Day 2: Lufkin

Day two: lake Livingston to Lufkin

We woke up around 6:30 am in our tent at lake Livingston, and started packing our gear and getting ready. The air was still somewhat humid, and I figured I would not even unroll my sleeping bag and just use a sheet. Mostly this worked, though I felt a bit cold later in the night. Mostly, the ground was the main discomfort, as I was sleeping only on the sheet. One day soon I should admit defeat and get a sleeping pad. I have been to obstinate to do so as of yet, and also I do not want to have to carry one. When I was younger I could sleep on the ground without trouble. Now, my body most be getting older and I find my hip, back, neck etc hurting after a few hours. The frogs and other nighttime creature were singing loudly into morning. There were perhaps a few light sprinkles as we "slept" -- I know I did not sleep much, but oh well. I love camping so much, but I actually quite prefer to sleep outside of a tent.

Originally, I had been adamant about keeping the mileage of first two days low, to ease us into things. This gave us two options that would take us to campgrounds on the one fork or a cheap motel on the other. I explained that I thought biking through the Davy Crockett National Forest to the Ratcliff campsite or further still to Mission Tejas state park would by far be more beautiful than the banal large highway 59 and certainly give us a better idea of the land and I really wanted to see this area. However, I was also nervous that these "farm to market" (county roads) would not have sufficient shoulders, and according to a friend would have heavy log truck and 18 wheeler traffic. Whereas the screeching highway 59, though very busy and with a high speed limit would at least have a wide shoulder. Both do these options would cover a very comfortable distance of around 55 miles, a great distance for starting out. I especially wanted to protect my knees by beginning conservatively. Talking with Laurel the night before, she was hoping for a bigger mileage day and urged for trying to combine two days into one. The routes that I have chosen over the past weeks kept in mind wanting to ease into things, following the general direction of the pipeline, and also keeping in mind cheap lodging options as endpoints. The lodging issue tends to be a limiting factor on daily mileage -- many towns or campgrounds following the route of the pipeline are either spaced too far or too close, which leads to many days in the 60mile range, as 100+ miles is unrealistic for the gear we are carrying. I've done a lot of looking at options, and the route I have made is after much consideration. After strategizing, I reluctantly agreed that perhaps we could make it into a 73 mile day and reach Mission Tejas instead of going 55 miles to Lufkin or Ratcliff. If we could have made it to Mission Tejas, it would have been nice, and cut off a day, though still farther than I wished so early. It was not to be.

We got going by about 7:30. I was a little sad to leave, admittedly! It was so nice. Both Laurel and I have remarked many times that Texas is quite different from what we expected-- it is quite green and forested and beautiful, and the lake itself was huge! It is also wetter.

After only a short while of biking, we looked to the skies and they were ominous. There were dark clouds hovering, and we knew they promised rain. I had checked the weather when we arrived in Houston, and it forecasted storms and showers all week. Alas. Sure enough, we could not outrun and it began to rain. This also happened just as we came from small local town roads out to the intersection of the busier and high speed 190. The rain combined with the spray from the many zooming cars made us immediately nervous, especially about visibility. Getting wet is not really a problem, even if it is a bit of an inconvenience. Mostly, I worried for safety. Just as we were standing there with our bikes, a truck turned and pulled off. An older man told us that his office was just at the corner and that we could wait out the storm there, and that he had called to let them know. We were very surprised and grateful! We hurried over to the office just down the road, and a younger man let us in. It was a small soil, mulch, stone, landscaping etc business. There was a big, friendly grey cat wandering about and seeking affection, and a small lap dog that periodically barked. We asked the young man if he knew much about the roads and the area, as we tried to determine if there was a less busy back route, or if the highway before us would be safe enough. The young man told us that many of the drivers are quite bad! We waited for perhaps 20 minutes, and the rain slowed. We decided that we could perhaps make a break down the busy road, switching on our lights and me donning my bright orange vest. Then we would shift to farm to market/county roads as quick as we could.

We were able to safely bike this route, and the farm to market roads through forest lands just north of Livingston were really lovely, even if we were drenched. I was encouraged by the relative calmness of these roads. Unfortunately, this route ended up bringing us to a long gravel road, that would have covered around 10 miles. It was muddy, even if it was compacted. This made me very apprehensive. We want to absolutely avoid gravel roads. I know for a fact that my bike cannot handle it, and they are slow in any case. We only continued a short ways before I admitted that I did not think I could go so far on such a road, and feared that my bike would breakdown. Thus, we had to reroute and back track. This did, interestingly, bring us directly to part of the pipeline. I looked to a clearing across the road, and there was part of the pipeline protruding above ground, flags continuing off into the distance, and a long span of open space that had been cleared around it. So that was lucky to find so accidentally.

It was still rainy, and we were wet. It was admittedly a very frustrating moment. I wanted us to cut our losses and go for a shorter day as planned. But by this time, due to the weather, and due to the roads, we were out of the way. This resulted in cutting across towards Corrigan to try to get back on track via Farm to market (county) roads. During this time, the rain slowly stopped and though the sky was overcast, it kept things at a pleasant temperature as opposed to some of the uncomfortable moments of beating sun the day before. These back roads were so beautiful, but for me there was a major trouble-- they were hilly. I am so slow and terrible with hills. I don't know why. They always give me trouble. The weight of my packs and tent combined with the unexpectedness of the constant up and down, and upppp of the hills was definitely a challenge for me. And something I had hoped to avoid so early on. So far, that day had included rain, gravel roads, some disagreements, and hills, all things I had hoped to forestall. (Oh yes, and a whole lot of barking dogs chasing us throughout, which we have thus far been successful in shouting at to get away). And we had also been biking for nearly four hours nonstop. And without eating more than a couple Clif bars for dinner, and a couple more for breakfast. My legs were drained, and tired. I knew I needed to stop. I knew that we needed to be eating much more, and that it had no fuel left in me -- only weak fumes. I sloooooowly trailed Laurel up and down the hills. Relatively small in elevation, but because of my tiredness and lack of hill stamina, really a bad spot for me. Laurel is so strong, and though I know she likely felt very tired too, she is very impressive in her strength and stamina. I am not in nearly so good of shape. So while the land and ranches and green was so beautiful, and I did appreciate them, all I could think of was reaching the town of Corrigan to finally eat something. And to drink a lot of water.

Once we reconnected with highway 59, I gave it all I could and we went at quite a speedier pace. At Corrigan we stopped at a gas station and I ate two bananas an orange and a chocolate milk in very short time. We bought a few more snacks to store in our bags. This must be a priority-- eating enough, to maintain enough energy and not become so weak by going so long without proper intake. Hopefully we will get in a groove as we go. After eating food, our pace became much quicker still. For the next ten miles, we were flying. I could immediately feel the effect of eating something, although I think that I was so behind on energy that I burned through it before we reached our destination and could feel the weakness of my legs and cells! So in the end we went at least 15 miles out of our way, only to end up going to Lufkin. So a total of some 70 miles, only to go a distance that was otherwise 55. So much for an easier day. But we did our best, and hopefully things will go more smoothly. There were many very challenging moments, and some very great ones even so.

I was also able to pick up some more tire tubes in Lufkin. It is a very large town! And it seems to be a very pleasant one too. There is a history of Texas forestry museum here, and Angelina College. I very much wish I could have gone to see the museum!

We were able to find our motel, Lufkin Inn, which for $56 is really pretty spectacular. And feel luxurious after our ride.

Tomorrow, we head towards Rusk and Jacksonville and perhaps further, then towards Tyler. Wish us luck, fewer downpours, and no mean dogs.