Day 31: Richards, Texas

Last night we had a presentation from a former astronaut, Bill McArthur, who has been on four missions, including spending a few months on the space station and completing a few spacewalks. What an honor it was to have him tell us about his adventures.  To add to this, he and his son-in-law Brad cycled with us today to Mexican Hill Ranch.  Bill had done the C2C 2014. 

The route through Texas continues over a seemingly infinite number of hills.  Again, we enjoyed near perfect weather with overcast skies and favorable winds for the majority of the ride--not a tailwind, but at least not a head wind, so we take the small victories we get. With the 88 miles scheduled today, Lisa left just about daybreak with Udi and Ken to get a head start on Jeff, thinking he would catch up quickly, having no idea of what would transpire.

My (Jeff's) ride started by backtracking a half mile to the La Grange Fire Station to capture a photograph of the statue that I didn't get two years ago and that I biked past yesterday, in my desire to finish my ride as soon as possible.  This added one mile to the 89 mile route to our camp for the next two nights, Mexican Hill Ranch.

As I was leaving town, we came across a group of cyclists on the side of the road.  This usually means that someone has punctured.  Nearing the group it was apparent that the situation was more serious; one of the riders was lying on the ground with legs elevated.  A 911 call was necessary as symptoms resembled heart issues.  Unfortunately, he was taken to the hospital and remains under observation.  Our thoughts and prayers for a full recovery our with our rider.


Taking up the sweep position, I rode to the lunch stop with Greg, C2C 2013.  On the route we saw a snake slither across the road, but it was too quick to get a photo.  After lunch I split from Greg in an attempt to catch up with Lisa.  I spied a tortoise entering town, but when I returned, he had disappeared back into the grass.  The longhorns and flowers were more cooperative.

 I eventually met up with Lisa in the town of Navasota at our check-in at the Dairy Queen.  Leaving town, we were passing a Sonic at 1:58pm and everyone knows that happy hour starts goes from 2 - 4pm, so I had to stop while the group that I had just joined continued to camp.  We still had more hills to climb before getting to camp, but we knew that and the sun was starting to peak out, but we briefly had some tailwinds.  Jeff finished his ride with six hours of pedaling.


The ranch had a new addition less than twenty hours ago.  A calf was delivered just after midnight.  Two more cows are expecting very soon, maybe we will see a birth. This evening the calf was still learning to use its legs and learning to nurse.  It wobbled around the mother cow, from back to front, searching for dinner, eventually he found the right location.

As I walked around the rest of the pastures the cattle kept their distance.  That is until our "tour dog", Beaner, met them with a playful bark.  The curious herd came running to check out the miniature beast.


Hoping to have a Badger victory to celebrate tonight--go Big Red!