Old "quotes of the day"

"It's hard to fly
when yer 'humpy-humpy'"
...about these insects that look kinda like fireflies that, uh, appear to be mating?
(And are all over the place, including on our kit, in our helmets, on our bikes...)

When we were in Austin last week at one point Jordan and I were in the park practicing some cyclocross skills when this shirtless dude walks up and accosts us on his way over to Barton Springs from his motor vehicle with a plethora of hula hoops over his shoulders...and he was quite entertaining. He covered a lot of ground in our brief encounter, and finally said he didn't understand how anyone could ride a single speed (like Jordan was) in Austin, given all the hills. He said something to the effect of "YOU need two gears: one for biking, and one for your huge cojones!"
Man, I wish I had some sort of tape recorder for that dude's "visit"!

Then he headed off to Barton Springs.
Who knows? Maybe he was hoping to impress the ladies with his hula hoops, and lookin' fer a little humpy-humpy?

Can you believe the luck?!

We got a ton of flat tires in AZ, mostly from the wires coming out of all the decaying truck tire debris on the side of the road - where we ride.
We got new, tougher tires in Tempe for the rear wheels (where most of those flats occurred, naturally). I had sealant put in my tubes in Phoenix and Heidi had some put in her's in Las Cruces, NM. We figured we better get some bike work done before we headed out into the wilds of West TX.
I had been getting so many flats (2 a day, about; plus Heidi's flats) that I just started keeping a tire lever in my bike jersey pocket (rather than digging it out of my saddle bag each time).
After the new rear tires and sealant in the tubes I had at least two times (one thorn and one truck tire wire) where the sealant saved me. Awesome!
But I kept the tire lever in my center back pocket, as a good luck charm. And I mean ALL the way across TX. Like 900 miles and 3 weeks "in the back pocket".
No flats.
Then yesterday, sittin' on a bench swing with Heidi, in the shade, drinkin' cold Cokes in Honey Island, TX, I scooted forward to get up, pressing my back against the bench, and the tire lever dug into my back in such a way that I think it left a mark. Youch! So I took it out of my back pocket and put it in my "top lid" (handlebar bag).
Today?
Flat tire.

Wow.
I guess it really WAS a good luck charm!

I'll be riding tomorrow with that tire lever in my center back pocket again.
But I will also be more careful when I get up out of comfortable chairs in the shade to not drive it into my back with all my weight...

New stage name

When biking with another person, and yer out in front, it's kind to warn them of upcoming obstacles; even ones that are as clear as day to you, because for the person in back, drafting, seeing that debris around your panniers and broad shoulders can be tough.

So when we finally ran out of TX today
And crossed the Sabine River into LA.
I told Heidi "Bump!" as we were about to hit the leading edge of the bridge.
Then we swerved back into "the bike lane", also known as "the debris lane"
After the bridge guardrail ended.
"The debris lane" is where one finds lotsa truck tire debris, "drink and throw" broken beer bottle glass, beer cans, pop PET bottles, bark and other logging truck scraps, random metal parts, nails, screws, nuts and bolts, and, of course, road kill. It is essential to point this stuff out if either it would have negative consequences for your tailgunner (glass, roadkill, other large debris), or if it has just plain been a long day.

Now, seeing as we had just bumped over the bridge, passed the "Bienvenue en Louisiene" sign, dodged a pile of debris
I was thinkin'
"Hey! That would be a great stage name!"
"Now, ladies and gentlemen,
for your entertainment tonight,
All the way from Wississippi,
It's 'Bumpy DeBris!'

C'mon ladies and gents
How about a round of applause!"

Frogs, dogs and logs

That could be a simple characterization of our last couple of days here in TX.
Frogs at night, dogs chasin' us and logs flyin' by us on trucks during the day...

'Bout 3 more miles of TX, and then it's Louisiana.
Hope the warnings we keep getting about bad roads and bad drivers aren't ALL true.

How ironic, eh?

