Fallen Timber and Blue Tarps

These morning glories were blooming here and there along the route both yesterday and today. Even these blooms are "Texas BIG" compared to the wild ones we are used to seeing.

Today was a daylong ride through areas that suffered much wind damage from hurricane Ike. First you need to understand that the area is forested with pine and oak trees. So when the wind came through it blew trees over the power lines and in many cases blew the power lines themselves over. In some of the smaller communities or strip type malls, they were still using generators to provide minimal lighting and services. I don’t believe there is any way I could have counted the roofs that had blue tarps over part or the entire roof. Most of the trees that had fallen across the roads had been cut up and shoved over to the side of the road. We had an ice-cream cone in a Diary Queen that still had plywood over a couple of their windows. I would have loved to have a trailer along and pick up some of the oak logs lying along the road to use later in furniture building.

Today was a wonderful riding day as far as weather and terrain. It was 57 degrees when I started at 7 a.m. and 85 when I finished at 3 p.m. I rode 87 miles and only had to use 6 gears to cover the terrain (slowest speed 10 mph, fastest 18 mph). For the past several days as I have climbed in and out of “draws” I have used at least 15-20 of the available 27 gears on my bike. There was very little wind and there was one stretch of the road that was 15 miles in length with no turns and was perfectly flat as well as lined on both sides with tall timber to keep the wind away from the road. It may not have been the most interesting road, but after the hills and wind it was a very nice change. On this stretch of the road 24 logging trucks and 18 wood chip trucks that were all headed to a plant in Silsbee, Texas passed me.

As we completed the ride at 3:00 PM and started looking for a hotel we soon discovered that there was no room in the inn, or that the hotels were closed because of damage. Most were still filled with Ike evacuees. We ended up driving north to Jasper, Texas, which at this point I know little about except that there is a large lake near by. Tomorrow is a day off to rest, relax, tour, worship, and regroup.

Miles Traveled Today = 87

Total Miles Traveled = 1,715

Trivia = Experienced changing the 11th flat tire today