Day 33: Wednesday 04/06/16, Mexican Hill Ranch, Richards, TX to Shepard, TX

 

A nice send off this morning from the owners of the Mexican Hill Ranch.

 

Day 33 distance: 65 miles

Total miles: 1832 miles

Elevation gain: 1831 feet

Map of today's ride:

It only got into the low 50's last night, perhaps a sign that the real cold nights are behind us. I left the Mexican Hills Ranch around 8:00 am due to my Garmin acting up again, not wanting to power up. When I finally got it to start, the 100% charge from last night was down to 14%, so I charged it for half an hour before starting my ride. It then worked flawlessly during the ride. Not sure what the issue was, but hopefully it will not repeat itself tomorrow.

At breakfast this morning, Bubba advised everyone to have their raincoats handy as the sky was quite cloudy and dark. It remained overcast for most of the ride and only toward the end of the 65 mile ride did we start to see some sunshine, and fortunately, we never did get any rain. However, it was very humid today and a lot of water was needed to avoid dehydration.

The ride today was an overall "A". We had a nice tailwind for most of the ride, and the hills of East Texas are not as high nor as long as they have been, at least the ones we encountered today. We have a day and a half remaining of riding in Texas and we are all hoping the big hills are behind us.

I didn't take many ride pictures today due to it being overcast as well as the terrain being heavily treed, resulting in there being few vistas to photograph.

Mike Barga, a 2015 coaster finisher, left the tour yesterday as planned. He was flying back home from Houston. He only wanted to do the first 32 days this year, and Bubba had a spot available that allowed him to do a partial C2C ride. Mike injured his leg about a week before this year's ride, resulting in his inability to lift his leg over the top tube. For that reason, he brought his Bike Friday. He said the Bike Friday was comfortable to ride on the tour, but he rode about 1-2 mph slower than with his normal bicycle. He concluded that he would not do a C2C ride again on a Bike Friday.

Today's horse picture.

A typical road today for both scenery and traffic.

We rode through the Sam Houston National Forest today. Most everything in Texas is big, but I did not know that included trees!

Some of the forest we rode through.

I saw a lot of boats and several lakes on today's route.

This picture was taken close to Shepard, Texas, tonight's destination.

Tonight's camping site at Shepard's Sanctuary, a couple miles outside Shepard, Texas.

No one here is sure how to describe Shepard's Sanctuary, but eclectic comes to mind.

And more of Shepard Sanctuary.

 There are a total of five doors like in the picture at Shepard's Sanctuary that open to the outside of this narrow building. The five doors open to 2 toilets and 3 showers.  I have not found an outside sink yet. The water here contains so much sulfur that I smelled like a sulfur pot after I showered. Perhaps that is why there are no faucets?