Silsbee, TX to Lake Charles, LA

75 miles  (60 for me!)

Hello Louisiana! Good Bye Texas!  Just shy of three weeks to get across Texas!

We crossed into LA at about the 35 mile mark. The crossing was energizing, and several riders crossed at the same time and stopped to take pictures.

Perhaps the excitement was that we were leaving this behind.  The pic with the chairs is  in front of my room last night.  When I arrived the chairs were occupied by several railroad workers relaxing smoking cigars.   Yum. Not.

Upon our arrival into Louisiana, the landscape began to change – swampy marshes appeared.

Last week I bought a new saddle (seat) and many of you have asked how it is going– it is going very well – a few tweaks, and so far so good!  Today brought a new mechanical challenge- I started the day unable to shift out of the highest gear . I could shift from one chain ring to the other- but not within the ring — which means I had 2 gears.  I was thankful that the terrain was very flat and did not require the use of lower gears.  With that said, i would have liked to downshift on occasion! Easier on the knees.  Looking ahead to the next two days – I knew that we had lots of miles to ride — 88 tomorrow and 96 on Monday.  I needed to find a bike shop and have Sweet Ruby looked at and fixed before  the next few days.   I made a decision to jump in to the SAG Wagon (SAG stands for Support and Gear – and is the Subaru wagon that we check in every 20 miles.  Our very capable SAG drivers Nancy and Carolyn take turns driving and keep us fed, watered, and up and running! They are both terrific!) After Nancy cleared all the riders at mile 60, she drove me to The Bicycle Super Store in Lake Charles, where Ross fixed my shifter!  I am ready to roll tomorrow and am hoping my mechanical issues are behind me! Thanks to Nancy and Ross for helping me out!

It is hard to believe that we have less than 3 weesleft!