Jason and Kristle were our new couchsurfing hosts. Jason is in school in Galveston, but is now changing majors to meteorology, which requires a transfer to another university in another part of Texas. It’s only a three-hour drive away, but it’ll mean big changes for them both.
Jason loves birding, and currently has a job with the Audubon Society at the bird sanctuaries in High Island, along with other tasks they set for him.
Kristle is a full-time teacher, teaching English and social studies to seventh graders. It keeps her plenty busy.
What Jason would really rather be doing however, is spending full-time on the road cycle touring. He’s a veteran of a number of successful long distance tours, and is totally hooked on it, like we are. He and Kristle are headed out in less than a month for Kristle’s first long distance tour; they’re going to Washington and touring that part of the world for nearly two months.
Since Jason is moving, they’ve just downsized to a one-bedroom apartment, creating a bit of temporary chaos ’til things get settled out. Located on the third floor, getting the bikes and trailers and gear bags up to their apartment was a challenge. Jason finally just picked up our trailers and carried them up the two flights of stairs. He gets our hero of the day for that!
After having some fun chat, we hit it lucky again with food; we were served vegetarian lasagna, French bread, and tossed salad for dinner, chatting and getting to know each other the whole time.
We spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights with them, leaving early on Thursday morning as they headed out to work. As usual, we stayed up much later than we should have each night, lured by the irresistible – wonderful new people and wonderful new stories.
We were so tired out on Wednesday that Chelsea and I went back to sleep for over an hour in the morning while Jason was at work. When he arrived home, we were so tired out that we just sat inside the whole day. We talked extensively about cycle touring with Jason, and looked over their wonderful cycling and adventure books.
We loved the inexhaustible supply of conversation about gear and equipment for cycle touring, and we really liked Jason and Kristle. It’s the first time we’ve been able to talk in such detail with anyone about cycle touring, so we took advantage of the ideas exchange.
We left after having exchanged contact information, thinking that there’s an excellent chance of meeting them on the road one of these days.
Signing off from Galveston TX