Chat Zone for The Big Big Trip Journal!

[cwskas]

I just caught up through day 100.

When you first posted your trip on the ACA forums, I had hoped I could meet you while you were in Austin. But timing didn’t work. Looking forward to the rest of your trip.

 

[Blue Hills]

Still in texas hobbes?

Take care

BBC News - West Lothian round-the-world cyclist injured in US crash
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-50886714

Following your travelogue with interest.

Happy christmas/new year to you both

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Still in texas hobbes?

Take care

BBC News - West Lothian round-the-world cyclist injured in US crash
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-50886714

Following your travelogue with interest.

Happy christmas/new year to you both

Yeah, that guy is not having much luck.

My last two days riding involved riding in the dark as much as I try to avoid it.

I'm lit up like a Christmas tree and use my mirror extensively. I'm also very cautious, regularly pulling in to let traffic by if I don't trust them.

I can see no rhyme, rhythm or reason to speed limits here, especially in Texas which are the highest I've come across - up to 75 mph on two lane roads.

This really is a place where you want to pack up your testosterone and mail it home. The more I see, the more convinced I am that the biggest issue is ignorance - drivers think "well, I didn't hit you so there's no problem", unaware of the impact a pickup truck at high speed has passing close by a cyclist on a dodgy shoulder or edge of road.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I was intrigued with the purple paint, do you have a picture of any; you definitely need to know the local traditions/rules with that!

Since the Sam Houston forest there have been less purple signs - the forest is public land and in these parts it's wide open - easy to see trespassers and pick them off with a rifle available in your local Walmart!

This one is a private house, taken from a distance. I'm not going to stand in front of someone's drive & snap their warnings!!

This is another.... A gatepost into a field.

Back further east it was often just paint daubed on tree trunks or fence posts.

 

[CharlesF]

Thank for the purple pictures, I find it really intriguing and wonder when and who started it. I think I need some time with Mr Google!

I continue to enjoy your pictures of the roads, makes it reading your roads come a live for someone miles away.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Thank for the purple pictures, I find it really intriguing and wonder when and who started it. I think I need some time with Mr Google!

I continue to enjoy your pictures of the roads, makes it reading your roads come a live for someone miles away.

If you find out anything let me know!

I think you're following me on Strava, but for anyone else..
Without meaning to plug my Strava feed is exclusively pictures of the road. I try to use as few here as possible, but at the moment no camera can do the scale and immensity of the landscape justice, so it's mainly road ones.

If you have Strava (no sub required)
Check out Hobbes OnTour on Strava
https://www.strava.com/athletes/22850894

 

[CharlesF]

Purple Posts. Now we know!

 

[CharlesF]

Happy Christmas!

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

Yes, Merry Christmas Hobbes!

 

[netman]

Yep, Merry Christmas @HobbesOnTour - hope you're having a great time...

 

[Blue Hills]

Merry boxing day hobbes.
Apologies if addressed in your journal (am following but haven't read all) but a question occurred to me while idly watching bits of Oklahoma! On brit tv - did any films help inspire your desire to pedal across the US interior?

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Merry boxing day hobbes.
Apologies if addressed in your journal (am following but haven't read all) but a question occurred to me while idly watching bits of Oklahoma! On brit tv - did any films help inspire your desire to pedal across the US interior?

Movie? No.
I would have loved westerns when I was a kid. The inspiration would have come mainly from music and books.
Books like the North & South trilogy, especially the third, by John Jakes, the novels of Zane Grey & Larry McMurtry, other Texan authors like Kinky Friedman & Joe R Lansdale. And Steinbeck too. I gave serious consideration to replicating the Joad's route from Grapes of Wrath or the looping route from Travels with Charlie. In the end I opted for my musical pilgrimage

 

[theloafer]

Merry boxing day hobbes... have caught up

 

[Blue Hills]

Movie? No.
I would have loved westerns when I was a kid. The inspiration would have come mainly from music and books.
Books like the North & South trilogy, especially the third, by John Jakes, the novels of Zane Grey & Larry McMurtry, other Texan authors like Kinky Friedman & Joe R Lansdale. And Steinbeck too. I gave serious consideration to replicating the Joad's route from Grapes of Wrath or the looping route from Travels with Charlie. In the end I opted for my musical pilgrimage

Kinky friedman i just have to google.
Ps, don't watch Badlands.

 

[cwskas]

Two days ago when I turned off the highway onto the backroads the spirit of adventure was pumping through my veins.

A couple of weeks ago when I saw the Mississippi for the first time I felt like an explorer.

Stopping in the dark on the Natchez Trace to feel the inky black all around me and hear the animals scurrying hither and thither made me feel alive and fearless.

Camping at some of the amazing sites I have stayed has shown me how beautiful this planet of ours can be and just how lucky I am to visit.

The random acts of kindness from dinner today, to my welcome at the church or fire departments, to the man who gave me an extra rear light, to the little kid who wanted to give a homeless man some money at Christmas time demonstrate clearly that there are so many good people in the world.

I suppose the point I'm struggling to make is that if I gave in to my fears, I'd also be giving up on the chance to have so many wonderful experiences.

Happy Christmas

Well said and very inspiring. Thanks for taking time to post.