Kountze - Richards...Day 13

somewhere in southeast Texas

David, of King David's Bar-B-Q. I was famished as I entered New Waverly, TX. As luck would have it I saw King David's Bar-B-Q sign sitting on the road. I was sold! David cooks his BBQ out of a trailer near a busy intersection in town. His entire menu is on a donation basis. He uses his cooking skills to spread the word of God and to feed as many people as possible...even if his patrons can't afford it. David was very proud of placing 8th out of 113 participants in a recent Texas pulled pork contest. My pulled pork sandwich was great...He should have placed 1st!

Before meeting David I noticed this church. When I asked him about it he said it is the oldest settled Polish Catholic church in Texas.

Lake Conroe...located in Sam Houston National Forest.

These flowers were along every road I pedaled today.

Downtown...Richards, TX

Doris & Ernie, owners of Checkpoint Harley. Doris & Ernie do it all! They have a ranch with all kinds of animals and they run a campground that has tent sights as well as several new cabins...all with a Harley Davidson theme. I called Doris 25 miles away to let her know I was running (pedaling) late. I told her I was tired but still had enough in me to finish the day. She told me to hang in there. As I was pedaling and about 12 miles away from their ranch a pick-up truck came toward me and pulled to the side of the road. Ernie jumped out, introduced himself and asked if I was Jamie. I replied..."Yes...Who are you?" Ernie explained that he was Doris's husband and she was worried that I was too tired to make it to the ranch. Doris sent Ernie to come pick me up! I declined the offer with an explanation that although no one would know the difference...getting a ride is cheating. After trying to persuade me again to take the ride he graciously smiled and said he would see me at the ranch. As he drove away out of sight, something occurred to me. Why didn't I let him carry all of my gear to the ranch? Would that be cheating? I think not.

Checkpoint Harley was awesome! The cabins were comfortable and Doris took time after after a hard days work on the ranch to show me all of their animals. It was very interesting.

James, a fellow cyclist who was staying at Checkpoint Harley for his 9th night in a row! He said that he finds the ranch fascinating and is learning so much about live-stock that he doesn't want to leave. I have to admit that after Doris showed me the animals I was seriously thinking about taking the next day off. Unfortunately, I still have lots of miles to pedal.

It was a long day of cycling. After 108.78 miles pedaled, I made it to Richards, TX around 6pm.

Trip stats

Total miles pedaled: 1245.81

Saddle time: 82:51'01

Route miles pedaled: 1245.0

Days ahead of schedule: 3.1

Average miles pedaled daily: 95.83

Times accidentally stepped in cow poo while being shown farm animals: 1