In Texas!!

Finally made it to Texas. Natalie and I could not wait to get out of LA and MS. The people there were great don't get me wrong. We met some fantastic people through those states. I cannot say the same for the roads, scenery, and drivers. Roads were bad, not much to look at for scenery, and drivers were pretty awful. Very thankful to make it to TX. Upon entering the state we notice immediately that the roads are so much better. Not so much debris on the side and wide shoulders to ride on. We stay our first night in TX in Kirbyville. We rode about 55 miles that day. We are getting to the point where 55 miles seems short to us. We are still with Stefan for the time being. We stayed with a very nice couple here, Sidney and Debbie. Sidney made us an awesome meal at night. I think they were the best burgers I have ever had. They were a mixture of beef, venison, and bacon. They were awesome!  They had friends over later that night and we had a bonfire. They brought some Shiner Bock beer with them which I did not know was brewed very near in Shiner, TX. We drank a lot of those and listened to some hilarious stories. One of the best nights we have had so far. The next morning we had to leave pretty early in order to make it to Shepherd, TX. It was about an 85 mile ride so we got going around 9:00. We parted ways with Stefan and now it is just Natalie and I again. The ride was very pleasant with great roads and a slight tailwind. Our legs felt great and we made it to this place around 4:00 in the afternoon. No doubt, one of the most interesting places we have been so far. We stayed at a place called Shepherd Sanctuary. Awesome, awesome place. They even made us dinner! The gentleman doing the cooking studied in France so the food was excellent. Best pot roast I have ever had. All of the people who stayed here (people live at this sanctuary) were great company. We had great conversation with them. They felt bad for us sleeping in a tent because it was supposed to rain so they let us stay in one of their cabins. Very cool cabins! They were each decorated with a special theme. The lady who runs this place buys all sorts of decorations and even had the neon sign from Buffy the vampire slayer (see pictures). They made us great coffee in the morning and we took off around 10. Very sad to leave places like this. We had about a 55 mile ride the next day to Sam Houston national forest outside of New Waverly. Very cool forest and starting to get a little more hilly around here. No more flat ground and certainly no more messing around. We woke up the next morning and it was raining but warm so we decided to continue riding. We had to get to Carmine, TX which was another 85 mile ride. We were not very excited about it. We both felt like crap yesterday. I realized that we had ridden almost 600 consecutive miles without any days of rest. We were both feeling really lousy and it was raining which did not help. The humidity was killer and was hard to breathe actually. We stopped in Navasota, TX for lunch at Pizza Hut. We got their buffet and loaded up on everything. We took about an hour break and felt much better. Natalie pulled the trailer through some serious hills until Independence, TX. We took a break there and knew we only had about 20 more miles to go until being done for the day. We entered Gay Hill, TX and a woman stopped us in her van and asked where we were going to stay that night. We replied that we were staying with a woman about 10 miles down the road. She stated that she had a hot tub at her place and quickly won our allegiance. That, and we did not have to go any further as she was just a mile down the road. We stopped at her place which is in Gay Hill, TX. They have a guest house which they offered to us. Everything is beautiful here! They are on top of a hill that overlooks land as far as you can see. You can see all the way to College Station, TX which is 25 miles away or so. Absolutely beautiful! They have horses and a ton of property here. Sandi and her husband Gary took us out to dinner at an awesome Mexican place. They are both bikers too and we loved talking to them. As I am writing this, we plan to stay with a woman in Carmine, TX which is only 10 miles down the road. That is all we are riding today and plan to rest! Tomorrow we plan to head toward Austin and see how far we can get. This trip continues to be amazing and I continue to say the best part is the people we have met along the way. Often times we don't know where we are staying that same night and someone offers to take us in. It has exceeded my expectations in every way so far. Best wishes to all my friends and family! Check out my pictures on Facebook. I was finally able to upload them.

~Drew