10th Anniversary

San Antonio, Texas to Panama City Beach, Florida or Coastal Social #2

We had no idea we would see so many people that we knew, or meet so many new friends on this trip, hence the second Coastal Social designation.

When we last left off, we were doubting our decision to abort the trip because of a forecasted Tropical Depression.  It was not raining when we woke and the ceiling was high.  But when Jim Cantore comes on The Weather Channel and he is in the same town as you, it is time to go!

1238 Total Miles
    (shortest distance)
30 days total
    (shortest tour)
includes 4 days off to enjoy great friendships
    (a day off once a week is a good average)
47 miles a day average
5 hours a day average on the bike seat

States Covered
15 days in Texas
7 days in Louisiana – the worst roads, but really friendly people
2 days in Mississippi
1 day in Alabama
4 days in Florida

It still has not been decided if this was our swan song tour, but for now, we are pretending it is.  Thank you to all that opened their hearts and homes to us, for the new friends we met and as always, for the encouraging comments along the way.  End of touring days or not, we will still ride.

As we reflect back on when this whole bike touring “thing” started in 2008, we still cannot believe we have been fortunate enough to still be riding, much less touring the country.  What began as a whim and a one time only ride, has morphed into a lifetime worth of rides (see “previous trips” to the right), incredible experiences, amazing sights and wonderful friends.

Ten years later, much older, no wiser and definitely slower, we cannot seem to call it quits, yet…..

And so begins our next ride!

To Tour or Not to Tour?

That was the question we seriously asked each other this year.  A lot of back and forth discussion revealed we both really wanted to, we just were not sure whether we could, but we definitely conceded this may be our last year!   But for now, “we” agreed to take it slow, have lots of days off and enjoy the ride and not worry so much about mileage…….laughing yet, shaking your head?  Well, I am!

Our intended ride begins in San Antonio, south to Corpus Christi, then up the Gulf Coast through Florida to the East Coast.  We have yet to figure out if St. Augustine is our final destination, but that is at least a month away from planning.  If you are along the way, drop us a line and maybe we can connect.

Less than 24 hours after landing in San Antonio, “someone” was already talking about leaving a day early…..Surprised?!

We stayed directly behind The Alamo, San Antonio’s most famous landmark, and a block away from the enchanting River Walk.  In between putting the bikes together and several hours working out technical difficulties, we managed to sightsee; but we must be loosing our touch, since we took less than a hundred pictures (ok, maybe 200).

The Alamo is wonderfully preserved and the history recreated in many ways, to make your historical experience as real as possible.  Unfortunately, busloads of school children prevented telling pictures of the surroundings structures.  But the picture perfect, Chamber of Commerce weather, further enhanced by the shade of massive trees was ideal for our step back in history.

We took several walks along the iconic River Walk, probably San Antonio’s second largest attraction.  A stroll past cafes and restaurants is comfortably cooled by the river, waterfallsand a wide variety of flora.  Other sights included St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (completed in 1871), La Villita Village The Alamo Cenotaphand a few refreshments along the way.

We were fortunate to be able to reconnect with good friends from the past.  We joined Seb and Missy at the Pearl’s Brewery area of the city; everyone was out enjoying the Farmer’s Market and the gorgeous day.  The abandoned brewery had been repurposed to creative condos, along with one of the most amazing hotel transitions we have ever seen; The Hotel Emma paid close attention to preserving as much of the original structure while creating a very upscale hotel.

After a delicious brunch, we explored a different part of the River Walk, almost void of people, despite the incredible weather and being surrounded by condos.  After a short rest, we were out again for amazing margaritas, delicious shrimp tacos and a wonderful reconnect with another long lost friend, Toni.  Though too short a visit, it was great to catch up.  But after all this eating and drinking, we really need to start biking.  So tomorrow morning (on our scheduled departure day), we begin our tenth biking adventure.

It was 47 Frigid degrees as we mounted our ponies and headed out of the sleeping town; strange to not see any traffic in the seventh largest city in the U.S.  It took nearly an hour for the sun to creep above the buildings and treetops to offer us some hope of thawing our frozen appendages. We are sure, as the days go along, we will wish for these cool temps, but not this morning.

