Day 26 – Greenville, TX to Paris, TX (58 miles)

Monday, April 26, 2010

We rode all the way to Paris today. Complete with an Eiffel Tower (nevermind the fact that there is a large, red cowboy hat on top…). Fun.
Team Blueberry was on support again today. Our amazing hosts at the United Methodist Church in Greenville, TX prepared breakfast for us, so our morning was pretty easy. I rode sweep van with Travis, our poor injured rider. The morning was really laid back and restful – no injuries, flats, or other problems. We had a fun time following the riders and relaxing in the sun.

We ended our ride at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Pretty impressive. They created their original 65 foot Eiffel Tower in 1993 (in tradition with all cities named Paris). However, in response to the creation of a 70 foot Eiffel Tower in Paris, TN in 1993, in 1995 Paris, TX added a large, red cowboy had to the top of their Eiffel Tower. Oh, rivalries. They never get old. And they get even more entertaining in the south…
The local news, Channel 99, came out to film a staged “ride-in” and interview some of our riders. We are famous.
We are staying at the First Methodist Church here in Paris, TX. They are treating us amazingly, as well. After settling in, we set out to explore the town of Paris, TX. It is a really cute town. We found ourselves this awesome little diner, Jaxx Gourmet Burgers. They have delicious food, an amazing beer selection (much more than we would expect from small-town, Texas), and (probably best of all, although it could be tied with the amazing beer selection) free internet. Fun. I love Paris.
End of the twenty-sixth day. And it was springtime in Paris. I love Paris (Texas) in the Springtime…

Day 25 – Fort Worth, TX to Greenville, TX (78 miles)

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Spring has sprung in Texas. When I first found out that we were going to be traveling through the great state of Texas for 11 days, I have to admit that I wasn’t super excited about it. In my head, I imaged desert, cacti, oil rigs, and tumbleweed. Lots and lots of tumbleweed. But, to my pleasant surprise, we have seen very little of this. Yes, there have been a few oil rigs and some cacti. But Texas (at least the part through which we are traveling) has not been desert-like at all. The terrain has been incredibly lush and green. There are trees everywhere. Wildflowers are springing up like crazy on the side of the road. And I haven’t even seen a single tumbleweed. It’s been gorgeous.
Today was no exception to the gorgeous Texan scenery. We started off the day headed straight in to some pretty brutal head-winds for about 30 miles. But it didn’t even feel that bad because the roads were smooth, the sun was out, and the scenery was great. Eventually we turned back east and had an amazing tail-wind. We covered the last part of our route in no time flat.

Lauren and I cycled together for the majority of the day. We passed through a lot of interestingly named towns in Texas. Ponder, TX just cried out for us to stop and take a picture...
We are staying at the United Methodist Church in Greenville, Texas. They have been incredibly wonderful to us. They cooked us a delicious meal and have been incredibly hospitable. Some people decided to go out and see the city, but I just wanted to stay in and relax. I read my book outside in their gorgeous little garden/woods area.

End of the twenty-fifth day. And it was lush.

Day 24 – Fort Worth, TX (0 miles – rest day)

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Today was an off day in Fort Worth. It was much appreciated by everyone on the team. We all had a pretty late night last night, so the large majority of the morning was spent sleeping. We woke up to eat breakfast. And then napped again outside.

We were super lazy. It was so refreshing.

We got motivated to actually do something in the afternoon. Maggie, Jenn, Lenore, Jody, Chris, Tim, Pete, and I went back to the Stockyards for the afternoon. We wandered around to see the sights. Maggie bought some cowboy boots. She is starting to look like a real Texan.
The Stockyard area is a perfect area for people watching. And, oh boy, there are some good people to watch in Texas. The common Texan expression is that “everything is bigger in Texas.” Well, this seems to be true with fashion, as well. In the Texan fashion, it seems to be “go big or go home.” I have never seen larger cowboy hats in my life. T-shirts are tight, jeans are tight (for both men and women). The cowboy boots are intricately designed and detailed. The belt buckles are huge. We even saw one belt buckle that had a pistol that actually fired. It was crazy. There is only one good word to describe female fashion in Texas – bling. Bling, bling, bling. Women walk around wearing as many rhinestones as physically possible. I sometimes wonder if they might fall over from the sheer weight of their fake diamonds. There are rhinestones on their shoes, jeans, belts, belt buckles, shirts, hats, bracelets, necklaces. Everything. If you look at a Texan woman in the wrong light, you just might be blinded by all of their glittering bling.

We went to a delicious Texan steakhouse for dinner. Some of the team went to a rodeo and had a great time, but I was tired and wanted to go back to camp and get some sleep. Cowboy boot shopping and people watching can be quite exhausting.

End of the twenty-fourth day. And it was blingin’.

