Cold Springs to Silsbee, TX....the true meaning of saddlesore

Dairy Queen and Texas have a special relationship. There seems to be a Dairy Queen in every town.

A Texas Clear cut. Looks like Western Washington sans mountains.

Take note grasshoppers. This is hunting skill at its best. That is, if you are hunting for a road sign.

Cold Springs to Silsbee, TX

2/6/10

Day 94

80 miles

This morning we took our time getting going and enjoyed the calm, sunny campground. We again practiced our slingshot skills on trees. We eventually got going around 11:30 AM, hey, at least it wasn't PM. And yes, we rode 80 miles and left at 11:30, I'm not sure how. The day seemed kind of a blur. We just had to keep on pedaling in order to get where we were going. An unusually large number of dogs chased us today, but none of them too aggressive. Dogs just like the chase, and they seem to get confused if you stop riding your bike, like, “why aren't you running? We were having so much fun chasing you.” To pass the miles and the time we played a game where you guess the distance between road signs up ahead and then check the guesses against our speedometers. I have never seem so many churches in such a high density as there are here in this part of Texas. There are definitely more churches than gas stations and grocery stores put together. Most of the churches we have seen are Baptist, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, Methodist and several others I can't remember.

When we got to Silsbee we had another Blizzard at DQ and tried jalitos, a special Dairy Queen treat we have only seen in Texas. Jalitos are slices of jalapeno slices that are fried and come with a dipping sauce. Hopefully we get to try more Southern specific fare as we continue Eastward.

Since southern California, the predominate ethnic minority has been, overwhelmingly, Latino. Now as we near Louisiana, we have noticed a wholesale shift from Latino to African American. There is still a strong south of the border influence with the number of Mexican restaurants and the foods available at grocery stores. Now, however, there are many Barbeque restaurants and we are noticing a few places with crayfish. The south also has a great number of family owned fried-chicken places. Even these little Mom-and-Pop places seem to have drive thru windows. We are interested to see how this food and culture shift will materialize with the African American and Cajun influence as we continue into Louisiana.

Dani