Kingsville, TX to Harlingen, TX

Hey All,

Yesterday I biked 101 miles from Kingsville, TX to Harlingen, TX over a large stretch of land with not much development since it is part of the "King Ranch", a privately owned wildlife preserve. The great thing was that the wind was at my back yesterday. The three riding days prior to that, I was riding against a steady wind, but yesterday, the wind was finally back in my favor.
Highlights of the day included meeting a themed blanket vendor, and by that I mean that each of his blankets was like a large poster--with a theme like Marilyn Monroe or Batman, etc. He was a great guy, from Guanajuato, and the first thing he said to me was, "Who sent you?" I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Someone sent you here. You wouldn't be traveling like this if no one sent you." I said, "I sent myself." He said, "It costs lots of money to do what you do." And he made the Mexican gesture for money which is made by making your thumb and index finger wrap around an imaginary credit card. I said, "No, it does not cost lots of money." Partly because I know from experience that it is not smart to reveal one has money, and partly because of the truth of knowing how to travel frugally. I got some good photos of myself, the vendor (Enrique, "El Cochero"/"Blanket Man") and the state trooper who stopped to let me know that the next service station was 60 miles ahead to I should make sure I had enough water.





The next highlight was 60 miles later, which went by quickly due to the wind, in Raymondville!, TX. I ran into the three blokes, one of whom is a creative painter and sign maker. They were inside a cluttered warehouse structure, smoking dope, I could smell it. But they came out and talked when they saw me looking at their artwork--bikes and home-made trailers, signs, paintings, etc. The guy had made a trailer-wagon that looks like a old-fashioned car made out of plastic and a trashcan, a radio, speakers, bike wheels, a tool box, complete with an ad for his business, all trailing behind a regular bicycle.

He ended painting my website on my utility deck and a Brazilian flag on my handlebar bag for free. Muy buena onda/very good vibe. Oh, and their puppy was supercute.

Later, I met up with my CouchSurfing host, Wesley of Harlingen. He is a marathon
runner and a cyclist, and he rode out to meet me a few miles outside of town.



I took a rest day and read a book, and felt out Harlingen, walking around, stretching out my legs. Tomorrow, I will bike the 30 miles to the border town, Brownsville, and stay there a few days taking care of some business before entering Mexico, most likely by bus to Veracruz. Business to include installing a front rack on the bike, perhaps exchanging my camera for a waterproof/shockproof one, etc., visiting the zoo, and South Padre Island, etc., feeling out Brownsville, listening to folks about Mexico, Matamoros, etc. Looking forward.

Three Rivers, TX to Kingsville, TX*

*Click on heading to view photos.
Ok, wow, today was awesome. 80 miles, made it to Kingsville. I kicked up my game; I now treat my riding like a sport, and I am an athlete. It may seem a bit strange; like obviously I was always engaging in a sport. But not really; that is not how I saw it until today. It really has to do with workrate and heartrate. Until today, I really mostly focused on kinda riding-as-transportation, and not really doing it competitively or aggressively. Biking to get there, and not really focusing on it as an athletic activity. That meant that my workrate was not very high and my heartrate did not get that high. But at some point during the day today, I fell into the posture of riding aggressively as sport. I think it happened as I was listening to the song, "Remember the Name" by Fort Minor. It had to do with working hard and distinguishing oneself. Just riding to get there was not distingishing myself. I needed to work hard, and pull ahead. That led to thinking about being an athlete, engaging in sport. I thought about other times in my life that I have been focused and competitive. I remembered in 7th or 8th grade when I organized a table tennis tournament with 16 classmates; I focused hard and won the tournament and took home the prize.
The wind was against me again, for the third day, for most of the day. When the wind is at my back, as it was from Austin to San Antonio, I feel like Super Man on speed (but seriously, don't do speed!); and when I am going against the wind, I still feel like Super Man! I just get this burst of energy and I start going like 17-18 or so miles an hour, and that is pretty good when you are loaded down with at least 60 lbs of stuff and going against the wind! Eventually, I have to take it easy and bring my workrate down a bit to rest. Then my energy builds again and I turn it up again. It helps when a good song pops on my playlist.
Let's jump to the best story of the day. It is the story of how I got lodging tonight. And these are always the greatest stories, I think, in my trips and perhaps most cycle tourists' trips. Here's how it went. Yesterday, I went on couchsurfing.com and found just one couchsurfer listed for Kingsville, TX. I requested to couchsurf with him, and he eventually replies, indicating that he now realized that his profile was out of date and that he had since moved to Corpus Christi. He said his couch in Corpus was game for surfing, but in Kingsville he could try to see if some of his friends might host. As I neared Kingsville, I asked him if he could see if he could just line up a place to shower, to get internet, and a place in the backyard to camp. He tried all his friends and it turned out they all had either moved or were out of town. He racked his brain for somewhere I might shower, and he remembered the boxing gym at which he used to train. He messaged me the location and suggested I try that, stating that the gym was open for another half hour, that the coach there is a super guy, and that their are Spartan accommodations including a shower and a bed. I found the gym, met the coach, and the pieces all fell into place wonderfully. As collateral, I gave the coach my passport, and in exchange I set me up with the shower, a towel, a bedroom, and the key to the gym so I could come and go as needed! And he suggested for internet the Burger King 3 blocks away! Super set city. To recap, the connection chain was as follows: CouchSurfing member John Casey formerly lived in Kingsville-->moved to Corpus Christi-->wanted to host, and if not, help in anyway he could-->racks his brain and comes up with the boxing gym and coach-->gym is still open for another half-hour after getting into town-->I find the gym-->coach Jaime Cantu is present-->meeting goes well-->facilities available-->a deal is made-->PJ is hooked up! I gotta give it up to CouchSurfing. It has really come into its own. The communities and the connections it creates are phenomenal. All these stories highlight a combination of trust, generosity and resourcefulness of humans that is truly inspiring. I will have to recount the stories of each of my previous hosts, all of which are equally interesting, if not as surprising. In the interest of getting this posted and going to bed, I will stop there.