{"id":72,"date":"2007-04-13T18:08:37","date_gmt":"2007-04-14T02:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljounral\/?p=72"},"modified":"2007-04-13T18:08:37","modified_gmt":"2007-04-14T02:08:37","slug":"kountze-tx-april-13-56-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/?p=72","title":{"rendered":"Kountze, TX-April 13-56 miles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an unusual move, the staff called a meeting of the group after breakfast this morning.&nbsp; One issue was about one of our group who had decided to leave last night.&nbsp; She was having some personal issues that she could not overcome.&nbsp; The other issue was that it was in Cleveland last year where one of the riders was killed.&nbsp; She had missed the turn into the motel, stopped at another place to ask directions, then, rode out in front of an on-coming car.&nbsp; Both issues created a rather somber mood as we left this town.&nbsp; For the first 15 miles, I managed to keep up a 16-mph ride with two of the better riders.&nbsp; It felt good to be among the leaders, if only for a short while.<br \/>We were warned about log trucks this morning.&nbsp; Visions of log trucks in South Georgia came to my mind.&nbsp; They looked the same, but there were not nearly as many has I had perceived.&nbsp; Once again, I think of Churchill&rsquo;s quote.&nbsp; &ldquo;The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.&rdquo;&nbsp; <br \/>Then, there were the wildflowers.&nbsp; As we made a turn from a very bumpy road onto a smooth blacktop and stopped briefly to rest, I looked over into a ditch and saw these flowers, some sot of iris, I think.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/thumb-DSC03607.JPG\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Iris in Texas\" title=\"Iris in Texas\" hspace=\"10\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A bit further down the road these red clovers were standing like little soldiers guarding the side of the road. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/thumb-DSC03609.JPG\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Red Clover soldiers\" title=\"Red Clover soldiers\" hspace=\"10\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And, of course, there is the ever-present humor we see when stopping to rest at the SAG.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/thumb-DSC03604.JPG\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Humor on the road\" title=\"Humor on the road\" hspace=\"10\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Watching the Weather Channel this morning, we were anticipating possible rain.&nbsp; It came in the form of a mist about 46 miles into the ride, not too bad.&nbsp; The road was quiet, smooth and with a wide shoulder.&nbsp; So the ride was okay, even when the rain became harder.&nbsp; At least it was not cold, like last week.&nbsp; Just so happened that we reached Kountze about lunchtime.&nbsp; Mama Jack&rsquo;s Restaurant seemed to be a local favorite.&nbsp; So most of us stopped for some etouffee and muffallatas before checking into the motel.&nbsp; After all, we are 70 miles from the Louisiana line!&nbsp; We are in the Big Thicket area. http:\/\/www.nps.gov\/bith\/&nbsp; It sounds a bit like the Okefenokee Swamp.&nbsp; Unfortunately there is no time to see the Visitor&rsquo;s Center since we have 90 miles to ride! Good news tonight!&nbsp; The woman who left this morning has decided to return.&nbsp; I think that is a good thing.&nbsp; Most of us have had or will have meltdowns on this tour.&nbsp; But, we are all strong women and we will prevail!&nbsp; Speaking of prevailing, the weather forecast for the morning is not very good, thunderstorms, etc.&nbsp; We will watch the Weather Channel in the morning and do what is safe.&nbsp; If you read this post on Saturday, say a little prayer for safely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an unusual move, the staff called a meeting of the group after breakfast this morning.&nbsp; One issue was about one of our group who had decided to leave last night.&nbsp; She was having some personal issues that she could &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/?p=72\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centraldistrict.net\/nancystraveljournal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}