We’re in Texas!
We left Oak Grove yesterday morning, after taking time to clean our room and bathroom, eat a quick breakfast, and watch some Dancing with the Stars wrap-up interviews on TV with Jo-Ann. After big hugs with Donny and Jo Ann, we took off about 8:30.
We started off in really good moods, as our packing and organization on Tuesday was the best we’ve ever done. We had clean laundry, food and equipment and clothing packed, the latest blog posted, and four photo albums posted, and we still had time to watch the finals of Dancing with the Stars and get to bed only an hour later than our usual time.
All we had to do in the morning was do the cleaning and pack the last few things. I should note that we are famous for staying up almost all night before we leave, feeling stressed and really overtired by the time we leave. This was a nice change!
Headed towards Johnson’s Bayou
Our ride was truly wonderful. We had a tail wind, nice and cool, a sunny day, and great quiet roads – very little traffic. We benefited all day from the post hurricane road repairs – many of the roads we’re traveling were in bad shape after two bad hurricanes in less than three years, and are now being repaved.
We made it to the Cameron Ferry in good time, with Donny meeting up with us shortly before the ferry. When time came for us to pull our bikes on the ferry, we had our quarters ready to pay the fee, but the girl told us, “the man ahead of you in that center lane paid for you”. We were really tickled.
We also met a married couple from Lake Charles that were out and about on a morning’s motorcycle ride on their gorgeous Harley-Davidson. They were great fun – the wait for the ferry and the ferry ride went really fast. We forgot to get their names, but we hope they write us.
We ran into Donny again down the road, so we took our first break with him, shortly after the ferry. It was hard when we left, feeling like it probably would be the last time we’d see him for a while.
The day got increasingly hot and by the time we reached Johnson’s Bayou we were thoroughly tired and ready to quit. We hadn’t been able to get in touch with our planned hosts, so we were completely uncertain about what to do. As we stopped by an RV park just outside Johnson’s Bayou, debating about whether we should try to stay there or hope that something better would show up, who should pull up behind us but Donny!
Jo Ann and Donny had been trying to call to let us know that our hosts were back at their home, but since they couldn’t get through by phone, Donny drove all the way from Oak Grove to tell us in person. We were so glad to see him! And we were SO happy he’d gone to all that effort to let us know!
We still had another five miles to ride, the last two and a half miles into head winds, but we finally made it – we rode forty one miles our first day out – we were really proud of ourselves.
Johnson’s Bayou
Our evening accommodations were wonderful – it was a large metal barn, brand new and very clean and nice. We set up the tent inside a room our host is building, inside the barn. Don and Faye now live in a trailer, after losing two homes and everything they own in less than three years. The trailer doesn’t feel too secure in high winds and big storms, so Don is building a “safe house” for his wife and mother-in-law.
He has the room framed out, and has a toilet already plumbed in, with a bathtub ready to go in any time. That meant that we had a private space, out of the weather, very quiet, with a toilet right outside our tent. Not only did we have all that, we got to take a shower inside their trailer, and got to do our laundry. As if that wasn’t awesome enough, Faye cooked us a meal – sausage and potato hash with fresh baked biscuits and bread pudding.
Don and Faye’s son came by while we were there, and as he walked up he said, “What’s that alligator doing out there?” Puzzled, we all followed him outside towards a sprinkler. There sat a 3-foot alligator under the sprinkler. After Hurricane Ike, the storm surge turned all the local marshes into salt-water marshes, and the alligators can’t survive in those conditions. This little fellow apparently smelled the fresh water and came over to soak himself in the sprinkler.
We walked up quite close, with Don’s son holding his dog. When the dog barked at the alligator, the gator hissed with its mouth wide open. Don had restricted the flow of the water by twisting the hose, and when he turned it on again, the gator started crawling away, back toward the marsh, as we backed away from it.
After all the riding and sunshine, followed by great food and great conversation, I was so tired that I was in the tent and in my sleep sack by 8:15, waiting for Chelsea. I’ll bet I was asleep within 10 minutes.
Port Arthur
Getting ready today was easy – it was bug-free and quiet, and we made toast to accompany the coffee Faye had made for us. We headed out by 8:30, only to discover that my water pack was leaking. As we stopped to see if we could fix it, we were literally covered in seconds by mosquitoes and deer flies.
I got my pack off my back and did frantic mosquito-killing duty for both of us while Chelsea did a quick check and a quick fix on the water pack. We hadn’t gotten more than 50 feet down the road when I realized that Chelsea’s load had slipped and was rubbing.
I asked her to stop, and she just snapped over her shoulder, “Later!” I had to laugh, but I did have to get her to stop so I could do a quick adjustment. We were again covered in deer flies, horse flies and mosquitoes.
That turned out to be the focus of the whole ride today. We had a great tail wind, but we still could only do about 12 mph, and that wasn’t fast enough to get rid of the pesky insects. We spent 15 miles slapping constantly as we felt each little sting. It was awful!
We made it past the construction area at the Sabine Pass and pulled off at a small convenience store for our first break. We got to chatting with a guy who was out front, and Lady Luck smiled on us once again. He is the owner of the store, and after some conversation, told us we could stay here tonight.
We are camped out behind his trailer (they too lost everything they had in Rita and Ike), where we have a bit of shade to sit in, and a great view of Sabine Lake (we are on the lake itself). Herb, the owner, let us use his shower and washer/dryer, and we are sitting inside in air conditioning writing the blog and doing the photos. Yippee! Now that’s heaven!
We’re headed out tomorrow for Winnie, where we plan to stay for three days at a city campground. We are really, really hoping that the storm systems miss us! If not, we’ll have a soggy few days. We’ll head for High Island on Monday, and then Galveston on Tuesday.
Chelsea’s outside trying to get a meal ready for us – our fuel leaked everywhere and soaked the stove, the directions, and everything else in the dry bag. She’s cleaning the mess up and trying to get a meal going. The good thing is that it was in a dry bag so nothing else got wrecked.
I still have to finish the photos she downloaded from her camera and caption them, then I’ll go help her out. She’ll be in after dinner to upload everything to the website.
We’ll probably join the local “porch monkeys” after dinner.
Wish us luck with the upcoming storm systems! And meanwhile, be sure to check our photo galleries.
Signing off from Port Arthur, Texas…