Off on my first longish Catrike adventure

[cwskas]

I am not sure exactly how to do this, but will try to keep up. I was invited to join the OK Freewheel ride last year by a new friend who had done it many times. I had previous plans to take a grandson to Yellowstone the same week and decided I needed to stick to that plan, but have been planning to do the 43rd version this year.

I didn’t do as much prep as I had intended due to other obligations and some procrastination on my part. I ordered new Arkel panniers that could be used on the rear of my trike or either the front or rear of a proper touring cycle should I ever make that transition. They are about twice the volume of the other ones I have for the trike. Somehow, I still ran out of room!

I originally planned to ride from my house to my son’s house the first day, but decided to drive my van to their house with trike and gear on board and make my first day of riding from there.

Thats about all I can think about for an intro other than a thank you to my gracious wife for giving the go ahead to make this trip.

Willie

 

[Cycleops]

With the American obsession with automobiles and most probably never having seen a recumbent I’m sure many there think you are rather ‘weird’.
Enjoy your trip and more power to you.

 

[beckinerd]

😘😘😘

 

[cwskas]

Day 1 Waco to Fort Parker State Park
56 miles, 5h2m moving, 11.1 mph, 1, 096 ft elevation gain

I have had this written up since the first night, but haven’t been able to get my photos uploaded.

l planned on 630 am departure and finally got away about 720! It was Memorial Day here and most folks had the day off, so the trip across town was pretty simple.

Nice ride out to Groesbeck with zero problems.

Crossing the Brazos River

I could tell that I was carrying more weight than normal. I weighed my trike at 42 kg, normally I am riding with it about 20 kg. It was especially noticeable of course up grades. I would feel like I was pushing up a 4% grade and it would only be 2!

A Tree picture for Hobbes

I pushed it a little because I was supposed to meet two other riders at the Subway in Groesbeck at 1130 am. I ended up not getting there until about 1145 am, but still beat them by a bit.

David & Mark arriving. They started in the San Antonio area and tonight will be there 4th on the road.

Much easier little stretch on to Fort Parker SP and I have a very pretty campsite. I intend to use the hammock every chance I get because it is a little more comfortable for me and will be much easier to pack up in the morning than the tent.

Fort Parker State Park campsite pictures will have to be on the next post.

The load rode quite well and I think I will get used to it as the trip continues. My legs are sore, I hadn’t ridden since the Tour de Norway on May 21.

Willie

 

[cwskas]

Fort Parker State Park campsite

This first picture was long the road not too far north of Groesbeck.

A very nice night in the hammock, an early morning shower and I departed about 630 am because I had a 30 minute ride to get to their hotel by 7.

Willie

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Lovely sunrise view

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Good man, Willie!

A tent and a hammock???
I like your style!

 

[cwskas]

Day 2 - Fort Parker to Gun Barrel City
76 miles, 8h25m moving, 9.1 mph, 1, 096 ft elevation gain, 132 total miles

I have no idea what breed these are, but they posed nicely.

This house had some very interesting yard decorations.

We had lunch at Braum’s in Corsicana. Very nice burger & milkshake to break up the day. I probably also drank 32 oz of very cold water. And then filled all three of my bottles with ice and water.

This is the old city jail.

The trinity river is probably the largest in Texas. Sometimes this will be full and raging!

Willie

 

[cwskas]

Day 3 - Gun Barrel City to Emory
57 miles, 6h27m moving, 8.9mph, 1, 434 ft elevation gain, 189 total miles

Our planned route turned out to contain a tiny, slanted shoulder and lots of traffic both directions. David, the author and head of this expedition came up with an alternative which turned out to be much better . . . And only a little bit further.

The new choice turned out to be a very nice rural, paved, rolling, route.

It was another hot day but not as many miles. Once we left the smaller road it became harder to keep pushing on. If I remember correctly, the last 25-30 miles had no convenience stores or other good stops for refilling our water bottles.

I rolled into Emory very tired, hot and thirsty. Since we were heading north we would occasionally cross the road for a shady spot to rest.

About an hour before arrival the sky turned quite dark. I could hear rolling thunder and see occasional lightening off to the east. The road was wet in places now, so it seemed likely that the storm had moved through just before our arrival. There were more quite dark clouds to the north and west.

I had received permission to camp on the grounds of the Volunteer Fire Department and decided to pick up the pace.

I pulled into the parking lot and the lawn was beautifully manicured but I was having second thoughts about camping. A check of live radar and a fresh forecast which included a 70% chance of thunderstorms convinced me to head to the motel where the others were staying.

