I left the house at 8AM, but 'cheated' a bit -- had Terrie drive me over to Rockwall to the top of the hill on 66... that avoided my having to deal with car traffic both on Miller Road across the lake and the 66 bridge across the lake, cutting 8 miles off the journey.
Made my way through Rockwall past the Rockwall International
Airport, then encountered 15 miles of chipseal on the I-30 service road... Turned south onto 36, and passed the house that has all the old gas station signs and stuff -- the owner was outside working on his driveway, so I stopped and said hello, remarking that I'd seen the signs for the past several years, and wondered what the impetus behind it was ... He (Tim) said that he just like collecting old signs, and it had kinda gotten away from him! He then took me on an inside tour of the building, where he has created a replica of a 1930's gas station, and is working on building an old-time soda fountain shoppe, too... he also had a pristine, blue SS inside the garage -- very cool!! I'll post pics later in the week.
Continued on my way, and found that the highway dept. is tearing up Rt 69 right where I intersected it to go to Lone Oak, with NO shoulder for about a half mile... be careful if you rando out there. Did the long climb into Lone Oak, and stopped at the gas station for a break... then I came back outside, and noticed that a black camaro was parked at the gas pumps, and the woman inside was smiling at me... (woohoo!
) and after a few seconds, I realized that
I knew her -- it was my dentist's ex-wife Diane, who has joined in on a couple of GDB Sunday Roll rides, and who lives in Royce City! After we stopped laughing, she said she was there in Lone Oak on a job, and had seen me riding up 69, thinking she recognized me... and had pulled in for gas before I pulled in. SO, once again, I had a "Bob McClure" moment during this ride, encountering someone I knew out in the middle of nowhere -- just not Bob this time!!!
Freakin' small world, it is... Not much eventful happened for the next 45(!) miles, except for the discovery of the Hopkins County Chipseal Disaster... Oh, and the half-mile section of 154 (I think) northbound I used is also being torn up, with NO shoulder... be careful! The other problem is that there is NOWHERE to stop between Lone Oak and Winnsboro - 45 miles... but I used the roadside facilities a few times, and had plenty of water and snacks to get me through...
Most of the dog chases occured within the last ten miles before Winnsboro. I had a can of HALT handy, but never had to use it.
Once I got to Winnsboro, I discovered that the railroad tracks on the edge of town are VERY dangerous for a cyclist -- I didn't go down, but the grooves where the rails are are VERY wide, and at a 45 degree angle to the road -- again, Randos beware...
The rest of the ride was uneventful, and the smooth asphalt after Winnsboro was a welcome change, to be sure... Nice coloring in the trees, too - lots of yellows, browns, and reds...
Total miles 95, 16.0 average, 7.5 hours total time. No mechanicals, no flats, no problems! I'll post pics in a few days. It was a very nice day for a ride...
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Time for the Thanksgiving Jaunt (Read 2079 times)
