4/10 - Navasota (0 miles 1630 total)

the day started out cool, but the skies were clear all day, & the sun soon heated things up. but it stayed pretty cool all day.

i learned early today that my friend luanne's surgery went very well yesterday, & that she was up & feeling chipper by last night. that news provided a very upbeat start to my day.

as always, several folks worked on their bikes on this layover day. here's a photo of mary (from boston) cleaning her chain with a toothbrush (!), with technical assistance from carolyn on the right. michelle munches on leftovers from last night's supper in the background, as she prepares to spend much of the day biking.

gay takes the term 'rest day' seriously. here she lounges on her bed, book in one hand, tv remote in the other. her husband sent that pretty bouquet that's sitting beside her.

early afternoon, my friends from iowa city arrived on their "loaded" bikes. in this photo, from left, are barb goff, jim down, me, jan down, & betty oglesby. they had a beautiful ride from brenham.

for over 20 years, jan & jim have been doing short trips every year with the goal of riding across each of the 50 states. there's a 5-day stretch here in texas & louisiana that they haven't yet covered on any previous trips, so they'll do that now. jim has arranged their trip to meet up with our x-country group.....great fun for us.

they won't be able to stay in cold springs tomorrow night, where we're staying, because our group has taken all the motel rooms in that small town, so they'll ride to cleveland tomorrow (after sharing some of our breakfast out around the trailer in the morning). then they'll meet us at an intersection about 20 miles into our ride the next day & ride with us to silsbee, where they'll join us for supper.

we went back into town for supper at a soul food place we'd heard about, but when we got there, the place had closed at 4 pm (instead of the 8 pm posted on the door). the fellow inside popped his head out the door & recommended another place in town where the food is prepared fresh. it happened to be at a gas station.

so here's our group toasting our bike trips with our plastic water glasses at hille's cafe in the shamrock station; from left are betty, sari, patty, jim, jan, barb, & me. that roll of paper towels on the table is our napkin dispenser. the food was good & the wait staff very accommodating.

different folks went off to various other places for supper. 7 of our group went to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a restaurant near here, the wrangler steak house. they'd been invited by liz dujka, whom they'd met at the chamber of commerce office today when they were downtown. liz would be a good person to contact if you ever want info about this area. our elaine was interviewed by tom turner, navasota news, kwbc1550. many folks at the ceremony were very interested in our bike tour.

tomorrow we'll ride 66 miles to cold springs. we've got too many in our group to fit into the motel, so will overflow into a guest house 4 mi outside of town. michelle rode some of the route today & says it's beautiful. & jim down says the temps for the next few days will get warmer, with winds out of the southwest. sounds great for cycling.

If you would like copies of the original, full-size photos, feel free to e-mail me with your request, and I'll save your note and get back to you after the ride. Stay tuned....

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