We biked 85 miles today, right out of the great state of Texas where we spent the past 16 days—more days than it took us to cross California, Arizona and New Mexico combined. When David was briefing the team on our route early on he said we would take a week to get from San Diego to Phoenix and another week to get to El Paso and then we would spend the rest of our lives biking through Texas. An exaggeration for sure but what a huge state! I was a bit nervous about tackling Texas and had to remind myself of advice I’ve so often given to others: when you take on a big project or challenge you don’t focus on the totality of it but rather break it into small, more manageable bits and tackle it one step at a time or, in this case, one pedal stroke at a time. We took each day as it came and slowly but surely we biked across Texas in the same way that we will bike across America. But before I get ahead of myself, a few fun facts about Texas (yes, more fodder for home schoolers ?): 1. Texas is larger than any single country in Western Europe.
2. Texas was its own country from 1836-1845 when it joined the US.
3. Six Flags Amusement Parks was named after the six flags that have flown over Texas: US, Rep of Texas, the Confederacy, France, Spain, Mexico.
4. The oldest law enforcement agency in North America are the Texas Rangers.
5. And last but not least, the state motto is “Friendship”—and we can confirm that Texans certainly live that motto!
Goodbye Texas and Hello Louisiana!
– Isabella