More on the storms in tomorrow’s post.

Willie

 

[cwskas]

Day 4 - Emory to Paris
60 miles, 6h47m, 8.8 mph, 1122 elevation gain, 249 total miles

At 7am we were all at our doors looking out at the moderate rain. We decided to head on to a nearby restaurant to have breakfast and wait out the rain. The forecast and radar suggested clearing in a couple of hours.

I donned my new rain jacket gotten on sale from REI and off we went. Three recumbents, single file, lots of lights, surprising most of the other travelers for sure.

Not far north of town, we crossed the road to a small place that didn’t look very impressive to me. But I was hungry and riding in a significant rain . . .

There were a few tables with guests and two ladies instructing us to sit wherever we wished.

I am not one to take pictures of my food, but I wish I had recorded that feast. In no hurry, I savored my eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy! I was ready for anything.

Neither David and Mark finished their huge omelets.

I got my iPad and starting catching up on these posts.

David took this stealth picture- he said he was sure Mark & I were in deep meditation.

As suspected, the rain began to let up and we headed north. We needed our rain jackets for about an hour and then things the sky cleared. We had a few spectators as we passed who took interest in our procession.

We got to Sulfur Springs and David had a specific destination planned for lunch. I was thinking that I could skip lunch since I still felt full from breakfast. But David has cycled these parts numerous times and I decided to just see what he had to show us. A Good choice!

I had a very good grilled chicken salad in a definite ‘must visit’ little cafe. Then we went downtown to the square.

The courthouse

What a unique little building Mark is standing next to!

That is a public restroom! One way mirrors all around! You can see all around you, but no one can see in!

I will post a continuation later today. It is time to pack up & head out.

Willie

 

[beckinerd]

Fort Parker State Park campsite

This first picture was long the road not too far north of Groesbeck.
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A very nice night in the hammock, an early morning shower and I departed about 630 am because I had a 30 ride to get to their hotel by 7.

Willie

Beautiful 😍

 

[cwskas]

Day 4 - Emory to Paris (continued)

Weather was quite nice for the rest of the afternoon. But first a picture of the courthouse with all three of us. Me in the middle (my favorite jersey), David to my right & Mark to my left.

The two of them started Just NE of San Antonio and this was for the 400th mile on this trip.

More spectators

Normally this time of year there are lots of colorful wildflowers along the roads. But most of the state is in a continuing drought and that took its toll on the wildflowers.

Paris, Texas

A scale model of you know where, done by an engineering class from the local collage. It sits near a large event center in a very nice community park where I had permission to camp. Beside the tower is a very nice memorial to veterans.

I ended up staying in the hammock because it would be easier to pack up the next day and there was a nice breeze. I didn’t think to get a good picture before it got late and I left before there was much light the next morning.

Willie

 

[cwskas]

Day 5 - Paris to Idabel
53 miles, 6h13m moving, 8.6 mph, 1386 elevation gain (from David’s stats), 302 total miles

Both my GPS you & my watch failed at different times today, so I don’t have good stats for this day. However, it was very pretty. I will be able to reconstruct it when I get home to my computer.

The highlight for me was seeing a very beautiful mature bald eagle leave a tree near the road and fly along beside us for a brief while until peeling off out of sight. Such magnificent birds.

As I mentioned before, there was a lot of rain the other day, so the rivers were quite full and this one caught my eye. There were many of these birds after the bugs (I presume) late in the afternoon.

Most of the day we were on rural roads with light traffic. This little detour had no one but us.

I used this slightly sloping driveway to lube my chain as I slowly rolled backward.

More pictures in the next post.

Willie

 

[cwskas]

Paris to Idabel (continued)

This tree had been severed completely (perhaps in a storm) and was growing still.

A nice little farmhouse. There were not very many signs of existence in the last 20 miles or so, lots of churches at intersections, but not many houses on the roads were took.

We were needing water and something to eat and made to this little place, TNT BBQ, I think. It was fabulous and I ate way too much. The proprietor had an amusing shirt.

Finally crossed the Red River which forms a section of the border between Texas and Oklahoma

The rest of these are from Oklahoma headed into Idabel.

If you zoom into this one, there is a skull in the trunk

We were happy to arrive. So far the plan has been to leave at 7 am to get as much riding in early as we can. Now we have a day off to check everything out before starting OK Freewheel 2022.

Willie

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Finally crossed the Red River which forms a section of the border between Texas and Oklahoma

Is that your first time crossing the state line using pedal power?

Loving this! Keep it up and enjoy!