We had more hills on this section and we had alternating head and side winds all day, along with our usual really high heat and humidity. We had one short and somewhat steep, but pretty, bridge to cross, and lots of crops along the way, especially the closer we got to Palacios (puh-lash-us).
Our first rest stop was across the street from a nuclear power plant – those matching round towers are sure distinctive! We were fascinated with the high levee we saw surrounding the plant as we cycled on by.
We kept struggling slowly along, finally stopping for a rest at a local crossroads. We saw a pickup truck there, and asked the driver (Darrell Buckley) if he knew a place to stay in Palacios. He told us about the Texas Baptist Encampment on the waterfront, which sounded encouraging, but we were quite discouraged to discover we were much farther away than we thought.
While we talked to Darrell, a local sheriff (Jake Roberts) pulled up, and we stayed talking to him after Darrell had to leave. Jake was quite funny, and we got a real kick out of talking to him. He did take the time to show us a detail map so we had a much better idea of what to expect.
There was nothing to do except keep going, so we did, though CR 2583 turned out to have direct and stiff head winds. As we ended one particularly tough section of headwinds, we saw the bay ahead of us, and decided to stop for a short rest in a bit of shade off the road before tackling the last three miles into Palacios. We were feeling truly awful from the heat by this time.
We’d only been there about ten minutes before we spotted an older man in an ATV (like a golf cart) pulling out of the driveway across the street and heading toward us. I whispered to Chelsea, “Looks like we’re going to get kicked out now. Oh well, Palacios is only another three miles.”
The driver pulled up next to us and said in his slow Texas drawl, “Y’all are welcome to stay here as long as you want, but I think y’all would be a lot more comfortable on the shade in our front porch. Maybe my wife could even find a cold soda for y’all.” It didn’t take long to say yes and follow him over to the front porch.
Gil Nelsen and his wife Suzy hosted us for the next hour or so, entertaining us with stories and a cold coke, while enjoying the coolness on the front porch. We even got a tour of the cattle farm (Gil has about thirty head of cattle and wants to grow it to about fifty) – Suzy took us on “Little Bessie”, the ATV, so we could see the highlights of the farm.
We hated to leave, but it was getting hotter and hotter, we still had the headwinds to deal with, and still had to find a place to stay for the night. As we left, Gil told us to come back and pitch a tent in their yard (they have and absolutely magnificent oak tree right in front) if we couldn’t find a place to stay.
Those were three of the hardest miles we’ve had in a long time. The winds were terrible, we were so tired from the hot day the day before with very little sleep, and we were seriously hungry. We finally limped into the outskirts of Palacios, just shy of the store where Gil and Suzy had told us to turn. Collapsing in the shade of a palm tree, we grabbed for an energy bar.
We’d only been there about two minutes when a pickup truck pulled in, and who should it be but Suzy. She rolled down her window and said, “How would you like to go to dinner with us in Matagorda tonight, and sleep on our couch? We’ve got air conditioning!” Talk about an offer too good to refuse!
We got our trailers and bikes in the back of the truck, and climbed into the blessed cool air. Suzy took us on an extended tour of Palacios – the downtown, the outskirts, the harbor, and the waterfront before heading back to the ranch.
Comparing notes later, Chelsea and I discovered we’d both felt awful for most of the tour because we’d been so overexposed to the heat. Suzy had “rescued” us in the nick of time.
Back at the ranch, we took very fast showers (our first in two days) and got ready to go.
The ride to Matagorda was wonderful. We saw the beautiful racehorses Gil had been telling us about, and we found out that the crops we’d been seeing are soybeans, cotton and maize. We found out that the high levee near the nuclear power plant is the cooling pond, and we heard lots of stories about the local area.
Matagorda itself is just beautiful. Our first stop was dinner at the River Bend restaurant; for two very hungry cyclists it was manna from heaven. We had fried shrimp and stuffed shrimp, with rice and baked potatoes and green salad. We were happier than we’d been all day!
After dinner we crossed the bridge at the IntraCoastal Canal and went down to the beach itself. What a gorgeous beach it is! We’re still not sure it would have been worth the ride in the heat and winds for only one night, but we can certainly recommend it as a place to see if you are headed this way. If the weather were cooler, we’d definitely do it ourselves.
Back at the ranch after dinner, we spent some time chatting with Gil and Suzy, then Gil took us out on Little Bessie to check on the cattle. We got the extended tour this time – all the way around the hundred or so acres, checking on everything. We had a ball! With the wind whipping in our hair as we cruised along I thought, “maybe we could do our trip on one of these little things”!
After getting ready for the next day, and more great conversation, we finally crawled into fresh sheets and real pillows on the foldout couch in the living room, having ended our day wonderfully.