Thanksgiving jaunt, Rev. II

[FlyingLaZBoy]

I intended to repeat last year's Thangksgiving jaunt out to East Texas
(Lake Cypress Springs) this week, using George's "Rockwall to
Texarkana" route -- but circumstances prevent my riding out there --
but I'm planning to take the bike along, and ride BACK, at least, for
a nice 116 miles... And it turns out some friends of ours live about
4 miles off the route, so I'm going to stop in and visit!

Trouble is, NOAA is forecasting a balmy 37 degrees in Winnsboro for
Thursday morning, when I'll be riding back!!! Brrrrr.....

Paul

[FlyingLaZBoy]

Well, THAT was interesting... Thanksgiving Day was a reasonably nice
one, weather-wise, with the temps at about 40 degrees (but sunny) with
the forecast of a sunny day and NW winds. I planned a detour along
the way outside of Winnsboro to visit some friends, so the additional
mileage made it an even 200K back to Rowlett instead of 100 miles. I
had actually planned to leave at 7:30, but my bike was in the
(separate) garage -- and it was locked, and I had no way to get in,
and nobody else was awake yet!!! SO, I had some extra coffee and
puttered around for an hour till our hosts woke up, not getting on the
road till 9AM...

Finally on my way, southbound for the first few miles, I immediately
noticed that the wind was already fairly steady from the west,
although light... With the chill, I had about four layers on my
torso, which thanks to the sunshine, was sufficient. However, just
getting started, it took me about 50 minutes to do the 11 miles into
Winnsboro -- there's a bit of elevation involved, and I was just
taking it easy, warming up.

I continued on out to my friend's place, about 30 miles along the way,
and chatted with them for a half hour or so, and hit the road again.
By this time, I noticed that the combination of headwind, rolling
hills, and chipseal was definitely slowing me down from my anticipated
pace -- and neither one was going to improve. However, car traffic
was very light, and it was a nice day to ride, having warmed up enough
that I had removed one layer and my arm warmers. I was also catching
various sights along the way to snap photos of -- old barns, a family
just "hanging out" on hay bales, a blue heron, etc.

However, one problem had arisen... I had gone 50 miles, and there had
been NO places to stop (since I skipped Winnsboro stores, and didn't
eat at my friend's place) along the way to snack or hit the bathroom.
The couple of stores I saw along the way were either closed for
Thanksgiving, or had gone out of business entirely! I hadn't brought
along much more than water and a sandwich, having stuffed myself the
previous night at dinner, and the headwinds had picked up, and were
starting to take their toll. It was already after 1PM by this point,
and I was only averaging about 14 mph. I finally made it to Lone Oak,
to the familiar "Exxceleron" gas station, 70 miles in, tired and
starving... and they were open! I took a break there, downing a
S*bucks and some snacks... then continued on.

I finally got to the I-30 service road at the 90 mile point, around
3:45, with about 35 miles yet to go. My pleasant vacation ride home
had turned into somewhat of a beating, thanks to the wind and chipseal
-- I was still only averaging about 14 mph... so I called my wife,
and asked her to meet me in Royse City to pick me up... especially
since I wasn't carrying a headlight, and didn't think I was going to
make it back before sundown. So I made my way along the I-30 service
road another nine miles to meet here there, winding up with 99 miles
on the button, done for the day...

SO -- a word of caution for anyone taking the "Rockwall to Texarkana"
route -- along that looong stretch of FM 1567, there is little to no
place to stop for the 50+ miles from Lone Oak to Winnsboro, especially
on a holiday!!!!

Some of the photos I took along the way are at:
http://s977.photobucket.com/albums/ae256/pbrown8js/TGivingRide2009/
...Including a really bizarre one of a homestead along FM 1564... you
know how most places have family names on the gate, or something
pastoral like "Windy Acres" or "Almost Heaven"? THIS one says "NO
FEAR, NO SURRENDER"..... with three 'crosses' like the crucifixion at
Calvary...Weeeeeiiiiirrrrdddddd.... I was hoping nobody was going to
take a potshot at me as I was taking the photo!!!

I'm glad I did it, but after dealing with headwinds for about 90 miles
out of the 99, I certainly have a better appreciation for why they do
RAAM from west to east....

Enjoy,
Paul

On Nov 24, 9:49 pm, FlyingLaZBoy <pbacous...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I intended to repeat last year's Thangksgiving jaunt out to East Texas
> (Lake Cypress Springs) this week, using George's "Rockwall to

> Texarkana" route.....
>
> Paul