Cleveland - Silsbee, TX - Lake Charles, LA

The big news is that we finally are out of Texas! Twenty days was about 15 too many.

For the last 2 days there has been nothing particularly notable in the landscape or the locations. It was mostly pine woods in Texas and lots of logging trucks, but getting wetter as we approached Louisiana.  No longer a burn ban--I think that may be a first for our entire time in Texas.  Once we crossed into Louisiana, there were lots of bridges and more farmland, fewer trees.  Both days there was a headwind or crosswind most of the day, more today than yesterday.  Yesterday was a 63.5 mile day and today was supposed to be a 76 mile day, but with the heat and humidity and a persistent head wind I called it a day at 62 miles.  I think if this combination of heat, humidity, and headwind continue, I may get in the sag wagon everyday by 1 pm--it's just too hot for me in the middle of the afternoon.

Wildflowers have been fewer, but a new one which has made infrequent appearances over the last two days is the spider lily, which I have never before seen growing wild.  There have been perhaps 100-150 of them along the way compared with the thousands of crimson clover (the clover I described in the previous post) and the millions of pink primroses, but they are quite a delight to see.  Also notable is a pinkish thistle with a flower head 1 1/2 to 2 inches across, which the butterflies really love especially the swallowtails, both yellow ones and black ones. Yesterday just when my spirits were really flagging, a great blue heron carrying a few sticks, presumably for its nest, flew across the road right in front of me. It gave me a lift that kept me going for quite a few miles.