising along the divided highway in Louisiana and I knew I was getting close to Bruce because I had tracked him on Find Friends. When I didn’t see him any where I called him to see if he had pulled off and stopped for a break. He had. This is actually a really good thing because I had actually missed my turn. Sometimes my GPS forgets that I am taking a bike route and it jumps to the fastest car route. I don’t know why this happens, but it keeps me on my toes. Usually. So I turned around and pulled over on this back road, following Bruce’s directions to where he was and you will never guess what I came up on. No seriously. You will NEVER guess! It is a campaign picnic for Amy McCartney, who is running for District Judge and there is Bruce, sitting down shooting the breeze. It had not started yet and as I walked up, I see him helping hang signs. What?! Did I miss something? How did this even come about? I asked him after we left, and he said that as he was riding by, he smelled the food on the grill and road up to the guy at the grill (who we now know is Blake, Amy’s husband) and asked, “What time’s lunch?” The next thing you know they are chatting like old friends. OK, let’s see a show of hands. How many of you would have ridden up and asked for lunch? I mean, that’s totally normal, right? I can tell you that I definitely would have just enjoyed the smells as I rode on by! Amy and Blake could not have been nicer! If I lived there I would definitely vote for her. We ended up staying almost an hour and a half, eating lunch and visiting with everyone. I was a little embarrassed that we had crashed their picnic, but they were so nice and made us feel like we belonged there. I was pleasantly surprised that before we all got in line for food, Amy got everyone’s attention and Blake blessed the food. I guess that’s why we felt so comfortable. We were Christian family and didn’t even know it yet.
At the picnic I found out that Hanna is an Unincorporated Community now. At one time it had this nice school, but it was abandoned when they combined schools for desegregation. I also found out about the mysterious nameless church where we stayed last night. Apparently there are not enough members to keep all the little churches going, so the members that live around there take turns going to different churches and meeting at different church buildings. So there is no name on the building because it’s used by several different churches.
As I was saying good-bye to some people, I accidentally kind of stepped off the cement into a sandy patch of grass. I wondered why they all looked so concerned since it was barely an inch down and I hadn’t twisted my ankle or anything. Then they told me it was a red fire ant hill and I was quite lucky that I stepped back up on the cement before fire ants began ascending my leg. Yikes!
Once we left the picnic we were mostly on deserted back roads which made for a nice afternoon. We entered Texas with out much fanfare. Or any. Or even a sign. Our only clue was that we crossed State Line Road. And once we were back on highways we noticed that they said “Texas” on the state highway signs. I guess they don’t have a huge “Welcome to Texas” sign nailed to a tree when you come in on back farm roads. State number 6! This will be a long one!
We are staying in a nice RV park in Carthage, Texas named Carthage RV Park. I got here about 2:45 and Bruce arrived around 3:30. I did laps around the RV park for my 5k today. Not very fun. I like neighborhoods better. And it was hot. Where are those 60 degree days that I was complaining about a few days ago? I miss them.
no wrecks so far with that much mileage.. that has to be a record for BVB. keep after it.
massive amounts of prayer!
Lol Pam! You are making this fun for everyone! Maybe you’ve found a new calling! Your sense of humor works so well in writing, it’s almost like being there laughing with you. I hope Bruce knows how blessed he is!!! You are both amazing, what a team. I’m so impressed with Bruce’s bicycling POWER! Incredible. Thanks for sharing the adventure.
Pam you crack me up. I truly might have followed my nose like Bruce did and helped with signs. Lunch together was the obvious follow up! What a FUN story.
Once when I was in Louisiana with Steve we parked to sleep very near railroad tracks and the driver laid on the horn early in the morning when they went through the intersection and it literally caused both of us to sit straight up in the car!!!!!
It was a while before either one of us could speak, then came the laughter. It was so loud we thought possibly we were parked on the railroad tracks. Im sure the driver was laughing his head off!