I laid down the night before and slept the the sleep of the dead. The riding of 580 miles on a bike is both a physically and mentally demanding. I know towards the end I was getting silly with myself.
I woke up and showered then ate the motel's breakfast. It was still in the 30's so I waited awhile until it reached the 40's; then I loaded up. I was about 1 1/2 hours later starting than what I originally planed. I fueled up then made my way southward from the motel back to LA 28 and then headed west to Leesville LA.
Being brisk this morning and that I forgot my jacket at home, I stopped in at the first Dollar General I came to. Which was, as usual, out in the middle of nowhere. I was going to get one of their either safety orange or neon green hoodie to wear underneath my riding jacket and over my heated liner.
They had none.
Inconceivable! So I had to travel on.
In Leesville, I caught LA 8 which took me into Texas over the Sabine River. The bridge that spans the Sabine River at that point is still one of the old iron tresses bridges. Across the river and I was into Texas and the Piney Woods area. In reality I had been in the Piney Woods for some time but I always associate it with the eastern part of Texas. Except for it being infested with Texans it looks like home.
In Jasper TX I picked up US190. Now if I wasn't using Google Maps then US 190 would have been the highway I was going to stay on until around Johnson City but Google Maps being Google Maps I knew it would take me some interesting destination just to save me a tenth of a mile or two.
I woke up and showered then ate the motel's breakfast. It was still in the 30's so I waited awhile until it reached the 40's; then I loaded up. I was about 1 1/2 hours later starting than what I originally planed. I fueled up then made my way southward from the motel back to LA 28 and then headed west to Leesville LA.
Being brisk this morning and that I forgot my jacket at home, I stopped in at the first Dollar General I came to. Which was, as usual, out in the middle of nowhere. I was going to get one of their either safety orange or neon green hoodie to wear underneath my riding jacket and over my heated liner.
They had none.
Inconceivable! So I had to travel on.
In Leesville, I caught LA 8 which took me into Texas over the Sabine River. The bridge that spans the Sabine River at that point is still one of the old iron tresses bridges. Across the river and I was into Texas and the Piney Woods area. In reality I had been in the Piney Woods for some time but I always associate it with the eastern part of Texas. Except for it being infested with Texans it looks like home.
In Jasper TX I picked up US190. Now if I wasn't using Google Maps then US 190 would have been the highway I was going to stay on until around Johnson City but Google Maps being Google Maps I knew it would take me some interesting destination just to save me a tenth of a mile or two.
Now while in Jasper I was able to witness a sight of Air Evac landing at the local hospital. For a moment I hearken back to the days of when seeing Air Evac land and ascend was a common occurrence. But no, I don't really miss them days.
I stopped at the Wal-Mart in Jasper to see about a hoodie and that place had done packed up all it's jackets and coats for the season. I headed on done the road with my chilled self.
Pass through Livingston Tx and google started to route me around the south side of Lake Livingston. Beautiful ride through that area. As I was passing through Coldsprings Tx I came upon another Dollar General, I been passing them quite regularly but their signs tends to be hidden and I don't see them until it's too late and I'm passing them, and was able to see it in time to pull in. They only had a safety orange hoodie but in my size. I took it.
I passed through New Waverly Tx with my first gas light starting to blink. That usually means I have about another fifty miles I can go. But about 20 miles outside of New Waverly is when the second light started to blink. That's my "You're fixin' to be walkin' " signal. This was a stretch of country road with no station in sight. I was starting to think I would have to be knocking on a farm house door begging for a quart of gas.
About 20 miles later I came upon Anderson Tx and their lone gas station. That Worx! So, I fueled up and headed on coming to Navasoto Tx shortly. There was one of those painted murals on the side of a building proclaiming Navasoto greatness, (but no mention of Chuck Norris, curious!) so I parked Razorback in front and hopped off quickly to get a picture of Razorback with the mural as a backstop.
From Navasoto I made my way into Austin and stopped to visit with my brother. It was already 6:20 and I knew I still had about 3 hours to go so the visit was quick.
I left my brother at about 7 pm and then headed westward on US 190 until Google Maps had me hang a left onto a FM road while still east of Johnson City. It was already dark so I wasn't able to see much but this seems like on of the kinds of roads in the hills country I brought Razorback out to ride on, only not in the dark.
Soon I made Comfort Tx and headed westward until Center Point where I fueled up the third time this day. From there I headed southward and within a half an hour I made my Uncles and Auntie's ranch. It was 10:30. They were still waiting up for me. Auntie even fixed me supper. It tasted like ambrosia.
So, after visiting and eating I laid down for another good night sleep, very tired but my bottom was doing a lot better than expected. I wasn't saddle sore.
491 miles today.
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