Carol Montgomery

Carol lives at the end of a dusty little road out in the rolling hills of the beautiful Texas prairie, about 90 miles from Austin. Woodshop. Pond. House she built herself. Dogs. Dinner. We decided to take a rest and rain day and stay in her awesome bunkhouse for two nights. My quads were (are) killing me. Helped her repair some benches using beautiful purple cedar heartwood. Carol has a heart of gold, plenty of spunk and has made herself dear to the cycle touring community by hosting hundreds of touring cyclists over the years. We found her on Warmshowers and are so glad we did. 

Ranger John

(THIS IS OUT OF ORDER BTW!) John welcomed us at our last stop in Louisiana, South Toledo Bend State Park. We’d ridden 88 miles and I was just about pooped, the rain was starting to come down and it was getting dark. He recommended the prettiest site in the park, and we took it. We stayed 3 nights because the site was so beautiful (on a bluff overlooking the water), and because there was Wifi and a spot to do laundry. The day before we left John called us down to the ranger station for some stories about the area which used to be the “Free State of Sabine” a lawless land between the US and Mexico. He sent us packing with 4 little bottles of Sutter Home Merlot, which we promptly drank and got pleasantly tipsy as we watched the sun go down over the lake. 

BURT

Riding San Diego to Miami solo. Has done many tours before. Crossed paths in the smoldering controlled burn of the Sam Houston National Forest. He rides a 1981 bike that still goes like hell. 65-ish. Fan of the sun-glasses mounted rear-view mirror. Moteling It. Traveling light. 

Tom Thompson

Cyclist and Cycling Enthusiast. Just completed the 75 mile Dam to Dam ride the day before. Had tales to tell, but we only chatted for a little while on the top of a busy hill on the side of the road. He’d hosted a rider who was traveling the USA, going to see a baseball game at every stadium in the country. 

The Dickenson Girls

 Jennie kept us entertained for a long while with tales of a bicycle tour from San Francisco to Texas which she did in 40 days, wearing a polka-dotted helmet and leather visor, on an ExtraCycle with big-fat tires and only 8 gears. Jennie, Kate (lil' sis), Zach and I sat on the porch under a nice big fan all afternoon. We folded laundry, drank beer, charged our devices and were generally spoiled rotten. She cooked a tasty veggie meal for us, let us use her shower, and then we slept like babies in Kate’s single bed. They even replenished our supply of Olive and Coconut oil, which is awesome because they’re hard to buy in tiny quantities. Jennie with your firey exuberance, and Kate with your shy dry humor—we thank you. 

THE GOOD DR. APPELT

Stopped us on the side of the road and took us home for a drink. A rider himself, prepping to do the MS 150 from Houston to Austin this weekend (13,000 participants, DAMN!). His wife was putting stamps on his retirement announcement. Urologist, surgeon. Big house, lovely view, very kind. 

Jen Steele + Andre Billeau

   

Jen + Andre hosted us in their awesome little backyard cabin in Lafeyette. Chickens, a kale-filled garden, and a little dog named Claude made us feel right at home. They kindly let us use their Wifi, ate with us a couple of times and just generally, and graciously shared their lives with us for a few days. Andre gardens and fishes, Jen bikes and organizes bikey things. While we were there they had a bicycle festival which had a great turn-out, and Jen had recently helped secure a chunk of funding to improve the city's bike paths and bike lanes. Very cool people. Jen even took her kids to school on (not a tandem) but a triple tandem (or whatever you call a three-seated bike)!

CODY CRAWFISH HUNTER + LINDSEY, PRIESTESS OF THE BAR

  

Crawfish don't catch themselves, turns out. Cody Miller catches them. Or farms and harvests them, I suppose you could say, though that would make it seem mundane--and it is really AWESOME! We got to ride in his swampmobile around his crawfish ponds and see how they grow and harvest this most quintessential Louisiana treat.  Lindsey served us french-press coffee at The French Press in Lafeyette, and a night later we ran into her with Cody at a bar down the street and made instant friends.  They are dear old friends and ex-roommates (no, nothing more as I had conjectured...), we had a drink with them; next thing we know we've biked to Cody's house in Eunice 40 miles away, he's cooked us rice and gravy, and we're sleeping over. Somehow like we'd known them for a long time....really solid in a rare way. Too bad they can't come with us.

JANENNE DECLOUET

Janenne, mother of 6, kayaker, photographer, and connector. Bright eyes. Introduced herself at the Pack + Paddle camping store in Lafeyette. Quizzed us about the bikes and our journey and subsequently decided that we must come on a 13 mile Saturday paddle on the bayou with the Paddle Club. She provided a kayak, picked us up at 7:30 in the morning, brought us snacks + lunch, water and life vests. It was just lovely. Her openness toward us was lovely. Lovely woman overall. 

ROSE BUD + C.L.

RoseBud, proprietress of the Teche Motel, 74. Spent the afternoon bleaching the pool, with Nikko the spotted little wiener-dog by her side, she was kicked back with a beer when we came looking for a place to get out of the rain. Rosebud hopped in her Kabota and took us to her garden out back along the Bayou Teche. She and C.L., her man of 50 + years, just couldn’t have been sweeter. He insisted on giving us a ton of his boudin (a regional sausage stuffed with pork and rice and Cajun spices) and tried to make us breakfast the next morning too.We’d already eaten so we went in for some coffee. That man has some collection of guns, let me tell you. He probably had 40 rifles. I’ve never seen anything like it. The wood grain on some of them was just beautiful—birds-eye, rippled….lovely. Funny for me to say about guns, but oh well…I appreciate a beautifully built object no matter what it may be. Just kind of wonderful to be invited into their lives for a moment. 

TIM HART

In the distance we could see a blob that looked very much like a packed bicycle, on the shoulder of LA Highway 182. As we got closer we saw a very tan, bandana-d man playing with a beautiful dead snake on the side of the road—trying to position him along the white line for a photo. Tim Hart. Sold all his stuff in Maui and has been riding his bike from the West Coast. He was coming from the direction we were going so we picked his brain about the roads and he kindly obliged. 

ALVIN

Alvin Justelian, our Warmshowers host in Homa Louisiana. Wonderful guy, knows how to pack a bike for a tour since he’s been on about a million! A man of extensive pauses and carefully chosen words, thoughtful knowledge of his region. He set us up in his spare room, cooked us a lovely dinner, showed us photos and stretched with us on the floor. Oh, and he took us to see the Chauvin Sculpture Garden, a hidden gem. Kenny Hill's sculptural work depicting his spiritual journey—probably almost 100 painted concrete + rebar figures. And a brick lighthouse. Beautiful.

SAM + KRISTIN

Sam came upon Zach disassembling his trailer in front of the Morgan City Post Office and insisted that we come by his place to show his wife Christine our bikes. We showed up and they hustled us inside and fed us dinner—green beans, potato salad, and a specialty from a local butcher called Armadillo Eggs, which are stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in bacon. There’s some Southern Hospitality for you! Then we got a tour of their extensive gear room, and they loaded us up with extra supplies! Fun. They do a lot of hiking, Triathalons and various other outdoor adventuring so they had lots of great tips. Thanks guys!

CURTIS

Curtis, Cajun Country Man. Rode up on a rusty blue bicycle with a flat rear tire while we were eating lunch on a bridge over a Bayou. Beer in one hand, flask of whisky and a pack of Pall Malls in the other, I was sure he was going to crash. Had a good buzz on. He told us that Turtle has 7 kinds of meat, one tastes like Rattlesnake, one like Alligator and one…well, it tastes just like Turtle.