The highway outside of the city remained almost void of traffic and not much of anything else to see; we were just happy just to be back on tour.  Of course, there was the occasional What in the World  or Huh.

The two lane divided highway took us through the small town of Floresville,then over gently rolling hills and endless countryside with gorgeous live oakswith the occasional tractor trailer to interrupt the quiet.  By 11:30 we really needed a seat break, so grabbed a lite lunch, a huge iced tea and then returned to the highway.  Our previously spacious highway was under construction, so wide lanes were reduced to singles and the shoulder was gone.  Thankfully, the Texas drivers were considerate of our slow speed and offered us space.  After several miles we regained a nicely paved shoulder and could ease off the throttle (and tension).  By early afternoon, we were really feeling our lack of long mileage training. The next town was only six miles away, but we thought it prudent to call it quits here.  Our entrance into the small town of Karnes City was not encouraging, though the Karnes County courthouse was impressive.    The town offered zero dinner choices on a Sunday (everything closed), but we quickly resolved a potentially miserable evening with a bottle of Bogle (from the gas station) and pizza delivery.  Not fancy, but exactly what the doctor order after a 59 mile first day.

A shorter ride today, gave the opportunity to sleep in and get a later start.  So when we pushed off at 9:00, a gorgeous, cloudless sky and comfortable 68° morning awaited us.  Traffic was heavy, but the road was freshly paved with a nice shoulder and the countryside spectacular.  Less than a half and hour into the ride the (mid-day) forecasted head wind came in packing a punch.  We had not been traveling that fast on the gently rolling hills, but now we were using every climbing gear we had to make forward progress.  For once, we relished the passing trucks for the half second break in the wind and the little push their draft offered.  But within an hour the traffic faded and we were left to face the wind on our own.  Thankfully, the scenery helped to distract us from the wind assault.  Fields were still green from the cooler winter and recent rains.  By lunch, we had been pedaling hard for two and a half hours and only traveled 20 miles, but we needed a rest.  Hydrated and satiated, we continued on our slow trek, stopping at every historical marker and shade tree along the way.

As we approached our destination, we decided to take the business route, hopefully to loose some traffic and maybe find shelter from the wind; the traffic disappeared, but there was no hiding from the wind.  We limped into our hotel at 3:00 (wind still howling) and soon discovered the price of a nice hotel for the evening, was no close restaurants.  Once again we ordered delivery, but this dinner was Amazing!  Baked pasta filled with loads of huge shrimp, bacon, chicken and spinach, topped with cheese.  Wind long forgotten from our 38 mile ride. today; except for the same winds are forecasted for tomorrow…..but that’s tomorrow.

Another gorgeous morning if you are not bicycling south.  Now if the wind suddenly decided to make a 180° turn and push us all the way to Corpus Christi, we would not complain. Our day began late again, for the same reasons as yesterday, short distance, headwind and can’t get to a hotel before check-in, as if the wind was going to let us get anywhere early.  For thirty minutes we quietly ambled along the frontage road away from the traffic enjoying a bit of the countryside, then joined the highway.  The shoulder was wide and very roughly paved; we’ve had smoother dirt trails.  The 25 mph winds were relentless and the random gusts challenging progress and staying upright.  Every couple of miles we’d stop to rest from both the wind and the rough road; it took us an hour and a half to pedal ten miles.  A couple miles later we enjoyed an all too short reprieve on a smooth road.

Dogs and horses were very social today, but we were happy to stop to take their pictures.  Around noon, our duckies found some shade at the only operating building in town.  We were invited in to enjoy the air conditioning and a tasty snack.  Though the seat and air-conditioning felt great and chatting with Whittney was fun, we needed to push on.

Our last six miles took us over an hour with a little extra time for a chocolate milkshake.

Tonight we were able to walk across the street for a delicious pork chop and pulled pork/brisket dinner.  

Today was a tough and discouraging three and a half hour, 26 mile ride, the wind really beating us up.  But thanks to all the kind comments we received on the blog and on email, our spirits were really lifted…..Thanks to you all and keep them coming.