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Day 19 - Wednesday, July 16, 2003 New Orleans, LA to Austin, TX 567 miles for the day, 7,532 miles traveled so far. 9:03 in the saddle, 11:00 total time check-out to check-in. Average speed while riding was 62.6 mph. Parks visited this day:
Stamps: Daily Journal: I left the hotel at 8:30, heading west on I-10. I forgot to stop for gas in town. I get just outside of town, pass a sign "no services for 12 miles," and then I had to switch to reserve. Another long causeway, this time over swamp land. It is strange to be on a long bridge among trees. Even later down the road, west of Baton Rouge, you're on a causeway for over 20 miles of swamp. Crossing into Texas, I see the first exit. It was great to be heading west, the exit numbers count down, so you know how far to the state line. Well the first exit in Texas was 880! 880 miles to cross the state (on I-10). I actually would be off of I-10 for a good portion of the way across Texas. At I-10, exit 853, I head north on US-69 towards the Big Thicket N Pres. Texas has a very unusual freeway/frontage road arrangement. The frontage road were a bit like those I found in Montreal, where the exits and onramp are between the frontage road and the highway. You exit the highway a distance before your cross street, merge onto the frontage road, and travel on the frontage road for a bit to get to your desired street. Getting onto the freeway, it is just the opposite, travel down the frontage road, then veer left onto the onramp and then onnto the freeway. In Montreal and in the urban areas of Texas, the frontage roads are one-way. In rural Texas, the frontage roads are two-way, with traffic going onto and coming off of the freeway having the right of way. Quite interesting. The Big Thicket area has been called the "biological crossroads" of North America. Four different biological "influences" meet here - The southwestern desert, the southeastern swamps, the eastern forests, and the central plains. There is a new VC, right off of UD-69 near Village Mills. Some interesting old photos of life in the early 1900's were on display. I left heading north on US-69, then east on US-190 to Livingston. As I was getting gas in Livingston, it started to rain again. I made a reservation at the Super 8 at Highland Mall in Austin. It was a fairly quick shower, I left the station before it had fully passed. I hit a few more showers further west. I continued on US-190, and then picked up US-79 for the ride into Round Rock. Riding through Texas on the 2-lanes highways was enjoyable. Nice smooth roads, great curves, good signs. All with nice rolling hills. Decent speed limits, too. 70mph in places. Texas does seem to invest heavily in speed limit signs. Of all the states that I went through, Texas probably has the most step downs and step ups when approaching and leaving a city. You would be going along at 70 and see a sign warning reduced speed ahead. You would then pass a 60 mph sign, and within 25 feet of it would be another reduced speed ahead. So you would go through a 50 zone, a 45 zone, a 40 zone, and finally 35 through town. Leaving would be the opposite, 40 then 45, then 50, then 60, then 70. Two other oddities seen in Texas were a different night speed limit (this also is in some other states), usually 65, and a different truck/trailer speed limit (California also has this). I will have to hand it to the Texas drivers --- They are courteous. Very. Most of the two lanes had a nice wide shoulder, and if someone going faster comes up from behind, almost all of the drivers would pull onto the shoulder and let the faster drivers by. Wow. Just east of Round Rock, in Taylor, I hit a horrendous downpour. I had hoped to avoid getting really soaked, but I guess I couldn't. I took I-35 south into Austin. This Super 8 had a central hallway, and patio doors opening out to the parking lot. I arrived at 7:30. I was able to park the bike right in front of my room and carry the stuff in. As I was unhooking my bag, rain drops started to come down. I barely get through the door and into my room before it just starts to pour down. It subsides after 1/2 hour and I then head into the mall. I wander the mall for a while, then return to the room. I went to the restaurant in the Hilton next door for dinner. For dinner I had a huge bowl of mussels as an appetizer, and then the main course which was a Texas Hill Country sampler. Local beef, chicken and sausage in a wonderful BBQ sauce. I should have asked for a recipe for the sauce. It was fantastic. Compared to exit 880 at the start of Texas, I was now 45 miles due north of I-10, exit 625. Map: |
