From Los Angeles to Houston

[lars de wit]

Hello hello !

I don't feel like typing so here is one golden oldie.

The year is 2005, the trip from Nairobi to Zanzibar through Kenia and Tanzania.

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From Tanga, where I saw the Indian Ocean for the first time in my life, I cycled south along the coast. It is as Marco said, the worst roads makes the best stories. I try to rember that when my kidney's are bumping out of my body or I push my bikes for many kilometers through very fine, unbikable sand...
But the scenery is nice, all the palm and banana trees.
Sleeping at the beach, under coconut trees...
Ah, you know what happened there, under these coconut trees ?
Well, I was in my tent, just closed my eye's for a good long sleep.
Suddenly it gets a little darker in my tent and I look around. Guess what...
I see this huge shadow next to my tent...my mouth is dry in one second, amazing how fast that goes ! What is it I think. I see the animal walking and hear it eat. It is aproximately 130 centimeters high and very fat. Maybe two meters long...
Then I see his or her, didn't ask, little tail and now I know for sure, a Hyppo ( nijlpaard )
This close to my tent I am a little scared, a little ? I know that these animals kill more people than lions, cheeta's or leopards. And it is so close to me. I am lucky to have my tent around me, 0.1 mm thick, that will help holding the hyppo out ! I cannot do anything so decide to go back to sleep. Beng ! I feel the animal walking now...ow men ow men, so close to my head...
I manage to fall in sleep afterall, tyred from biking.
Next day still alive so everything worked out just fine. And further I went to Bagamoyo.
To reach Bagamoyo I had to ride this dirt track, crossing a river whitout bridge but with crocodiles. Now I heard from locals that there are little boy's with boats to help you cross the Wami River. I reached the river early in the morning and it looked good.
But, no boy's with boats. A young man came from the other side as I was getting my shoes off and unpacking my bike. Water was onnly knee deep and I asked this young man also, are there crocodiles here ? No, he said and remember these two letters...N and an O.
Like 3 or 4 other people whom I asked he said the same so I thought, well, let's go for it !
River was only 50 meters wide and the young man was helping me with my bags. After the first trip we went back for the rest of my bags ( carry a lot of them, hahaha)
And, in the middle of the river where there was a sand bank he said, look !
And he showed me his leg with this huge and ugly scar.
What's that I asked and he said : crocodile.
Crocodile ? I asked. Where was it ?
Here he said and I stumbled, but, but, I thought here no crocodiles !
NO, he said, not today ......

Now, I really hoped that ALL the crocodiles had the right day on their calander, not to be here !
I looked the water very good on our last trip through it...

Ha ha ha, no crocodiles today, can you believe it ?
Now I am in the city translated as Haven of Peace
Dar es Salaam
And I like it here, tomorrow a resting day before going to Zanzibar with a ferry for the last day's of my trip.
Hope to see you all soon, ha ha ha, no crocodiles today, man o man !!!!

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Tomorrow, after a resting day at Garner SP I will cycle up north via some more State Parks to Dinosaur SP, to see some original dinosaur prints
I've seen these before in Bolivia. Then it was so impressing that I would love to some more.

All the best, from the west

[lars de wit]

Hello hello !

Surrounded by dinosaurs I am ...

Hi, I am at the entrance of Dinosaur Valley SP and the walls are covered with dinosaurs.
Some very big footprints in the middle of the room, the biggest like 90 centimeters !
But to be honest, the real prints at the river are quite vague, the ones in Bolivia are 10 times better !

Yesterday when I arrived the campsite was full.
So I rode around and asked some people if I could pitch my tent at their spot; the second time I was lucky
At night two times I was invited to drink a beer or 2.
So that were 4 beers for free.
And a good night sleep

And yesterday, before I arrived here I was in Hico, did some shopping and went to the donut shop. Just wanted to buy a donut or 2, maybe 3.
But the girl behind the counter asked if I would want the whole plate for 2 dollars.
The plate was like 60 by 60 centimeters ...
I stumbled : the whole plate ??? for only 2 dollars ???
Then I realized that it was closing time for them, they wanted to get rid of them.
Okay, pack them in for 2 dollars !!!

