Tuesday, April 19
Smithville to Burton
56 miles

Within a few miles of leaving this morning, I met a woman named Tessa who is also biking the Southern crossing on her own. She is from Seattle, but she left from LA. She just mailed her cold weather gear home, and was feeling very light. I never got to find out what she got rid of, because she didn’t slow down for much of a chat. Like everyone else, she sped ahead of me. I would have really liked to talk to her more!

I have been noticing a lot of roadkill today, which is a little icky, but also interesting to see the wide variety of wildlife here. So far today, I have seen a turtle, an armadillo, a small deer, a large bird, a small bird, a very small bird, like a chickadee, a raccoon, a possum, a cat, a cardinal, and a vulture. Groups of vultures often gather around dead things in the middle of the road, and they really do not want to move when cars come by. They pretty much ignore me.

I rode through the tiny towns of Warrentown and Round Top. Everything, which wasn’t much, was closed, because apparently these places only come to life during the antique shows, which I missed by a week or two.

I missed the chance to have this in my home.

Mostly there are a lot of empty barns and fields, in which I guess antique dealers set up shop during the fairs. There was also a sign advertising a facility with eight motel rooms and a 20,000 square foot arena. Just in case you and your seven friends need one. Though this is Texas.

Another space consisted of two antique barns, each labelled “Excess” and a house next to them with a big sign that said, “Clutter.” Those designations do not actually make me want to shop for antiques.

Also in Round Top, population 90, was the world’s smallest Catholic Church, about the size of a shed, complete with graveyard. There was also a garage staffed with super friendly people who were very happy the antique shows were gone, and a pie shop, which was, very sadly, closed.

It looked like they really had good pie!

At the Citgo station outside of Burton, I met a helpful couple who had lots of opinions, but they helped me figure out a less hilly route and gave me a more detailed map of Kingwood, where I will be visiting my aunt and uncle (technically my mom’s cousin) when I get there. I was hoping to find a place to stay within the next few miles, and they thought there might be a campground about four miles down the road.

At four miles about exactly, I found a very pleasant picnic area, posted no camping, unfortunately, but no campground yet. I sat down to have a snack and check the Internet. A pick up truck pulled in, and, because I talk to everyone now, I met Daryll, a construction manager for a project on a ranch down the way. He was very interested in what I was doing, because he had sold his house and bought an RV, and was traveling around the country for work projects that would take several months at a time. Of course I was very interested in that, because traveling and getting paid at the same time is pretty great.

After talking for a while, he invited me to stay out at the ranch where he was working, and even agreed to drive me back to the picnic area in the morning, so I could pick up the ride where I left off. This was because the ranch was ten or so miles back where I had just come from.

It was cool to see the work he’s doing at the ranch. It’s not really a working ranch, though they do have cattle, as well as bison, elk, and donkeys. It’s more of a holiday and some weekends home for a wealthy family. Currently, they are working on the patio and pool, with it’s own bathhouse and a water park-caliber, twisty, turny waterslide. I would love to go to a party there some day!

The house was 200 years old, and had been relocated to the ranch and probably at least tripled in size. Daryll was particularly proud of the large beams throughout the house. They were huge logs that had at one time been rebared together to create an oil drilling platform. The homeowner had seen a truck carting them away, flagged him down, and bought them on the spot. They had done a lot of work to make make them look both presentable and historical to go with the house.

It is definitely a challenge to get used to the humidity, but so far Texas is a really interesting place.

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