Here are some pictures of the East Texas Tour. As you will see the parks are beautiful and the women picked out ideal camp sites. Although there were a lot of hills, none were extremely steep or long. We were also very fortunate in that we never rode against the wind.
Here are Ken J, Jerry, Tom and I starting on the tour Thursday morning from Winnsboro. The added day was Ken J's idea and worked out great, since we were not able to ride the final day (Sunday). Corsa Ken and Jim joined us Thurs evening at Daingerfield SP.
The first day's ride was about 43 miles almost directly west. About 1/3 was chip seal and only minor hills for the first 30 miles. About half way through the ride, I received a phone call from Vicky, that a tree branch had fallen on our car and broke the windshield. Fortunately we were able to continue the tour and got it replaced Monday morning.
Here is our camping site in Daingerfield SP Thursday night with Jerry, his tent, trike and trailer. The second picture is of Tom & Joella J with their roomy tent in the background.
For supper we had delicious beef stew with chocolate frosted yellow cake for dessert.
This is our Mazda5 Friday morning completely full of food and people's camping items. This is with Jerry and Ken J pulling their own camping gear in trailers and having the Tom and Joella's truck with their camping stuff, the HUGE cooler and Joella's and Vicky's trikes.
Friday's ride from Daingerfield SP to Caddo SP was south east for about 45 miles. Again the roads were great, but with more hills. The first 2 pictures were taken by Ken J during one of our stops. The 3rd picture was taken by Vicky. If you are wondering where Corsa Ken is, he was normally at the next camp site by the time we were half way.
When we arrived at Caddo Lake SP, we found out the camp site was down a very steep hill. With the exception of Corsa Ken, we opted for a ride in the minivan while the pickup carried our bikes.
Our camp sites were right on the lagoon water front. That night was very warm, humid with a lot of swamp noises from the frogs, insects and owls.
Here is Corsa Ken at his tent site.
Here we are getting ready to leave Caddo Lake SP on Saturday morning.
Tom
Jim
Ken J
Saturday's ride from Caddo Lake SP to Atlanta SP was about 47 miles due north with a nice tail wind. It threatened to rain, but held off until that evening. Corsa Ken arrived a couple of hours before the rest of us.
Again another beautiful camping site. However as Vicky was heating water for spaghetti, it started to sprinkle. After consulting the weather reports on the I-phone and Blackberry, we decided to hault dinner, button up for some heavy rain.
We headed into Atlanta to Pizza Hut. About 5 minutes after we sat down, the rain let loose. The rain let up after dinner, so we went back to survey the damage. Tom & Joella's and Jim's tents were flooded beyond use, so they decided to take the hotel option. The rest of us decided to take our chances in our tents. Ken J moved his tent to higher ground. That night 3 heavy thunderstorms rolled through. Although the rain was heavy, the wind was light.
The next day we shuttled the car drivers to Daingerfield SP, where they left their cars. Everyone packed up and all went home, but Vicky and I. We spent our last camping night in Daingerfield SP. It turned out to be a beautiful and dry evening.