We're riding away from the coast, paralleling the abandoned railroad right of way of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad. I looked up on the net what right of way we were next to. The track is long gone, the only signs that trains ran there are the grading and wooden trestles over every stream. According to various web sites the SA&AP ceased to exist as an independent company in the 1890s, and was a puppet of the Southern Pacific until the 1930s, when the SP took overt control. It's not clear when the tracks were taken up, but it was a long time ago. The trestles look pretty rickety.
As you might expect, it was totally flat today.
We knocked off half the ride before stopping for a late breakfast/early lunch at Barth's. They have a buffet, and a devoted clientele of very old people who get there right when the doors open.
It was pretty good. They have fried chicken and ultra-tender pot roast.
Jim insisted that I get photographed in my normal state of repose.
I take little naps like this while he assembles all his gear and iPod thingies before setting off to ride.
15 miles later we came upon Shorty's Place, and since it was very early and we had little riding left, we stopped for a drink and a snack. The cute waitress took our picture with the cow.
Shorty's has deep-fried crawfish tails. Jim was aghast.
Here's the campsite for the night, at the RDOQ Roadside Inn Motel in Floresville. Their Internet access was sporadic, and I am behind on my blog updates as a result.
Dining options were few in Floresville, we had to settle for the slut. It was revolting.
But between the slut and the RDOQ, was a bar with pool, darts, sports on TV, and electrolyte therapy. I took care of those electrolytes real good. What was really great was out front:
That's six full-sized pickups in a row in the parking lot, and four of them have full brush guards.
Here's the map for the day, there's no MotionBased page because the battery was dead on the heart rate monitor for half the day.
4 comments:
I have been eagerly reading your posts because I am planning on riding through the same area (Brownsville, Raymondville, Kingsville, Beeville) as the beginning of a cross country ride from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. I appreciate your writing about your experiences in this area.
Cool! Somebody reads this! Here it is in a nutshell:
1. The tar and gravel pavement on all the back roads is really, really rough.
2. The landscape can be really monotonous.
3. Everything is really cheap.
4. You better like Mexican food.
Why picture of the cute waitress?
That's the cow. You need to get out more.
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