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 Freemen 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.

Ramble 26: We Declare Victory.