Road Trip--Day Five

When I awoke it was still raining a bit. But since we were in the stomping grounds of Lance Armstrong, it would be hard for me to let a little rain keep me from a long due morning run.

I am so glad that I did. It felt great to get moving, however the effort was a mean reminder of the marathons that lay before me and how, at this point, ill-prepared I am. It was refreshing and thought provoking, especially when the rain started coming down hard, though that only lasted for a couple minutes.



A quick snapshot of the beautiful forest in the Hill Country outside of Austin.



A surfboard in the middle of Texas, a bit incongruous but then again so were hot air balloons in White Sands.



This was a wonderful State Park. The showers were warm and clean, the park attendants more than polite. I was so impressed I bought an annual park pass for Texas state parks. If I use it half as much as I have used my National Parks pass, it will be one of my better investments to date, and for a good cause, nonetheless.



Our camp upon my return after the run. Still standing, not to drenched.


The creek was flowing fast due to the night's rainfall.



A morning dip was tempting, but no.




After we broke camp and loaded up which took all of no time. We are getting good with the speed camping thing. We headed into Austin for a little breakfast, actually our only objective was to seek out Lance Armstrong's bike shop, Mellow Johnny's .



Mission Accomplished. It was truly awe inspiring to see the jerseys and bikes Lance rode in the tour and again to ponder on the obstacles he overcame. Crazy amazing. Puts things in perspective. Suddenly my 50 mile Ultra marathon trail run on Catalina looks like a walk in the park. I know this will not be the case by any stretch of the imagination but set next to the cancer battle and 7 tour wins and this last 3rd place finish at 38 and years away from racing and it really equates to a walk in the park.

Anybody want to join me for a stroll?

The pilgrimage to the House of Lance did come with costs though. While eating the very basic Turkey Sandwich they had at their Cafe, I received texts via Facebook friends telling me of where to get good breakfasts while in Austin. If only I had checked my e-mails in between instructions via the GPS on my now working Iphone. I had fallen short on my multi-tasking. Oh well.

We hit the road, still not having decided whether to go through Shreveport where several friends were working on movies or take the most southern route that could take us into New Orleans if we pushed it.

Once New Orleans is on the table is there really any question?

So we headed the fuel efficient, trusty Prius towards Houston and beyond.



The guide book mentioned "fabled" BBQ. And we ended up at a chain. It wasn't bad but it certainly didn't even come close to what Texas BBQ is. But Skye did come away loving BBQ sauce and ribs. And was able to have a critical discussion on what makes for a good cole slaw and corn bread. So all was not lost.

We headed towards the Louisiana-Texas border with a campground in mind. It was raining and the sun was dropping, but we wanted to hold to the no-hotel rule.

We pulled up just shy of Louisiana and headed up a bit north to the Big Thicket National Preserve.

When we pulled up with not much sunlight left and the rain starting to come down the park ranger replied when I asked for a camping permit,
"You want to camp out in a tent tonight?"

"Yes"

We initially went to the tent only area.




Looks like a nice adventure.



A little more rustic than we'd grown accustomed to but we were game.



We were used to just dropping our tent out of the car boot, but a little walk would do us good.




That sign is just a warning, right?




What finally sent us back to pitch our tent amoung the RVs was the Port-o-pot situation, particularly one important aspect of it.

Warning: Graphic Photos Follows








Yes he is exactly where you think he is. YUCK!!!!






That creepy crawly was just a little too much for Skye, which was fine by me the mosquitos were out of control and now days latter I am still suffering from just our little scout of the area. I can only imagine what we'd look and feel like if we had toughed it out.

But we did end up pitching a tent and camping and again the facilities boasted hot showers and clean bathrooms. Already our membership with the Texas state park system is paying off.



It was a beautiful lucious piece of nature. Like every other place we went, minus the Ostrich farm, to I wish we had more time to thorough enjoy it.