Shutterbug Cyclist: Smörgåsbord Fit for Cyclists

 Hungry cyclists -- 16 total! -- line up to enjoy pork roast, scalloped potatoes and more. There's always a vegetarian option for the two of us who don't eat meat.

Photo Friday: Going Ape Over Anti Monkey Butt

The Anti Monkey Butt folks sent two canisters of powder and a hat. What wonderfully-useful gifts!

Wordless Wednesday: Slow Cooking for Fast Cyclists!

Four Dutch ovens, with coals below. Covering the lids will turn out gourmet cuisine! The bread is wrapped in foil, and heating up against the pots and coals.

Our guide and chef, Linda Baldwin, prepares nutritious and flavorful dinners every night. 

Whatever Linda cooks in the Dutch ovens is sure to please!

According to Katherine: You've Got Mail!

A common afternoon routine: One of the first things Marge and I do is swap photos we've taken, since often, we're not riding together.

When talking to her friend Dan, Marge failed to explain our ritual and said, "We have to have WiFi and cell service, because Katherine and I e-mail each other a lot." Dan responded, "Wouldn't it just be easier to talk to each other?!" We're still chuckling over this conversation that happened a few weeks ago!

Shutterbug Cyclist: Feelin' the Love Part 2

I adore the Texas Hill Country bike shirt my brother gave me in Kerrville, the midpoint of our trip!

Shutterbug Cyclist: Feelin' the Love Part 1

There's nothing more wonderful than getting mail when we check in. Our children and Jack have sent a card every single day of the trip!

Photo Friday: Oh Say Can You See...

...whether the wind will be at our backs? I've always revered the American flag, but I'm much more thankful when the Grand Old Flag is telling us the winds will be at our back!

Shutterbug Cyclist: (Street) Sign of the Times

Spotted and snapped during one of our last days in Texas! I love being reminded of and re-energized by the WOCN's founder, Mrs. Norma Gill, and the pioneering work done at the Cleveland Clinic.

Wordless Wednesday: The Wallet Manuever

Diane Franz and me. She's a veteran cyclist who has taken me under her wing (literally in this picture!) and taught me all sorts of helpful riding and gearing techniques.

When she was using a particular hand maneuver that I didn't recognize, I thought I better learn it. When I showed her how she was reaching to her lower back with her left hand, she seemed perplexed. "Oh," she said, "that. I'm just checking to make sure my wallet is in my pocket!"

According to Katherine: Meet Helen!

Helen has owned the Pinewood Inn in Silsbee, TX since the 50s. She lives in one of the rooms, and patrols the complex every few minutes, offering a wave and her broad smile.

Miss Helen and her son, Rodney, present us with two bottles of wine to go with our dinner.

Her son, Rodney, is remodeling and upgrading the place, and building a gorgeous two-story town house onto the motel where he and Miss Helen will live. She will have a downstairs suite with a gorgeous roll-in shower for when she needs it. Rodney describes his mother as "my pride and joy." Love is such a life-giving force!

Photo Friday: Deep In the Heart

While in Marathon, the star of Texas shone in the night and early morning to light our walkway.

64 Fluid Ounces of Heat Relief

I was glad to be doused with a half gallon of cool water for relief from the 93 degree heat on day 24 of the tour!

Shutterbug Cyclist: Behind Door Number One

This may be too much information, but we open the doors on the SAG Wagon on the side opposite the highway and this is our stall when we can't find a tree or a bush!

Shutterbug Cyclist: Flamingo Wannabe?

We stretch every 20 miles when we stop. Some are more limber than others!

Flat Tire (April) Fool

This tiny piece of steel, no longer than my eyelash, worked its way through my "flat-resistant" tire to puncture my tube and cause my second flat on Mach 23.

We removed the shard from the inside of the tire with tweezers, and replaced the tube. The tire was undamaged. One of the vagaries of interstate highway cycling!

Wordless Wednesday: Rubber Meets the Road

Fiona has her own Tire Shop on our side of I-10. After she changed her flat, she was kind enough to change mine.

Photo Friday: Time to Re-Tire?

This is a tire shard off a big rig's tire. See the tentacles threatening to flatten our bike tires if we run over it?

Wordless Wednesday: In Memoriam

It's sad to see these roadside memorials. The one under the tree was for a motorcyclist east of Salome, AZ. The bicycle shrine was west of Silver City, NM. Apparently, Dan Potts was killed on his bike when he was 61 years old. We continue to pray and ask for prayers for safety for our 17 cyclists!

Photo Friday: Woody Was Here!

See the holes in this tall cactus? They are made by woodpeckers that nest in them!

Wordless Wednesday: Any Way You Slice It

The delicious grapefruit from Marlene Kropf in Wickenburg, AZ on March 10 continues to satisfy the cyclists at every SAG stop.