Day 36 - Somerville to New Waverly TX

72 miles - 2,402 of climb

While the ride started out fine, as is often the case, we ran into problems with the road. It was Easter Sunday and we found Easter baskets outside each of our tents when we emerged from our tents. We had a relaxing start to the day with a beautiful sunrise,

Like many days, we stopped at a little country store in Brenham TX for a second breakfast where we met a local group of bicycle riders out for a day ride. The store also had some interesting merchandise.

We took a break in Navosta at the restored P.A. Smith Hotel. Frank Hamer (who killed Bonnie and Clyde) was a Texas Ranger here. I stopped with James, Tom, Chuck and Stephen. We chatted with the owner who filled us in on the area's history and also Frank Hammer's law enforcement career. Navosta is one of those places trying to create a destination, like a lot of other places we have been to, Marfa, for example.

Here's the P.A. Smith Hotel and Stephen chatting with the owner.

After Lunch in Navosta, things began to change. The highway we were riding on had very, almost nonexistent shoulders and traffic picked up. We rode probably 20 miles like this with bursts of cars and pickup trucks coming very close to us. We were over as far as we could go, but some drivers did not even move out of the lane. We thought that when we turned into the road leading to the Sam Houston. National Forest, that traffic would settle down. Instead it got worse.

We tried to figure out why there was so much traffic on Easter Sunday afternoon, but we really didn't know. Someone suggested it was people returning home from visiting family for Easter, but we really didn't know for sure. At any rate it made riding difficult. At the end of the day, we rolled into our campground in Sam Houston National Forest. We made it to our campsite, but the experience was very draining.

The campground was by a large lake and it was beautiful at sunset. To top it off, Sharon's bags were left at the previous site and Bennie and Sharon had to drive back in the van to the place we started, now 72 miles away. The bags were recovered.

Some of us walked to a pier on the lake to watch the sunset. It was a calm end to a tense day.