Bridging The City Ordinance

It’s pretty rare that I have any trouble sleeping and apparently any concern over the legality of last night’s camping location didn’t change that. The way I see it, there’s not much point worrying about things beyond my control and so I don’t. Fortunately, the only interruption during my night came when I had to re-inflate my air mattress. It’s a routine I’ve become quite accustomed to. On the upside, I’m still able to get three hours of rest before re-inflation is needed. Some day I’ll look for the leak. Probably. That said, finding a leak in an air mattress is a bit of a challenge and I’ll likely need a pool if I’m going to have any success.

My night in the Walmart parking lot was very successful. I can’t believe I just typed that. But it’s true. And after such a good night it seemed only fitting that breakfast would come from Walmart as well. Side note: that’s why it’s smart for Walmart to allow campers – I’m sure I’m not the first camper to shop at Walmart during a camping stay.

Before my shopping excursion though, I needed to pack up my gear. Not a particularly noteworthy activity other than the fact that I got to watch the setting of the full moon as I did so. Sadly, the photos of the full moon setting are about as unimpressive as the photos of the full moon rising.

As for breakfast, it was another cereal-filled morning, but not Frosted Flakes nor Mini-Wheats. I opted for a slightly healthier option and had Go Lean Crunch – I’d never actually heard of it before but it was pretty good. No, I probably didn’t need to eat the entire box. But I did. Nor did I need to consume two litres of milk. But I did. It’s not my fault they didn’t have any one litre bottles of milk available. And milk doesn’t exactly travel well by bike. And throwing it out would be wasteful. I’m not sure gluttony is a reasonable alternative but it was today.

Before heading over to The UPS Store, I used Walmart’s WiFi to check on the shipping status of my delivery. Oh, UPS. Why do you hate me so? According to the tracking information the package was SUPPOSED to be delivered by end of day today. However (there always seems to be an “however” with UPS), there was a flight delay and the package has been delayed. This is where it got a bit confusing. The tracking system said it would still arrive today but after the “originally schedule delivery time”. That seemed to send some mixed messages since the “original scheduled delivery time” was “end of day”.

Rather than try to figure it out on my own, I wandered over to The UPS Store. The people there were very friendly and helpful. They didn’t have any immediate answers but they called their driver to see if my parcel was on the truck. Apparently, there was nothing with my name on it but there were two parcels without names. Not exactly the answer I was seeking but at least there was a glimmer of hope. On the upside, the truck was in transit and would be there within the hour.

I did some work on my laptop to fill the time and eventually the truck arrived. Surprisingly, so too did my parcel. I’m not going to lie, I was both thrilled and surprised. Side note: It did have my name on it.

With my delivery in hand, I wandered over to Wendy’s for a celebratory Frosty. I mean, if UPS actually delivering something on schedule isn’t cause for a celebratory Frosty then I don’t know what is. Plus, in addition to the celebratory aspect, I also went to Wendy’s because I really was in no rush to hit the road. My “schedule” over the next few days is more than a little lax and, as such, I wasn’t planning on going far today. In actual fact, I was somewhat expecting to have to stay in Seguin another night to wait for my delivery.

While I was enjoying my Frosty at Wendy’s, I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation at the table next to me. It was a conversation I really didn’t want to hear. Fortunately, I only heard parts of it but the topic of the discussion was “The Walking Dead”. I’m more than a little behind on watching the show so I really didn’t want to hear any spoilers. A sentiment shared by one of the two people at the other table. That said, the guy who has clearly watched every episode so far says, “Ok, I won’t say anything about it”. He then proceeded to “not say anything about it” in great detail for the next ten minutes. So much for “Spoiler Alerts”. I ended up relocating to another table before I heard too much.

After finishing with my Frosty (and The Walking Dead spoilers), I eventually hit the road shortly after 1:00. It would have slightly before 1:00 but I remembered I needed to lube my chain. That ended up taking more time than it should have. Upon retrieving my lube from my seat bag it was pretty obvious that the bottle had sprung a leak. Not actually a leak but the top of the bottle had become loose. On the upside, I had the bottle in a Ziploc bag. On the downside, it would seem the “Zip” wasn’t entirely “locked”. Fortunately, there wasn’t lube everywhere but a bit of a cleanup was needed before I was able to get back on the road. That said, my chain (and seatbag) is now adequately lubed.

