| Cross-Country Ramble 25:
Flat and Wet Sent: 96-06-06 13:51:18 EDT
The wind is blowing. The clouds are gathering overhead. Whitecaps
dot the Gulf of Mexico. The view from the balcony of our room is
spectacular. We can see miles of beach front and the Gulf. Early
this morning we watched a couple of boys trying to surf on the
waves. We're looking forward to traipsing around the island today.
Is Uvalde, Texas, where you last heard from us, near the Gulf?
No! The Gulf didn't come to Uvalde, so we went to the Gulf.
Changing our mode of transportation was more difficult than we
had thought it would be. Tuesday was a frustrating day. We thought
we had rented a pick-up truck to drive to Galveston. It was only
after we had filled out the paper work and Ken inquired about where
to drop the truck off that we discovered the truck had to be brought
back to Uvalde. The other option was to take the bus that left
Wednesday morning for Galveston. We had logistical problems finding
boxes for our bikes and getting them and us to the bus station.
However, we persevered and left Uvalde at 8:52 a.m. Wednesday.
The scenery out the window of the bus to San Antonio was the same
as we'd seen when we were riding our bikes East of Del Rio, only it
was going by a lot faster now. In San Antonio we changed buses and
passengers. One passenger was a living stereotype of the ugly
American. He was loud and unfortunately only about three or four
seats in front of us. He had gained most of his knowledge from talk
shows. Facts were not an issue. We could overhear him criticize the
entire criminal justice system based on a case he had heard about.
He lamented the degeneration of all American schools. He was for
tanks just going in and rolling over the Freeman in Montana.
Finally, he talked about how he had lost his job because he had to
be replaced by minorities. He was telling all this to the bus driver
who was African American and in a sea of Latino passengers. I
couldn't believe such insensitivity.
At the Galveston bus station, Ken put our bikes back together
just at the sun was going down. We biked 12 blocks straight from the
bus station right into the hotel. The hotel is on a pier sticking
out into the Gulf of Mexico. We used our "Quest" card we purchased
through Adventure Cycling to get the room at half rate.
I feel better than I have in weeks. Tomorrow we start up again on
our bikes. We're going to try to keep near the shore.
Carol
Itinerary
- Day 53-55: Uvalde, TX.
- Day 55: Galveston, TX
PS: Finding a bike box when you need one can be a challenge if
you're not in a town without a bike store, train station or major
airport. Happily, many of even the smallest towns have U-Haul
agencies and they sell moving boxes. My big discovery on this trip
was that a wardrobe box can be easily transformed into a bike box
with a few cuts and a lot of tape. Ken
PPS: Another learning: The Linear recumbent is a joy to box. The
Stealth is a pain in the a-- by comparison.
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