We were talking today about Steven Harper, Canadian Prime Minister from Alberta; and how he was in the USA to lobby Obama on behalf of the Alberta tar sands bitumen producers - and on behalf of the Koch brothers from Wichita, KS, who (inherited their wealth, are now "libertarians" and are the money behind the tea party etc) want the diluted bitumen piped to their heavy crude refineries in TX - so they can sell more gasoline on the world market from the deep water ports on the Gulf coast of TX.
We were talking about how BP is complaining how the clean up costs from their Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the US shoreline are getting expensive, how it might impact their dividend (OMG!); how BP has asked UK Prime Minister David Cameron to lobby Obama for help keeping BP's cost of their cleanup down.
Heidi was saying something to the effect of "it's like the mafia, but 'official'". She said "it's like a virus; and we need 'a new operating system'". I was trying to explain to her how Congress is supposed to represent "the people" - but instead it represents multinational corporations (via their lobbyists and campaign "contributions"). How do you explain the American Congress writing a law that makes pipeline corporations NOT liable for "diluted bitumen" spills - it's not oil, after all. Especially when those pipeline corporations are CANADIAN.
Heidi was saying there should be some kind of check on the system (since Congress is owned by TransCanada and Koch Industries, as in this case), she said "the Supreme Court should be a check on that". I tried to explain to her about Chief Justice Roberts and Samuel Alito et al and their "Citizens United" decision and massive over-reach - and how the US Supreme court is currently making things worse - and how it has historically represented large corporate interests over "the little man" (I'm thinking how the US Supreme Court used the 14th Amendment, which was supposed to protect newly freed slaves, to protect...the large railroad business interests that were dominant at the time).
This is all while we biked 75 miles today, in the heat, humidity, and cross-headwinds of Southeast TX.
Then we pulled into an RV park in Silsbee, TX, and when Heidi commented on how full and busy it was the host said "Yes. There are a lot of workers here from the TransCanada pipeline going in."
(They have been building this southern section for a long time now, even though the US State Dept has NOT yet given the go ahead for the pipeline section coming across the border from Canada.)
Wow.
How ironic, eh?

For extra credit look up the "diluted bitumen" spills that have already occurred on US soil/water in the
1) Kalamazoo River in MI
and
2) the recent "it's not oil!" spill in Arkansas.

It's refreshing to need earplugs because of the locals

Instead of because of the neighbors - crazy ass frogs at Double Lake Recreation Area in the Sam Houston National Forest!

And I like what they call "mountain" bikes down here - "trail" bikes. Makes more sense.

A sobering account of our friend Don getting hit by a blind motorist, from behind

Glad that Jerry and Peggy were "with" him, for sure.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1&page_id=325174&v=a

Velvet Cake for dessert!

Laura's favourite dessert is velvet cake, so we had to order the lunch special with dessert. Thinking of you, Laura!

Its not all "ice cream and lollipops" all the time

A month ago Greg answered a little girl's question to us, "what is it like (biking across the country)?" with "its like ice cream and lollipops". Unfortunately, its not always super and great.

Yesterday we heard from one of riding buddies, that he had been hit by a car, is fine, but will not finish his ride (from San Francisco to St. Augustine). And this morning we found out the tornado season has started. We are south of the tornado that hit a town in Northern Texas, but its a good reminder to us to keep a watch out for storms.

I had a graduate student defending her Master's thesis yesterday morning, and with the afternoon thunderstorms we decided to stay an extra day in the motel in Navasota. It was raining when we woke up this morning, but its sunny now, and the roads are beginning to dry off. So we are packing up and getting to ride with a renewed awareness and caution.

Ride of Silence, May 15, 7pm

Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the first Ride of Silence

In honor of those cyclists injured or killed by motorists while riding their bike

Please consider finding a ride in your community
And joining

Riding
In honor of those who can't
In honor of those who no longer have a voice

Thanks
Greg

http://rideofsilence.org/main.php

New videos have been uploaded

One of the things we were able to do in Austin was upload a few more videos ... if you are interested to see them, click the youtube link.

Another nice dinner spot

Simple dinner
Great view

Beaucolic East TX

Texas, east of Austin is beautiful. We've been biking through rolling hills with fields of wild flowers, horses, goats and beautiful cows: white, brown, black, mocca. California and Wisconsin are always competing for the happiest cows, but after today's ride I think the cows east of Austin must be the happiest.

Ernie!

We need "Ernie's" on our nations highways and byways...

Badger State Trail

Got out "the big picture" map last night...and we figure, after riding through the rest of TX, LA, MI, TN, KY, IL, MO, IA, IL...that we'll get on the Jane Addams Trail in Freeport, IL, and take it till it connects to the Badger State Trail at the border of Illinois and Wississippi; then ride that into Madison...about 7 weeks from now.

C'mon Heidi! Get up!
We've still got a long way to go!

3,000 miles, yo

Crossed that threshold today.

After a good, fun ~3 days in Austin, TX, with our friend Jordan.
Thanks for the hospitality!

Curious to see if TX East of Austin is any different than TX West of Austin, in terms of motorists; and people doing things other than driving.
(TX West of Austin was awesome.)
First impressions:
It is poorer.
It is blacker. (I can remember 2 African-Americans in hundreds of miles West of Austin; and today alone we saw dozens of African-Americans)
There are a lot of underground oil pipelines.
It is flatter.
Nearly got run off the road today, by a guy pulling out of a Baptist church. (I am guessing he was trying to be courteous to other motorists...and didn't see us? [With our lights and neon on]) Well over 90% of the motorists West of Austin were attentive and courteous. I can only hope that continues.

2,000 miles to go.
Approximately...