Hi, we’re Brian & Amy Sweet from Winthrop, Washington. In the fall of 2010, after being business owners for eight years, we decided to sell our small town bookstore, rent out our house, and hit the road with our bicycles. We packed our panniers with our camping gear and headed down to the start of our bicycle trip in San Diego on January 25, 2011. We rode our bicycles through the southern U.S. and then up to Washington DC. From there we flew to Portugal and cycled across Europe all the way to the Black Sea. We wanted to see as much of the world as we could, at the pace of slowly rolling bicycle wheels. We met the people, ate the food, and experienced the culture and scenery of many places unknown. After our six months of bicycling, we went on to our next part of our world wide tour to teach English to highschool students in China for the fall and winter months.











Where we have been

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Texas Country: Part 1

Day 30, Mile 1400

Wide open Texas road


This is part 1 of Texas Country because it’s a HUGE state.  We’re 500 miles into the state, and have about 700 miles to go.  The expanses have been huge.  Wide open spaces, filled with golden grasses blowing in the wind.  (Those grasses have been prettier when they’re blowing WITH us).  But we’ve also seen mountains.  We climbed to over 6000 feet, up to a space observatory, in the Davis Mountains.  We’ve peddled on interstate highways, and quiet country roads.  And we’ve been talking with the people.  This last week we’ve talked with a long haul truck driver, an astronomer, a couple of people living at a hippy commune (where we stayed),  oil exploration geologists, a few cross country cyclists going west,  border patrol agents, and a woman who immigrated from Mexico.  There’s something about traveling by bicycle that makes us very approachable.  These people, and their different stories, are everywhere, but how often do we talk with them in our regular lives? 

One more closed store... argh.


Getting an education about telescopes

You'd never guess this tiny store has great BBQ!

The other interesting thing we’ve noticed in the last 1400 miles is how closed the border country is.  I mean the towns…they’re closed up.  Whether it’s because the mine has closed down, or they mechanized the fields, or tighter border control, we’ve seen more closed service stations, general stores, and entire towns than we could count.  It’s eerie and interesting at the same time.  We have to plan very carefully to make sure we don’t run out of food/water when traveling in these wide open spaces, where it will literally be 60 miles between buildings of any sort.   But in a matter of days we’ll be into more populated eastern Texas, with more towns and more people.

We love hearing from everyone.  Keep the emails coming and we’ll keep these blog updates coming every 10 days or so.

Oh yea.  The highlight of Texas so far…..the BBQ!


Lots of fenceline in large, expansive Texas







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2 comments:

  1. Barn Bicycle campingFebruary 23, 2011 at 11:29 AM

    You guys are doing it right. We are heading to the Texas Hill country in late March. It is a good bike area and I have also heard great BBQ.
    Good job on this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 23, 2011 at 3:45 PM

    Good job guys, good to hear from you. Have fun. LOVE YOU.Ivone and Jeff

    ReplyDelete

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