Sat 2012/08/25

Start mileage 4885.8 end 4941.6 daily 55.769 trip 206.2

Travel: Trinity to Lufkin Super 6 Inn (ex-Motel 6).

Hwy 94 is a really bad highway for bicycling. It has chip seal most of the way, with varying shoulder size from 6 inches (ie. “nothing”) to 8 feet. Most of it is high speed single lane with 6 inch shoulder and a lot of debris.  In this part of the state, there are a few chicken farms, and tractor-trailer transports hauling chickens to a few Tyson plants in the area.  These trucks really smell bad (empty or full), and travel very fast.

The hotel I planned for in Lufkin (Storybook Inn) did not exist, and I had to continue on another ~5 miles inside Lufkin loop to the “Motel 6” per my GPS (which also doesn’t exist any more, but is now a Super 6 Inn).  My GPS is not perfect, but this is the first day when it saved me a considerable amount of trouble.

Four cars honked at me today. One after passing, one which dipped into the shoulder and honked about 10 feet behind me, 1 car full of kids in Apple Springs who threw something at me (missed). One short toot after passing might have been a guy I talked to for a while at the Apple Springs Exxon/Subway. He had recently purchased an old panel truck to pull the engine and install into his dune buggy (and trash the truck).

About 5 miles of tail wind; mostly cross wind.