As mentioned previously, I really was in no hurry to hit the road today and I probably could’ve spent another night in Seguin. However, I didn’t want to push my luck with Walmart so I figured I’d make at least a little bit of progress today. The planned little bit of progress was to get to Luling. A mere 35 km away. By the time I was on the road a somewhat strong crosswind was making its presence felt but not enough to drastically affect my speed. Regardless of the wind, 35 km was going to be a short riding day.

Sometimes I’m a big proponent of the motto, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission”. In reality, the asking isn’t the easy (or hard) part. It’s the receiving. Asking for permission when I was in Sabinal went well as I was allowed to camp in the city park. Then again, had I not asked for permission I still would’ve been able to camp in the city park. Yesterday, I was denied permission from the police in Seguin but ended up camping outside of Walmart – without permission. But I was ready to ask forgiveness. Today was more of the same.

I have to say, sometimes small town USA gives me the creeps – no offence to the nice people I’ve met in small town USA (and there have been plenty). Side note: I still think that Harrisburg, PA is the creepiest town I’ve ever been in. Seriously, I was only there once and it was in 2005 but I couldn’t wait to get away from place – and I was there for a baseball game!

When I arrived in Luling it was about what I was expecting from a population perspective. That said, I wasn’t expecting to find a Subway there. But I did. Side note: Before leaving Walmart I had a nice chat with, uh …. sorry, I can’t remember his name … Steve? Robert? I think it was one of the two. Anyway, before he left he mentioned I should go to City Market in Luling for Texas BBQ. And that was the plan.

First I wanted to assess my accommodation options. Of which I figured there would be few. As luck (not necessarily good luck) would have it, there was a police officer at the gas station as I approached. I’ll skip the details but the conversation ended with me being denied permission to camp in Luling.

According to the sign at the edge of town, Luling has a population of about 5,400 people. And apparently there’s a city ordinance against camping in said town. I’ll admit I know nothing of the political situation in Luling but I find it hard to believe that a ordinance banning camping is critical to the day to day operations of the town (or any town for that matter). That said, clearly camping wasn’t going to happen. At least, not officially. What also wasn’t going to happen was me spending $60 for a motel room at the Luling Inn.

Every now and then a town gives out a vibe. Sometimes positive. Sometimes not-so-positive. For whatever reason, I wasn’t getting a good vibe from Luling – and no, it wasn’t just the camping thing. That’s hardly exclusive to Luling. But I did have a few conversations with a couple of locals (and overheard some other conversations) and I just didn’t get a great vibe from the town. And so, feeling somewhat like John Rambo at the beginning of First Blood, I escorted myself out of the town (without going to City Market) and continued down the highway. I can’t be sure, but as I left I think I heard the closing theme music from the Incredible Hulk TV show.

I knew my accommodations options beyond Luling would be pretty limited but considering how limited they were IN Luling I figured I would take my chances. Ordinance or not, I was hoping to find a secluded spot to call home for the night. Worst case scenario, there was a State Park about 15 km down the road. Of course, about half of that would take me away from my main direction of travel and would require backtracking in the morning. I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but I hate backtracking.

Highway 90 meets up with Interstate 10 less than 10 km from Luling. At that spot there is Best Western hotel and two truck stops (one of which has a Subway). I knew Best Western wanted $80/night and I also knew I wasn’t going to go that route. I was unsure if camping at the truck stop was an option. As it turns out, there was a better option.

According to Google, there’s a road that runs parallel to main highway that leads out of Luling. In reality, it’s an OLD road that isn’t in anyway accessible by car and only moderately accessible by bicycle. At this point, I was perfectly happy with “moderately accessible”. Upon further inspection of the area it became pretty clear that I had found my home for the night.

There were still a couple of hours before sunset so I decided to hang out at the truck stop to charge my devices before heading over to my newly found home.

Fast forward a couple of hours and I now find myself sitting in my tent which is set up on an old bridge. A bridge that Google actually considered to be a viable route of transit. Silly Google. It’s now nearing 8:30 and it’s been dark for a while so I’d like to think that means I will have an uninterrupted night of slumber. But you never know. That said, it’s not the quietest location in the world for camping but since I’ve learned to sleep through most noises thus far, I don’t expect tonight to be any different.

In all honesty, I think tonight’s biggest threat is from the creepy crawlers of the night. During my initial inspection of the bridge I noticed a rather large spider perched on its web high above me. No, it wasn’t as big as the spider I saw on the road the other day but I suspect the spider on the bridge is not alone. And if it teams up with some of its friends, well … I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that I could find myself encased in a web come morning. For the record, there should be an ordinance against THAT!

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 49.22 km
Ride time: 2:33:53
Average speed: 19.19 km/h
Maximum speed: 39.92 km/h