Houston, we (don't) have a problem.

Stellar hosts in Houston. More on that later. We have passed several police officers without being stopped. Let the illegal highway riding continue!

Brookshire to Houston: Tuesday, Oct. 19

Yesterday, Jacques and I had a leisurely ride into Houston, about 40 miles for me and 54 miles for Jacques. We set up two different homes to stay in...to spread the love. Actually, a friend of a friend named James set me up with a place and then the family of Jacques' friend set him up with a place too! This was the first night Jacques and I spent apart. It was kind of like an old couple having to spend a night apart, longing for each other, missing each other every moment...at least this is what Jacques told me it was like.

Anyways, I hung out with James, my host. James has been blessed with a sweet pad in an up and coming Houston neighborhood. We played some frisbee golf, saved some discs from falling into the sketchy bayou, and went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Good times. Thanks James for showing me a little bit of Houston and sharing a small piece of your cereal stash with me.

Jacques stayed with the Richards family, where he was treated to a personal tour of what Jacques described as a "very big pool." Not exciting at first mention, but when you hear that this pool was in a heavily secured NASA building and the pool was filled with different space station equipment and astronauts, it quickly becomes a great story.

That was yesterday...

Houston to Beaumont: Wednesday, October 20

Today, I woke up and was on the road by six, riding solo for the first fourteen miles to meet Jacques at the rendezvous point. After meeting, we made quick work of the highway shoulder, averaging 20mph because of a solid shoulder and super flat terrain.


We encountered one sketchy bridge. I had anticipated more situations like this on the trip- a time where I felt pretty uncomfortable riding. Here's the visual: construction on a bridge, a narrow bridge, an even narrower shoulder with tire popping road debris, a cement barrier, and a 100 ft drop to munchkin land. Pretty scary. Jacques and I made a bolt for it, freaked out some bridge construction workers with our presence, and then the shoulder on which we were riding disappeared. Luckily, we could hoist our bikes and the bob trailer over the cement barrier before becoming truck decals.

I almost forgot: we saw our first alligator today! (do kids around here get to say, "my alligator ate my homework? or do they get to say "my dog ate my homework...and then my dog was eaten by an alligator"?) I know you had the same question; I'm just not afraid to ask it.




We ended up making it to Beaumont in good time, and met our hosts at their lovely house. Our hosts Nelda and Roger put us up for the night, made some lasagna that makes Olive Garden's food look like a microwave dinner, and provided some good quality conversation. Thanks Nelda and Roger.

Tomorrow we head to Louisiana! Texas has been good to us, but much like a pancreas, sometimes we just must rid ourselves of it. (I know that was a stretch, but I thought I'd give it a shot.)