Houston to Austin. 150 miles. Two days. Can we do it??? Let’s find out!
After a delicious breakfast of Panera bagels, granola, oats, and cereal (carboload 😉), we did some stretching and said goodbye to Bruce, Jennifer, Lexi, Blake, and their sweet dog Emma.
It was such a pleasure staying with them! After all our good eating, especially the “Garbage Nachos,” we were well fueled for the day ahead.
The first forty miles went by like a breeze and we had a blast after leaving the city on the beautiful quiet country roads. We talked a lot about the kind of lifestyle we want to build and how we are loving the freedom of this trip. There is a lot we are learning about what we enjoy and what we can go without while still feeling very satisfied.
As the sunset approached, we had rode about 55 miles and began searching for a place to stop. It was looking like we might need three days for our trip between cities.
We couldn’t camp without permission in this part of Texas. It was GORGEOUS countryside, and all of it was owned fenced land full of rolling grass and cows.
It was a real struggle to find a willing host, people were not answering their doors! Finally we got a yes from a sweet old lady but after the sun had set and our tent was almost up, her neighbor came over to tell us we had to leave. She had just gotten a call from our host that she was uncomfortable with us staying the night on her land but didn’t know how to tell us!
What a bummer. Back onto the road with almost no light left. What were we going to do?
We decided to ride to the next town and I was very surprised by how magical it was biking at night!
The road was so quiet and with a wide shoulder so we felt very safe. There were shooting stars and rolling hills. I felt fresh and in awe ❤️
We decided after reaching a town 11 miles into the night, that we wanted to keep going. Let’s see how far we could get! Maybe even all night into Austin!
TO THE ADVENTURE!!!!
Okay. So suddenly.. the wide shoulder was gone. This meant riding into traffic so we could see who was coming and get off the road for each car. Alright not ideal but it was okay.
Next, dogs. ANGRY dogs. Scary dogs. Dogs chasing us SO fast and pursuing us. Dogs in the dark when you can’t see them and holy cow I had more adrenaline than I wanted in my system. I was nauseous but exhilarated and decided to stop riding for a bit to get my bearings after being chased two separate times. I couldn’t calmly keep riding with the feeling that something was just about to run at me ready to attack and I couldn’t see them coming!
Stuck in the dark, now feeling defeated instead of excited by our whimsy, we proceeded back into the night with caution after a short break.
THANKFULLY we met a very kind Texan rancher who had a sweet family and let us camp on his lawn without hesitation.
I was so thankful and relieved.
We slept just feet away from gentle cows and playful kittens that came into our tent for some love ❤️
So by now we had added some mileage and found a great camping spot. Not too shabby 😉
Route info for interested readers:
We left Houston on Spring Cypress Road and took a left on Tegle then quick right back onto Spring Cypress Road. From there we went right onto Highway 290. Left onto Betka road took us onto a long stretch next to the highway that was AWESOME. It started as Old Washington Road and ran on stair-stepping occasionally next to 290.
We went through Hempstead to get onto 159 headed south west and took that the rest of the day. It was also a great road! So beautiful!
There and Back Again 