At the campsite I counted them, 28 donuts !
And I ate them all, within 24 hours

Tomorrow I am heading for Austin, not sure then how ...
There is a huge storm coming this way, some really bad weather, lots of rain ...
It is 3 day's from here to Austin.
Maybe, when I am sick and tired of the rain I catch a ride to Austin, we'll see what happens.

Wednesday the weather should be better again, something to look forward too

And Holland is getting closer and closer, also something to look forward too.
I like to see my family and friends again and can't wait to go to work again.
Not that cycling isn't hard work

So ... 10 more days here in Texas, I hope I can enjoy a couple of them without rain and with my great friend, the sun !

All the best !

[lars de wit]

Hello hello !

Leaving Dinosaur Valley SP wasn't easy ...

Not that is was so nice, or cheap ( camping for *^%#@#*&* 30 USD !!! ) grrr

It was more the wind that, well, lets say was challenging
6 to 7 BFT , headwind ...
And I heared on my radio that there was a storm coming with possible golfball size hail !

My plan was to get a ride to Austin, and wait there until the storm blew over.
I got two rides that day, each for about 25 km.
I walked with my bicycle on the road for about 15 km and cycled another 22
But didn't make it to Austin, stuck in Moodey.

A little town with no motel; I really didn't want to camp in that hailstorm !
But without a motel I had to think of something, then my eye fell on a empty barn, along the railroad. I went to the City Hall and asked the lady if I could maybe pitch my tent there for the night. She called her boss, Dick van Dijk ( sounds pretty dutch by the way huh ?!? ) and he said it was okay. I said to the lady, well, maybe ask the sheriff too huh so she called him and sort of ordered him to come over

Which he did.
So I asked the same question and he too agreed and he too warned me for the trains passing by, a lot of noice, blowing their whistles all through the night !
But that wasn't my main concern, the rain and possible hail were ...
I checked out the place better and didn't like it, some roof plates were missing and it was a bit, I do not know, it didn't feel good.
So I decided to have another look somewhere in ' town '
I cycled around and saw a lady parking her car in her garage, there was another garage, empty !
Just as I wanted to ask the lady there were two people, Mary and George on the road, asking what I was looking for. I explained and they immediately invited me at Mary's mothers house, at the end of the street.

That night I had the best sleep, and lying awake !
I pitced my tent in the garage, out of the storm and out of the rain.
Many storm, lightning and 5 inches of rain !!!
So happy I was, thanks again Mary and George !

The next day the wind had changed, coming from the north ( I was going south )
It was dry with sunny weather predicted.
And austin only a 100 km away ( I thought ... )

Now, lately I drove a bit more then expected, from Lost Maple SP to Dinosaur Valley SP I thought 4 days of around 90, 100 km. Each day was way above 100, 120 and 125 too.

From Mary and George I rode to Holland in 60 km.
Looking on the map it was another 80 to Austin , I thought ...

I cycled 170,4 km that day and to be honest, I could have cycled a 100 more, really !
Feeling nothing, not tired at all I cycled my longest daytrip ever in 7:50 hours.
Even made 800 altitude meters.
I guess the endorfine which my body produced worked out pretty fine

And today I found out how I cycled so much lately ...
I thought that the scale of my map was 1:825.000 but that was the other map I had ...
I am cycling for weeks with a map that is 1:1.125.000.
So instead of 10 cm is 82,5 km it is 112,5 cm
Which explains a lot hahaha

So now I am couch surfing in Austin with a hawaian girl.
Plan was to stay 3 nights but I will leave tomorow, 2 day's in a big city is not my game.
Rather be on the road, sleeping in a forest

What have Bush, Armstrong and de Witby the way in common ?!?

I passed the Bush ranch at Crawford.
Passed the bicycle shop of Lance ( I may say Lance ) in Austin.

And me ?
I am cycling on, to Houston, not staying for another day.
Not finished with what I am doing, maybe I never will ...

The weather is good, briljant, again and the road is calling for some last enjoyable days on the bicycle

All the best !

[lars de wit]

Hello hello !

How The West Was Fun, well, not by obeying the rules ...

But lets start the night before I left Austin.
I went down to the bridge over Lady Bird Lake to see the bats.

