Day #17 - 3/29/2011 - Navasota, TX to Giddings, TX - 59 miles

It was a breezy 59 miles from Navasota to Giddings.

Up at 4:45am, oatmeal consumed, Lani waits for me to get my act together before heading out.

Navasota, population 6789, got its start in 1831 as a stagecoach stop.  The town took of when the Houston and Texas Central Railway came to town.  By 1908, Navasota was a lawless boom town with frequent shootouts.  Salvation came when 24 year old Frank Hamer resigned from the Texas Rangers to become the City Marshal and faced down, chased down, and beat down the Navasota trash until they began to search for cover. He served as marshal until 1911. Hamer became more widely known in 1934 as one of the men who shot Bonnie and Clyde.  Sounds like the making of a movie.   In 2005, the Texas Legislature named the city "The Blues Capital of Texas," in honor of the late Mance Lipscomb, a Navasota native and blues musician.  I guess I'll have to return.


In any case, after a few minutes of biking, we were out of what little there was to this small Texas town and onto a quiet rural road with nothing to see but the highway that was illuminated by our headlamps.  Isolated home sites popped up, usually populated with modular homes.  

"S & M Place": where Texans go between Houston and Austin to get their kink...I guess.

The dozens of miles between the small towns were blanketed with ranch after ranch, some looking better than others and some for sale.

Your million dollars goes a long way, including a large home, a cabin (that you can rent out), a pool all on a large chunk of land where your free-range cows can nibble on the grass.

 Fences surrounded each ranch and nearly all had gates, some elaborate and some austere.

The Texas Star was an extremely popular theme.

If you enjoy your position as a carnivore - comfortably ensconced at the top of the food chain - you really should be familiar with the industrial farming of animals.  While most of the ranches we saw seemed non-industrial, this one touted its greener, more humane ways.  The "Grass Fed.  Enough Said" was cute, but I suspect that was the case for most of the ranches we passed around here (as opposed to being corn-fed, which necessitates antibiotics to control bacteria growth in the bovine gut.)

You can read about and order from Yonder Way Farms (which I'll check into when I return to civilization).  There's even a review on Yelp. 

Brenham, population 16147, is the big city halfway between Navasota and Giddings.  It is the heart of Washington County and most importantly, the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream, a premium quality ice cream popular in the South.  We contemplated a field trip there, but controlled ourselves.

Life is clearly a little different out this way.

 We'd been biking a couple of hours and took a break from the usual PB&J for something more satisfying: doughnut and a coffee.

I had my usual chocolate glazed old fashioned...it was quite excellent.

 A few minutes after our doughnut break, we stopped for a minute to do a map check before heading on.  Reviewing the Garmin and the GoogleMap on my iPhone, a car pulled up to park and an elderly man hobbled over with some paperwork in his hand, heading towards the office next to us.  We are often approached by people who are curious as to what we're doing, where we came from and where we're heading...and such was the case with this gentleman.

Don Cleary, a Brenham resident, was a combat-wounded WWII veteran, serving in the 75th Infantry Division.  The Beavis and Butthead hat was a gift from a grandson.  He said he liked the color...I didn't ask if he knew the characters.

 Mr. Cleary asked the usual questions about our trip, then added "I'm in my 80s now, but when I was in my thirties, I rode on horses with my friends from here to Wichita Falls" (about 330 miles...it took him about a month.)  He described the trip and then I turned to his "in my 80s" comment.  "Early 80s, late 80s?" I asked.  "Late 80s", he replied, which meant he was a WWII veteran.  As my 30 year VA career has advanced, I've become progressively more interested in the military histories of the patients I meet, especially those of the WWII generation, a generation that is passing into history.  I consider it a special opportunity to talk with a WWII veteran and to hear, first hand, from one of those who helped shape our world.


