Southern Tier Question

[evangundy]

So my DH is leaving at end of February to ride across the USA along the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route (San Diego, CA to St Augustine, FL). He has been avidly reading all the blogs he can find of others who have ridden this.

Do you have any links to good blogs about that area? Recomendations for places to stay/eat/explore? Places to definitely avoid? He retired in October so has no time limit, and is riding solo, so able to take any detours he wants.

I have lots of projects to work on while he is away, and training for our bike tour in July www.tourbc.net - so I won't be bored :-)

Any comments appreciated,
Thanks,
Edna

[Aggie_Ama]

I think I read someone stopped at Carlsbad Caverns on this route? I have not been but I have heard it is neat. Fort Davis is pretty cool but I think the people I read about may have detoured. I do not know.

Do you know what route this takes across Texas? I live north of Austin and I always see touring cyclists. I might be able to give some food recommendations if I knew his exact Texas route, let me see if I can dig that up.

ETA- I found this on Wiki:

The ride along the Rio Grande River into El Paso, Texas, is a treat for bird lovers, especially during migration season, when the birds are flying north or south. Texas dominates this route, taking up an entire third of the mileage. Starting in El Paso, just across the Rio Grande River from Cd. Juárez, Mexico, the route follows the river southward before turning east and heading through the Davis Mountains, where some of the friendliest folks on the whole route reside. Riders pass the McDonald Observatory atop 6,800' (2070 meter) Mt. Locke. There's a visitor center with daily tours, and evening "Star Parties" three days per week. After the Davis Mountains, towns are few and the country desolate, full of sagebrush and tumbleweeds. As riders travel through central Texas, the terrain starts to feel like the Alps, but this is actually the famous "Texas Hill Country." This diverse area serves some great barbecue and was the training ground for Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner. Riders taking the spur into Austin, Texas should make sure to go hear some of the diverse music available in the nightclubs on Sixth Street.

The observatory at Fort Davis is wicked cool, IMO. The Fort also is supposedly the best preservation but we ran out of time to see it. And if he is craving ice cream he could get some in the caboose but most of the food was just for fuel out there in my opinion. Also, is he camping or hoteling? The Davis Mountains State park is hands down my favorite campsite. Does he have his stops planned? If he is camping, we do that some and I might be able to help tell him if he picked somewhere that might be sketchy. Also tell him there is no exaggerating how desolate NM and West Texas will be. He cannot be overprepared to be alone out there, it is sparsely populated!

I know zero about touring other than reading some of Adventure Cycling's magazine. If you want to PM me his route through our hill country and ways out of Texas and I might be able to give my biased opinion of just being a tourist of points aroudn Texas. I can't help with much else but Texas. Also when he gets closer to leaving I can ask DH about giving our number in case of a mechanical or a crazy hill country thunderstorm. My husband is weird about that though so I have to get his okay. Since you are on the board he will probably might okay, unless your husband is a creepy ax murderer then no.

[mudgirl]

Tons of stories can be found here: www.crazyguyonabike.com

[bluebug32]

Tons of stories can be found here: www.crazyguyonabike.com

Hey Mudgirl! Good to see you on here. How's the riding in Ithaca been?

[Mr. Bloom]

Can't help...but I'm jealous!

[evangundy]

Tons of stories can be found here: www.crazyguyonabike.com

Yup, the Crazy Guy site has been the source of lots of reading material lately :-) I think he will be setting up his own journal there sometime in the next couple weeks.

So far, he's planning on following the Adventure Cycling route pretty closely, he's just not sure where his overnites will be yet - some will be obvious because of mileage and distances between towns. Others might depend on what to see and do in an area, or how strong headwinds or tailwinds are that day, that kind of stuff.

I'll take a look this weekend and write down the towns/cities along the route
Thanks for the comments, keep them coming. :-)
Edna

[Tri Girl]

I don't have any ideas, I just wanted to wish him the best of luck on his adventure. I want to one day do the cross-country thing, and think it's really great that he's making this dream come true. When he gets his journal started on crazyguy- please post it. I'm a CGOAB junkie and I'd love to follow along on his adventure.

[evangundy]

This is the first time I really looked at the Adventure Cycling maps. There are 7 maps that cover the Southern Tier. I don't think I'll list all the towns along the way. Would be too long a post.
1)San Diego, CA to Tempe, AZ 411.5 miles via Brawley, Quartzite, Wickenburg
2)Tempe to El Paso, TX 540 miles via Geronimo, Silver City, Las Cruces
3)El Paso to Del Rio, TX 451.5 miles via Fort Hancock, Fort Davis, Marathon, Langtry
4)Del Rio to Navasota, TX 431.5 miles via Leakey, choice of Austin or Lockhart, LaGrange
5)Navasota to St Francisville, LA 416.5 miles via Kirbyville, Oberlin, option for Baton Rouge
6)St Francisville, to DeFuniak Springs, FL 435.5 miles via Bogalusa, Mobile, Pensacola
7) DeFuniak Springs to St Augustine, FL 428.5 miles via Tallahassee, Wellborn, Gainsville

We have talked about me flying out to meet him in New Orleans for a long weekend. It would be a side trip for him, but it sure would be fun. Neither of us have been there before. We have to work out the details. And yes, Texas is spread over 3 maps. I knew TX was big, but that surprised me.

It would be fun to do this trip with him, but I can't take that much time off work and I've got almost 10 years before I retire. I wasn't going to make him wait. We figured it would be best for him to do this now, at 63, while we know he is healthy and strong enough for it. He might still be able in 10 years, but then again, he might not.

Edna

[ilima]

When I was out that way I regret not stopping at McDonald Observatory.
http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/

The ferry across the Mobile Bay at Dauphin Island is kinda fun.

In the Florida panhandle there are some spring-fed streams that manatee occasionally wander up, although probably not the time of year your hubby will be there. Canoe rentals/shuttles are pretty easy to find. I canoed down there in February and it was a neat time even though the leaves were off the trees and it was kinda cold.

[Susan Otcenas]

. Also when he gets closer to leaving I can ask DH about giving our number in case of a mechanical or a crazy hill country thunderstorm. My husband is weird about that though so I have to get his okay. Since you are on the board he will probably might okay, unless your husband is a creepy ax murderer then no.

Amanda,

I've known Dave and Edna for years. I can personally vouch for both of them. You couldn't find two more caring, generous, fun-loving people. Dave and I met on Cycle Oregon in 1999. We seriously bonded on a brutally long day, on a brutally long hill, after which he proceeded to save my life by giving me his jacket so that I wouldn't freeze on the descent. We still talk about that day! (Somewhere I have a photo of the two of us at the summit, triumphantly holding our bikes over our heads.)

Edna & I can't remember when we met exactly, but it couldn't have been long afterward. And, I've had the pleasure of her company for 8 hours a day, Monday-Friday, for the past two years. She does all the accounting here at TE HQ, and the place wouldn't survive without her.

I'm so very fortunate to have them for friends. If Dave was a creepy ax murderer, I'm pretty sure I would have figured it out by now...

Susan

[Aggie_Ama]

Alright Edna, I trust Susan if he is collecting "Oh my god I need help numbers" PM me we are in the Austin Metro. We are having really nice weather this winter, wonder what the spring will hold?

One thing I thought of, he is hitting Texas Hill Country when the grasses really start to bloom. If he is an allergy sufferer and has not thought of it Ragweed, Mold and pollen will be pretty high come March-May. Just something to keep on his radar if he is unfortunate like me and an allergy sufferer. I am sure he has put plenty of planning into emergency medicine or what not but then again I know absolutely nothing about touring. What all are they hiding in those panniers and trailers?