Austin is famous for one of the largest colonies of bats in Northern America, at dawn they come from under the bridge and fly out to eat, so was told me, tenthousands of pounds of flies, mosquitoes and other,indentified flying objects
I didn´t count the bats but there were like hundred of thousands, in summer even 1.5 million bats ! ( most of them winter in Mexico )

Next morning I cycled out of Austin, plan was to ride through Bastrop SP and Buescher SP but that could be tricky; I heard from other cyclists that the road connecting these parks was closed due to heavy rainfall and severe fires last year.
At the entrance of the park the lady in the office confirmed that the road was closed.
I asked politely if I could look if it was possible to get through with a bicycle but, ofcourse ( americans and rules, so strict ... ) she said no, not possible.

Well, do not say that to a worldcyclist

I bought a day ticket for the park ( only the campsite and a few walking trails were open ) and walked with my bike one of these trails which brought me to the place where the road was washed away for 4 meters and 3 meters deep. No way a car could get through but a determined cyclist ?
I walked down to where, the now small stream, was, together with a lot of mud and pushed my bike through the mud, up this little but steep slope. Inch by inch I pulled my bike through, almost lost my shoe in the mud, and managed to get to the other side of the road.
Ha !!!
What closed, pfuh !
Very confident with myself I jumped on my bike and cycled further.
About a mile down the road I heard machines, working.
So I looked for a place to pitch my tent in the for 96 % by wildfires destroyed park and found a great spot, out of sight.

Making a cup of tea I heard a strange sound behind me. People were working, maybe a 150 meters away ! I saw them walking through the trees and sort of waited until I was spotted but that didn´t happen, thank God for my green tent !
Lucky me !

Next morning I left just after sunrise and rode all the way to Buescher SP; only saw a couple of workers but I waved politely and they waved back. Luckily I didn´t ran into a ranger, who sure as hell would have stopped me.

That night I camped on a campground at a lake, had a nice swim and a nice BBQ with two guy´s and a couple of beers and had a great evening !

Another 3 day´s of cycling to Houston, the end of my trip ...

But I am so lucky to be here right now.
Hill country, lots of big and beautiful trees, gorgeous oaks.
Nice quiet farmroads.
The sun is back after a week of clouds and very strong winds, tempature above 25 degrees.
And the flowers ...
Like I said, I am really lucky to be here right now; the fields are covered with flowers, red ones, yellow ones, blue ones ( the blue bonnet, the texas state flower ), pink ones.
So lovely to cycle through !

Very relaxed I made it easily into Houston, where I am couchsurfing again.
10 miles out of downtown but very easy to reach with the bus.

Tomorrow I will cycle the last kilometers to the airport and fly back home.

It was my fifth time in the United States but definately not my last, this is truely a great country !

Making this trip one of the best of the last couple of years ...

Although the elephants in Botswana were awesome too !
And the Drakensberge south of Lesotho.
Crossing the Sahara in Morocco and Mauritanie.
Not to forget the carretera austral in Argentina and Chili
Or the lake district also in South America.
Or the great outback and cities in Australia.

Better get my ass back home, earn a couple of dollars and buy myself a new ticket to ride my bicycle again, somewhere on great and beautiful mother earth ...

Hope you enjoyed, I know I did

All the best, see some of you soon

Lars

[Fiets-avontuur]

And oh yes:
You are biking in desert area in winter.
However when it does rain a phenomenon called 'flashfoods' occur.
When camping in the wild (which is mostly legal on your itenerary) do NOT pitch your tent in riverbeds; washed out areas or areas with a lot of gravel. Look for higher ground.

Las dit verhaal omdat ik ook plannen heb weer naar Amerika te gaan en dezelfde route ongeveer wou doen. Deze tip van Walter zal later zeer profetisch zijn. Op een latere tocht in Chili zou lars dit doen met ernstige gevolgen. Daarom altijd voorzichtig zijn met wild kamperen en goed oppassen.

[Fiets-avontuur]

And oh yes:
You are biking in desert area in winter.
However when it does rain a phenomenon called 'flashfoods' occur.
When camping in the wild (which is mostly legal on your itenerary) do NOT pitch your tent in riverbeds; washed out areas or areas with a lot of gravel. Look for higher ground.

Las dit verhaal omdat ik ook plannen heb weer naar Amerika te gaan en dezelfde route ongeveer wou doen.