They Don't Call it Southern Hospitality for Nothin'

Ricky Rodriguez
6/11/11

It’s been super hard with internet and phone service lately!  We took off from New Waverly, Texas this morning at 8.  We were about 90 miles from the border of Louisiana.  The change in scenery has been so drastic from western to eastern Texas.  It went from a dry desert feel to green national forests.  Just think, five days of desert climate still in the 90s to beautiful terrain.  The humidity had been increasing as we got closer to the border though.

To stay on track, we’re trying to average 100 miles a day now.  As soon as we made into Louisiana, a huge weight had been lifted from our shoulders.  Texas felt like its own country!  It took us almost 12 days to get through it.

Jack’s really excited about getting into Louisiana, and being able to experience the Cajun food here and through Alabama and Mississippi.  We now feel like we’re on our last leg of the trip.  Everything is flat here – it almost feels like we’ll accomplish more because it's so flat, and our surroundings are amazing. The daily ride won’t be as tough.  Hopefully we’ll be in Baton Rouge by Tuesday.

We’ve also been trying to cut back on our spending.  We were spending a little too much on local eateries in Texas, so we’ve been BBQing every night the past week.

Since we made into Texas, through today, we haven’t had any bike trouble, no flats or anything. 

Before we made into New Waverly, we back tricked a little so we could pass through College Station where University of Texas A&M is.  All three of us having former football playing/coaching experience, it was pretty awesome being able to go on their field.

I want to give a little shout out to the Aggie Cycle Shop in College Station – they were really helpful there with bike supplies and advice for the road.  And also a shout to Rising Phoenix Adventure, to Izzy, specifically, who also gave us advice for our routes, and also pointed out places of interest for us along the way.

Tonight we’re in DeRidder which is our first city in Louisiana in this stretch.  We’ve totaled about 2,000 miles so far, and have a little over 1,000 miles to go until we reach St. Augustine.  It’s crazy to think that we’re two-thirds done now, and that we’ve been kicking serious ass! 

We’ve really pushed our bodies to the limit to make up for our schedule, all the while adjusting to the humidity.  For me, at least, it feels like I’m back into shape like I was back in high school.  But I know we all feel like we can push ourselves more and more than the previous day.

We’ve run into so many people.  It’s truly amazing how friendly everyone has been.  When people talk about Southern hospitality, it’s absolutely the truth.  I’m not sure if we’ve mentioned, but we have these huge banners, donated by , tied to the RV, promoting our tour.  We got a phone call today from a lady who saw our banner.  So many people have been approaching us, and sharing their stories with us, telling us about family members, and those who are survivors.  It’s been a great feeling.

WE REALLY MISS JIM LAMB!

We also want to let you all know that we haven’t been in any major cities the past couple weeks, besides Tempe, Austin, and Del Rio.  It’s been really tough getting service, but we really want to communicate with everyone.