Mr. Clearly entered the service in 1942 or 1943 and trained with the 75th Infantry Division, as a machine gunner.  He first saw duty in 12/1944 when his division was rushed to the Ardennes  as replacement forces in the Battle of the Bulge.  He survived unscathed, but, later on in the spring of 1945 during heavy combat with the Germans ("they threw everything at us they had") he was badly wounded.  He pointed to his left arm where his somewhat mangled elbow was obvious, and to his right leg, which explained the limp I saw when he exited his car.  In spite of the mangled elbow and the right leg prosthesis, Mr. Clearly proudly stated that he pretty much had been able to do whatever he wanted, including playing baseball for the company team, and the horseback ride to Wichita Falls.  Talking with him was a special moment on the trip, as well as a real pleasure.


We moved on.


Many of the farms, usually near their gated entrance, will have life-size statues, usually of farm animals.  I always wondered where they came from.

When a pink flamingo just doesn't cut it, you'll find what you need here.

 Up until this point, we had been pretty much blessed with the weather.  Then, past Brenham, we got rained on.

Lani and I both put on our rain gear and continued on.

 Burton, Texas is home to 359 people and, thankfully, one gas station/market.

The rain had stopped, so we did, too, taking off our rain gear and having a sandwich.

 We didn't stop to stroll down Memory Lane in Burton, Texas.

A sign advising where to turn in order to reach Memory Lane.

 There were constant reminders of how proud Texans were of being Texans.

Washington County is the home of the "Birthplace of Texas," the site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836 in the town of Washington.

 One of the things Lani and I noticed was that road conditions would often suddenly change as you crossed the country line.  As we left Washington County and entered Fayette County, approaching Carmine, Texas, (population=228), the highway shoulder smoothed out and we we picked up a little tailwind...we started flying.  Unfortunately, we then came along a string of antique shops that lined both sides of the highway in Carmine and Lani insisted on stopping.

One of the many antique shops along the highway in Carmine, Texas.

I have to say, there was a certain undeniable charm...it made me want to go inside.

The entry way to Texas Trash and Treasures, a cute shop loaded with antiques and folk art.

The outside of the store was heavily graffitied with warm, fuzzy and/or clever messages.

The entry way and walls had been autographed by many.

The collection of folk art  was a little overwhelming.

Lani actually does some handiwork of her own that I think qualifies as folk art.  Walking around, she gathers ideas.

 There were many mobiles made from everyday objects.

I liked this one.  It uses a hubcap to anchor an array of tiny bottles

 More mobiles...

A bicycle wheel becomes the focal point for Shiner Black Label a Texas beer.  Lani and I later tried Shiner Bock...it was okay...tasted like beer.

 There were a couple of items that looked like they had been donated by Sid from Toy Story and possessed a special level of creepy.

This doll looks like it could star in its own comedy/horror movie, like Leprechaun.

 I shot the doll with flash (above) and natural lighting (below).

Doesn't look quite so creepy here...

 After buying something, you get to to spin the Wheel of Fortune and the chance to win upto $50 in free merchandise.

I spun...and lost.  But, we enjoyed the store.

 There was another antique shop right next door, as well as a few others across the highway.

We walked in for a few minutes, but I was anxious to move on and take advantage of the tailwinds before they shift.

We biked on to Giddings after a relatively comfortable 59 miles, average speed of 12.2mph, maximum speed of 26.5mph and, according to the Garmin, 2788cal expended after 4 hours and 47 minutes of biking time, and looked for the Best Western.


For dinner, we took a short walk to a nearby strip mall and took our chance on the somewhat dicey looking Jalisco Mexican Restaurant.  Wow...great move...looking like it was run by a family that had been transplanted from south of the border, the food was, not surprisingly fresh and authentic...probably the best Mexican food we had ever tasted.


So...great day...rained on, but we met a combat wounded WWII veteran, discovered the antique paradise that is Carmine, Texas (meeting the fine people at Texas Trash and Treasures) and finished the day with a great meal.  Cool.