Day 23 – Ranger, TX to Fort Worth, TX (102 miles)

Friday, April 23, 2010

Today was definitely my favorite day so far. And yes, I know that I keep saying this. But today topped them all (well, at least the first portion). I started off the day riding by myself because lots of riders were being slow-pokes this morning and I didn’t really feel like waiting around for them. I normally don’t really enjoy riding by myself – I tend to get bored and lonely. But today was not the same. The weather was gorgeous, the route was nice, and the scenery really was breathtaking. The sun was rising through the clouds and it kept sending rays of light through. Gorgeous.
At the first water stop, the rest of the group caught up with me and we rode together for quite a while. Some of the “I’m-a-crazy-cyclist” riders decided that the conditions were prime for trying to ride a century in less than 5 hours. So, needless to say, they took off. I think they did accomplish this feat, but I think I had more fun on the ride.

We ran in to some not-so-favorable conditions right outside of Fort Worth, but we were able to make it through with minimal car honking and glares. Around the 100-mile mark, I found a wonderful little snow-cone stand on the side of the road and felt that I really needed to stop. And it hit the spot perfectly. A few other riders joined me a little later for our delicious, icy treat. Then we rode to our final destination for the next two days. We are staying at the YMCA camp right outside of the city. We have two cabins, fire pits, mattresses, and a lake right outside. What more could we ask for?!?

Jess’s family lives relatively near-by, so they brought us dinner for the evening. It was delicious – multiple different types of salads, cheese and crackers, sandwiches, and (best of all) cheesecake. We were all in heaven. We stuffed ourselves to our hearts’ desires.
Because we have a day off tomorrow, we went into Fort Worth to the historic Stockyard area. I had never heard of this area before, but apparently it is pretty famous. They have a rodeo there every Friday and Saturday night and have turned the old stockyards/barns in to little shops and restaurants. Jenn found us this interesting, basement bar where a Bluegrass band was going to be playing. Now, for those of you that don’t know me super well, Bluegrass/country music is definitely NOT my style. In fact, I find country music to be one of the most annoying sounds ever. When I think of country music, I think of someone who can’t sing attempting to sing in a really twangy voice about their tractor and their lost love. In other words, I think it’s terrible.

However, I ended up having a great time. Yes, the band was a little annoying. And I can’t really comment on whether they sang about their tractors or lost love because I really couldn’t understand what they were singing about due to their incredibly twangy, thick accents. But it was fun, nonetheless. We all got out on the dance floor and made complete idiots of ourselves because most of us can’t even find the beat, let alone actually dance. Good times, good times.
End of the twenty-third day. And it was awesome.

Day 22 – Abilene, TX to Ranger, TX (69 miles)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Today’s route was one of my favorite so far. It was so much fun. We didn’t have terrible winds today, so didn’t feel like we were moving our legs and going absolutely nowhere. Although the route was pretty hilly, there were lots of rolling hills, which gave us enough time to recover between hills. It made for a challenging, yet very fun ride today.

I was riding with the guys for a while. Unfortunately, I don’t have the weight to descend as quickly or the power/strength to ascend as quickly as the majority of them, so I ended up riding by myself for a bit. Chris eventually rode with me and we had a great rest of the day.

We stopped to admire the wildflowers, take pictures, and attempted to speed away from crazy chasing dogs.
Just prior to reaching our final destination, we passed through Eastland. The county is known for it's Horned Toad, Rip. I'll let you read the description below for more information. Interesting. Very interesting...

We arrived in Ranger, Texas pretty early. Ranger is an incredibly interesting town, to say the least. Upon arriving, we were pretty certain we had arrived in a ghost town. We turned on to Main Street and didn’t even see any cars. The vast majority of the store fronts were closed; most buildings were completely dilapidated, with broken windows and fallen-in roofs. We did come across one building that was open – Fox’s Mercantile – which sells “Everything from Crackers to Coffins.” Strange. The owner of the store came out and chatted with us for a little while. Even stranger…

We also found the Medical Museum Etc. on Main Street. Unfortunately, it was closed (and appears to have been closed for a very long time). We were able to peak in the windows and see all of their treasures but could not go through the museum. Sad.
We are staying at the First Baptist Church in Ranger. We showered at Ranger College, which just might be as dilapidated as Main Street, Ranger. My shower water ran straight down the wall. It made for a challenging shower, which involved quite a bit of pressing my head pretty much directly against the wall. It made for a difficult showering experience.

We had a tasty meal cooked by Team Lemon. We had amazing internet when we first got to the church, but I’m pretty sure that, in our excitement, we overloaded the system. Without much to do in Ranger, Megan, Katie, and I decided to take a walk and explore. Interesting place, Ranger, Texas. We passed by the Police Station, which also turned out to be City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce. We passed by two Kwik Stops because, yes, a place like Ranger does in fact need two Kwik Stops. We got “shot at” by two children playing in their front yard. And “Sexy Beast” passed by us in his maroon truck, at a minimum, four times (he was thus named because he had “Sexy Beast” written on his front windshield). We were interested in renting a movie to watch this night (because we couldn’t think of a better way to pass our evening in Ranger); however, we were told that the store “only rents movies to people who live in Ranger.” Again, I repeat, interesting place, Ranger, Texas.

End of the twenty-second day. And it was interesting.