Texas!

Grand Cane, LA to Carthage, TX 89.7 miles

A longish day. We started with so much excitement. We were goof to Texas after a long time in LA. Not that Louisiana isn't a great state, bit we were all looking forward to the next state line. Coleman was especially happy to go back to his home state. Before we could reach the line at mile 19 we had a few hills and valleys to cross slowly but surely. Right before we reached the border we saw a church with a particularly appropriate sign out front. "Dream no small dream" was all that it said.  Most of us took pictures in front of it then headed to the border. Waiting to welcome us into the motherland was Coleman wearing his Texas shorts and wielding a giant flag tied to a log he had found on the side of the road. Everyone gathered at the border for photos and memories. We decided to do something epic like a 4 story pyramid with the flag on top...so we did it :) I was on the third story of the pyramid and it was very interesting. We had to take three attempts to get it right, but eventually Coleman and his flag managed to scramble to the top of the formation and we had our pyramid! 

The rest of the day was fairly normal (as much as biking across the country can be normal!) until we got to Carthage. We stopped to look at a tea house, but got distracted by a village museum on the third floor. They had all sorts of old stuff that had been donated to them including a 75 year old braid of hair, several army uniforms and a giant neon "GAS" sign. We found a perfect double for Coleman in on of he pictures on the wall then moved on to explore the town. We went to the fudge shop and a few other places before taking over the Mexican restaurant. We had 28 of the 33 of us at this restaurant(a few had skipped the town and gone directly to the hosts) . It was super good and delicious. We finally left and headed out to the McPherson's. Their daughter did SUS a few years ago and they have hosted the group ever since. The last 6 miles were hard. We had just eaten a lot, were facing headwinds, and having our first experiences with chipseal. A cheap way to pave Texas road is chipseal, where they basically just put a thin layer of tar down, then cover it with gravel. The tar keeps the gravel in place, but it's cheaper than a straight tar road. However, it is far from ideal for bikes...mmmm.... Makes for quite the bumpy road. Arriving at the host, I played with their dogs, swam in the neighbors pool and showered before falling asleep on a pull out sofa.