Into a new state...finally.

Day #26; Friday, May 2
Start: Navasota, TX
End: Near Coldspring, TX on Lake Livingston
87 miles (I bought a bicycle computer in Austin with an odometer)

We started a new map section today! (there are 7 map sections for our trip, and as of today we have started on the 5th section...always exciting). We had to take a detour off of our route today. It looked like it would be about 20 miles out of the way, but it turned out to be closer to 10 miles...wahoo!

While in Austin I put a new tire on my rear wheel. It is a little larger than the old one, and I did not consider that my tubes were sized for the old tire. I have gotten a few flats from stretch holes in the tube. Our maps don't show another bike shop for about 400 miles, so we rode up to Huntsville, TX where we visited Richard. He is a retired principal who runs a little, well stocked bike shop. We bought some new tubes and a couple other things while we visited the very friendly shop owner.

We continued on and met up with Kevin again (see Stacy's post) at a campground near Livingston Lake after stopping off in Coldspring for a meal of catfish and shrimp (all-you-can-eat...right up my alley).

Day #27; Saturday, May 3
Start: Lake Livingston
End: Kirbyville, TX
102 miles

We rode the whole day with Kevin. The rodes were smooth and there was very little wind, so we made great time. We stopped in Silsbee where I met Jonathon at the Dairy Queen (his sister works there). We visited while eating our Blizzards (it was Kevin's first Blizzard, and he approved). Jonathon decided that if he had a bicycle he would join us.

When we reached Kirbyville we found that there are no established campgrounds there. I visited briefly with one very unfriendly convenience store employee, then called the sheriff, then tried the doors at the Baptist church (to see if anyone was around...thought it might be OK to camp there), then called the sheriff again (to ask about a town park we had seen...found that a number of people had called us in as they thought we must be trying to break into the church...you can probably imagine how suspicious 3 cyclists are and how it must look like we could probably load up the entire contents of the church and leave town). We finally spoke with a sheriff officer at the church who gave us permission to camp in the town park. We slept well that night.

Day #28; Sunday, May 4
Start: Kirbyville, TX
End: Oberlin, LA
82 miles

We went to church this AM. We had wanted to go to church and thought we would probably ride until early afternoon then stop early in order to attend an evening service. Instead, we were able passing by a church at around 9:40 AM when we noticed that they had a 10 AM service. We parted ways with Kevin and went inside to clean up a little before the service. We were welcomed by many even before we were cleaned up. During the service we were officially welcomed. Everyone was very friendly, the music and singing were tremendous, and the message on Matthew 6: 25-34 on not worrying was very appropriate (as I think it would always be). We again received unsolicited donations from a couple of members...the generosity at some churches is overwhelming.

After leaving church we crossed into Louisiana...we took a picture of the "Welcome to Texas" sign since there had not been one when we entered the state. Unfortunately there was no "Welcome to Louisiana" sign...maybe when we are on our way out.

A little further down the road we ran into a tour group (Adventure Cycling Association who published our maps does a tour...this one had 16 people in it). They gave us some info including that about 40 or 50 miles down the road there would be a fire chief who would allow us to stay in the firehouse. We ended up pushing on (again smooth pavement and very little wind) further than we had expected for the day and stayed in a firehouse in Oberlin, LA. Thanks Chief Kelly.
Note: In the picture it reads Allen Parish on the side of the truck--apparently LA is the only state in the US with parishes instead of counties...just an interesting bit of info.