Mileage - 40.1; Total Mileage - 222.2 miles
The emotions on the last day of a tour are mixed and all over the map for me. I feel excited and proud about completing something that I have been planning for months. But I'm a little sad that the tour is over and I have to return to my "real" life. Being on tour has a certain simplicity and freedom that I haven't figured out how to replicate in modern life. I'm also relieved that I came through the trip without any major catastrophes.
We rolled out of the "luxurious" Motel 6 this morning with all these feelings swirling around in my head. We had one main agenda item prior to leaving Paris - a visit to the Eiffel Tower!
The Eiffel Tower, Texas style.
After a quick breakfast of taquitos at Whataburger and our tour of the Eiffel Tower, we were headed out of Paris.
We had two options for getting back to Cooper today. One was a little more scenic with quieter back roads, the other was a more direct route on busier roads. After a call last night about an emergency in Houston, we decided on the more direct route so we could get back to Houston tonight.
We did have some more gravel roads this morning getting out of Paris and on the route, so it wasn't an adventure-free ride today.
More shady gravel.
We passed this house on a quiet road that had lots of junk around, and all kinds of bikes lining the fence.
The "welcoming committee" couldn't be bothered to get up, even after we stopped the bikes right in front of them.
We couldn't figure out what was going on with this road. The paving job must have been done by "Jim-Bob's Discount Paving." But it was mostly covering concrete road. Out in the middle of nowhere.
Crossing the North Sulphur River. The water was crystal clear.
A view of the country-side we've seen all week. Mostly flat fields bordered by trees.
Back to Lake Cooper State Park where we left the car for the week while riding. It felt great seeing this sign!
I only made it back with one of my warm gloves. Somewhere along the NETT between Clarksville and Paris, my right glove is looking for a new home!
Looking back at the week, we had a very smooth tour. We did have my broken brake cable, but that was easily fixed because I carried a spare. You can believe that item will always be on my packing list!
Outaide of that, we didn't even have a flat tire. Even with the rough roads, gravel, and trashy road shoulders we rode this week. We also escaped any other major equipment issues. We call that a lucky week!
We don't have another tour scheduled yet but are working on what we'll do to celebrate retirement in March. We are looking forward to being able to tour without a set schedule.
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