Thursday, April 21, 2011
Montgomery to Kingwood
24 miles by bike
20 miles by car

I got an early start this morning, just before seven, as the sun is just finishing coming up. I was 44 miles away from my aunt and uncle’s house, and I hoped to be there by midday. The wind was not very cooperative, but I was still moving along at what felt like a reasonable pace. I couldn’t tell exactly how fast because my odometer had stopped working completely again.

I rode 15 miles to the outskirts of Conroe and stopped for donuts. I was really lured in because they advertised kolaches, a type of Czech pastry I adore. Unfortunately, the Texas version of a kolache is less like the best danish you’ve ever had and more like a hot dog wrapped in dough. Disappointing! But donuts are pretty much always delicious, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Then I took the 336 loop around Conroe. It soon became quite clear that what might have a good driving recommendation was not fabulous for biking. The shoulder kept disappearing on a rather restricted roadway. But probably ten people over the last few days insisted I could not bike through the town of Conroe. It was only seven miles, and traffic was light.

I turned right on the 1314, where they had just finished resurfacing the road.

With the worst possible biking surface ever! It was bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, and hot. It impeded rolling. It was basically gravel covered with tar. The “Share the Road” signs seemed to be laughing at me. I had left a message with Candy and Bill earlier to let them know I was on my way. When they returned my call about two miles down this road and offered to come get me, I was ready. I rode for about 25 more minutes, and then found a good place for them to turn off and pick me up. I was happy to see them just a few minutes later. I won’t have anyone to come and pick me up from here on out, so I am thinking of today as using my resources wisely!

This way we had more time to visit, too. My cousin Bill and his family live two houses down, so his daughter Lexi waltzed in to hang out with the grandparents while her sister was running a fever. I am so lucky to get to spend more time with this part of the family!

A few photographic odds and ends I’ve been collecting:

I keep hearing about the blue bonnets. There are many wildflowers along the roads, but nothing that I have seen that could be called a blue bonnet. Many people are almost apologetic about the lack of recent rain. Apparently the wildflowers should be much more amazing this time of year.

These two are such a tiny sample, but it’s fun to see all of the ranch signs along the way.

We spent a lot of time looking at maps of the rest of my trip this afternoon. I’m supposed to meet my dad at I-75 in Florida by May 9th, which is tight. I’m thinking about jumping ahead by train again so I can spend more time on the beaches of the Gulf Coast, rather than in the rather empty middle of Louisiana. There’s more figuring to be done!

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