We Got Guts!

Day 36
Navasota to Double Lake National Park

Last night I stayed at the Navasota Fire Department, I set up my tent in the back yard next to their training building. The weather reports were not promising, severe storms possible by morning. After a while I decided it would be best to be a little better protected in case the storms hit, so I moved my tent around the corner to the area that had a wood deck over it. I was about to start doing some catch up on the computer, when the Assistant Chief, his wife, and young daughter drove up to check on me.
We got to talking and he said the Chief had asked him to offer me the upstairs training room to sleep in for the night, with the threat of weather moving in I accepted. I tore down my camp and brought it inside and repacked my bags for the morning. I caught up on my blogging and talked to Tammy (my wife) while she was on her way back to Irving (she had an early morning flight back home). She drove through much of the severe weather that was in the area, and about that time the local news was reporting a Tornado watch for my area until 6 am.
When I awoke at 6:30 am I was amazed to find we did not even get a drop of rain! I got up went downstairs to talk to the chief and day crew before I left; they were very kind and gave me a T-shirt to remember them by. I took some photos of them and of the statue in front of the building and was on my way.
I rode to McDonald’s where I grabbed a quick bite to eat, and was greeted by two fellow cyclist who were “going my way”. Lee and Karman sat and talked with me and they went on their way while I finished eating. Once on the road, I found the rolling hills of the hill country were still among us, but with less frequency. I approached my first change of roads and as surprised to find I had caught up to Karman, Karman is from Vancouver riding the same route. We started down the road together but he quickly was ahead of me and I was only keeping pace with him and not catching him so I slowed down to enjoy the day.
I rode a couple of miles and found Karman on the side of the road with a flat; I pulled over and helped him change it. We were soon met by7 or 8 people out for a day ride together, they stopped to render assistance if needed, we talked for a few minutes and they were again on their way. As Karman was just about finished we were met by another rider doing the southern tier route, his name is Emilio, from Italy who is now living in Brussels. Emilio, Karman, and I all headed out together.
We rode and talked and before we knew it we had gone some 50 miles and were in New Waverly, Tx., and it was lunch time. We grabbed a quick lunch and hit the road for our final destinations, Karman and I to Double Lake National Park and Emilio to Shepherd to a motel for the night, with a group from Adventure Cycling.
When we got to Pumpkin/Evergreen the fire station was open with a lot of activity. It seems they are doing some renovations. I had to stop to see if they had patches, and they did! I traded a patch with the Chief who was working on the station with about 8 or ten people, And myself, Emilio, and Karman all took pictures and were again on our way.
Karman and I set out to find the grocery store in Cold Spring to get some food for the night, and headed to the park where we set up our camp sites and sat by the lake to relax. After we showered and ate we had a cup of coffee and turned in for a good night’s rest.
What an awesome end to a great day!!!!

The Garmin information for the day is as follows:

Day 37 Double Lake State Park to Silsbee by wegotguts at Garmin Connect - Details