Busy Day on the Road
By admin | April 21, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Ledbetter back to Burton by car
Burton to Montgomery
65 miles
Perhaps busy is an overstatement. But it feels like I did a lot today.
Downtown Brenham was a cute, historic-looking downtown, one where I might like to spend an afternoon browsing the shops and eating ice cream at the It Must Be Heaven cafe. There were some huge Victorian painted ladies and a colorful art studio. I also love the way “Brenham” sounds, especially when you say it with a little bit of a twang, and everything after the n gets kind of swallowed up. But it was just eight o’clock in the morning, and I had a long day ahead of me, so I just sped on through.
The couple at the gas station yesterday had practically insisted I stop at the Ace Hardware in town to get some pepper spray. I thought I might, though, because as I got deeper into the country, I was not as convinced that everyone’s dogs were going to be contained. I’ve already been sort of chased by two sets of dogs. The first stopped when they got to the road (thank goodness for good training!) and the second did come into the road, but turned back when a car came. Dogs seem to be very agitated by bikes. I would feel awful if a dog got hit by a car because it was chasing me, but I also don’t want one to try to chomp me. Tim suggested I just stop, and they’ll stop chasing me if I am not running away, which makes sense, but I don’t want to just put myself within biting range either.
Anyway, Ace Hardware wasn’t open yet, and also, they had explained so many times how to find it, of course I didn’t see it anywhere. Nor did see I see any of the street names they had mentioned, so I did stop at an organic food store on the way out of town to ask for directions. The proprietor mentioned a storm might be coming today, which I hadn’t seen in the weather report. She kept talking about seeking shelter. Rain would be fine to ride in, but I do want to avoid lightning. I asked if I would be able to see the storm coming, so I would know when to stop. A Texan, born and bred, (that was how she prefaced her answer) she said the wind would die down, then get stronger, and then I would be able to smell it, a real sweet smell. And then I should seek shelter.
Keeping an eye on the clouds and smelling the wind suspiciously, I headed on to Navasota.
The organic store lady recommended this state park as a beautiful and educational place to seek shelter before Navasota. It’s the place where the constitution was signed when Texas became independent in the 1800′s. The sky looked cloudy, but not yet stormy, and I was thinking it might be nice to weather the storm having lunch in Navasota, so I didn’t stop. Luckily, the sign was very informative.
I knew there was a place to stay in Navasota, but that would make the ride to Kingwood the next day about 70 miles. Instead, I thought I could move on another 30 or so miles to Lake Conroe, depending on the weather. As I came into town, I passed an Ace Hardware right away, so I stopped and got my pepper spray after all. I still haven’t taken it out of the package.
The teenager working there thought there wasn’t much of interest in Navasota’s downtown, but he did draw me a little map with the post office and a cafe across the street. He himself would prefer eating at Subway. I started at the post office, mailing off my fleece and my travel dress. They seem the most unused. The post office employees said they saw many cyclists coming through, and they believed I would meet the nicest people in the country right here in Texas. This was in sharp contrast to the gas station owner who wanted to know what I was carrying for protection, an uzi, a flamethrower, or what.
At the post office, they hadn’t heard of a storm coming. They wished one would, because it’s been unusually dry this year, but we checked online and one was not predicted. Just to be sure, I asked the two men having a conversation on the street corner just outside the post office. They had been laughing so hard, we could hear them inside. They didn’t think it would storm either, but they also wished it would.
I asked about the weather at the Corner Cafe, too. Phil, the waiter, owner and husband of the cook, put it out to the rest of the customers. Three tables of diners yelled back and forth what they thought, which was the same as everyone else I had talked to. One of the women, eating alone, told me how her son had ridden in the MS 150 ride the past weekend. I felt like a local at this cafe!
Even though I had a milkshake with my lunch, Phil insisted I try the Butter Pecan Cake. You can’t get it everywhere, he said, only some places in Alabama or Georgia. Now, it’s been a few years since I actually decided I would stop eating cake, because it tends to be disappointing. But I figure I should eat things I can’t get anywhere else. And it was goooood! Could’ve been butter pecan ice cream. I asked for an extra small piece, and Phil brought me what I would consider to be a big piece. He said it was only half of a Texas-size piece!
Another group came in for lunch, and Phil’s wife sat down to join them. It was kind of amusing to overhear their rather long discussion about the relative merits of Thunderbird vs. Boone’s Farm. As I was getting ready to leave, Phil gestured to one of the men and told me that Leon there was a world famous artist, and that I should check out is work in the gallery down the street. He also recommended the Blues Museum. “At least take a picture so you can say you were there!” He knows what bike travel is like!
Manse Lipscomb and Joe Tex both hail from Navasota. The exhibits at this antique shop were pretty interesting, but also good for checking out quickly and moving on.
Here’s Leon in his studio at Tejas Antiques. I love the turquoise color he uses. He said he grew up in Beverly Hills, but he’s been in Texas for almost 25 years now. He loves the people, he loves the weather, he loves everything about Texas, he says. And, you can make a living here.
As I was leaving, I noticed the construction at city hall. The bell tower had a been a hot topic of conversation at the cafe, but I hadn’t noticed until then what they were referring to.
It might have been what the two men on the corner were laughing about as well.
I headed out of town on the 105. Much of the day was on some awesome road surfaces.
This asphalt was so smooth! It helps the bike roll in a way that makes up a little for unhelpful wind. It also provides a more comfortable ride, with less bumps, and the light color doesn’t throw as much heat.
The hills were starting to smooth out, too. There is such a big difference between rolling hills that are just a little too steep on the upside, so I have to struggle a bit to get over the top, and more gentle ones, where I can coast quite a ways from the downhill, and then spin comfortably the rest of the way up. Both, however, involve a lot of shifting.
Yesterday I encountered this sign, but thank goodness I turned on to a different road before I got to the illustrated hill!
You can see the hills coming, but they always turn out different than you think when you actually get on them.
I headed out of Navasota around two o’clock. Eventually it starts to get a little cooler in the evening, but two to five is probably the hottest part of the day here. So I stopped a lot. I filled up my water bottles with ice rather than water at convenient stores to keep my Gatorade from tasting boiled. I chatted with a woman at one store, who was waiting in her car for her son to get off work. She seemed fascinated by what I was doing, but also scared for me.
I stopped at a farm stand. Watermelon sounds delicious, but it’s much too large to carry on the bike. I opted for citrus instead. Ron, who was manning the booth, was curious about what I was doing.
“Did you quit your job?” he asked excitedly. I nodded. “I did too!” he said.
His wife passed away, and after a while he thought there had to be more than this. He quit his job and sold his house. He told me how he first spent four months in Belize, but he was bored there. Since he’d been back, he’d been helping out with this farm stand and trying to start a coffee roasting business, but he felt like that wasn’t really what he wanted to do either.
I love meeting people who are having similar experiences to me, and I feel like I’m collecting quite a little tribe right now. Managing choices about what to do can be difficult when so many options are possible. Managing “stuff” always comes up in conversation with fellow travelers, as well as expectations about what we sometimes feel we should be doing. There’s so much to talk about, from logistical details, to ideas, to ideology.
In addition to that, with the bike trip, I often feel the impetus to keep moving, no matter what. I keep meeting people and finding places that I would like to spend more time with and get to know better. It makes it easier to remember that I always can come back, and keeping in touch with people scattered far and wide is easier now than ever. Even though I spend quite a bit of time by myself, I rarely feel alone.
Leave Your Comment