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there is pain... but it's a good pain...
The kids are away at church camp until tomorrow morning... They've been gone since Wednesday... so John and I decided that we would take this grand opportunity to go for an extended ride. It's his first since the accident and my first long road trip... WHAT A BLAST!!
We started off Wednesday afternoon heading southeast from the Dallas/ Ft. Worth metroplex toward Lake Sam Rayburn in Jasper, Texas... We couldn't leave until John was home from work, so a bit of a late start in the day... However, the weather was beautiful... partly cloudy skies and mid-80s for temps... and the traffic wasn't bad, so it was smooth sailing...
Hitting the road around 4:30... we took 287 southeast (for anyone who takes this route... 287 runs into 45 and they merge for a few miles... we found this out the hard way
) after 287 breaks off again... the road was incredible! It's a bit of a backroad but it has new pavement in many places... As you get farther from 45... trees line the road on both sides and it becomes a beautiful scenic route, taking you farther into the country... It's fast for a country road, with 70 mph speeds and VERY enjoyable to run... When we hit Crockett, we turned East on 7... This road takes you through the Davy Crockett National Forest... for anyone who has ever been through West Texas but hasn't had the privilege of riding through East Texas... this is a MUST... There are trees... BIG trees... and lots of them (yeah... I know... in a forest... who would have thought it?) 7 splits (no... just one split really), with 7 going to the northeast and 103 going to the southeast, which is the direction we took... This takes you through the Angelina Forest toward Lufkin... It was getting dark by this time, so we were unable to fully enjoy the beauty of the area... but there were very few cars on this road and we had it pretty much to ourselves... Fear of deer kept us from running too fast... but we managed to air out the bikes every so often (it's a requirement)... A stop in Lufkin at a Bennigans, where the service was exceptionally friendly and helpful, for some dinner and we got back on the road... taking 69 until it split in Zavalla where we picked up 63... We could see a lot of lightning ahead of us and were bracing for the worst... but a "God is smiling on us" moment must have been in place... we never had a drop of rain... The lightning kept us on our toes... as did the lookout for deer... luckily, the only deer I saw were on the side of the road... where they stayed (it worked out well for all concerned)... We finally arrived at the lake around 11:00... tired... but doing pretty good... This part of our journey was approximately 250 miles... so a good afternoon jaunt... not too tiring... but the late hour was a bit much for me (I'm an early bird)...
The kids are away at church camp until tomorrow morning... They've been gone since Wednesday... so John and I decided that we would take this grand opportunity to go for an extended ride. It's his first since the accident and my first long road trip... WHAT A BLAST!!
We started off Wednesday afternoon heading southeast from the Dallas/ Ft. Worth metroplex toward Lake Sam Rayburn in Jasper, Texas... We couldn't leave until John was home from work, so a bit of a late start in the day... However, the weather was beautiful... partly cloudy skies and mid-80s for temps... and the traffic wasn't bad, so it was smooth sailing...
Hitting the road around 4:30... we took 287 southeast (for anyone who takes this route... 287 runs into 45 and they merge for a few miles... we found this out the hard way
) after 287 breaks off again... the road was incredible! It's a bit of a backroad but it has new pavement in many places... As you get farther from 45... trees line the road on both sides and it becomes a beautiful scenic route, taking you farther into the country... It's fast for a country road, with 70 mph speeds and VERY enjoyable to run... When we hit Crockett, we turned East on 7... This road takes you through the Davy Crockett National Forest... for anyone who has ever been through West Texas but hasn't had the privilege of riding through East Texas... this is a MUST... There are trees... BIG trees... and lots of them (yeah... I know... in a forest... who would have thought it?) 7 splits (no... just one split really), with 7 going to the northeast and 103 going to the southeast, which is the direction we took... This takes you through the Angelina Forest toward Lufkin... It was getting dark by this time, so we were unable to fully enjoy the beauty of the area... but there were very few cars on this road and we had it pretty much to ourselves... Fear of deer kept us from running too fast... but we managed to air out the bikes every so often (it's a requirement)... A stop in Lufkin at a Bennigans, where the service was exceptionally friendly and helpful, for some dinner and we got back on the road... taking 69 until it split in Zavalla where we picked up 63... We could see a lot of lightning ahead of us and were bracing for the worst... but a "God is smiling on us" moment must have been in place... we never had a drop of rain... The lightning kept us on our toes... as did the lookout for deer... luckily, the only deer I saw were on the side of the road... where they stayed (it worked out well for all concerned)... We finally arrived at the lake around 11:00... tired... but doing pretty good... This part of our journey was approximately 250 miles... so a good afternoon jaunt... not too tiring... but the late hour was a bit much for me (I'm an early bird)...
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