Unable to handle the India Hostel zoo in New Orleans anymore I drove along the state highways through the bayou’s west of the city. Nothing was too interesting, a lot of sugarcane plantations and one old plantation owner’s house that looked shuttered and in disrepair. Getting bored I got on the Interstate 10 and drove just across the border into Texas and stopped at an Econolodge in Orange, TX.
Texas has been true to form with large SUV trucks everywhere and not very appealing scenery.
Bad Food
I left this morning with the intention of stopping in Houston to get a new front tire and then continuing on all the way to the border town of McAllen in the very south-east corner of Texas. The rain started as I arrived at the CycleGear shop in Houston. Speaking with the Mexican-American clerk about the border crossing and violence along the border I confirmed my approach of driving a few hours south of the border then going across Northern Mexico should be safe enough.
2nd Attempt - Bike Being Repaired
When I got back out to the parking lot I checked my tire pressure to discover my rear tire had 10 PSI, down from 50 a few days ago. My bicycle hand-pump got it up to 30 without to much effort. Stopping a few miles later and checking again showed it deflating rapidly. So onto the next Cycle Gear shop where I got a reference for a mechanic – ‘a little out of the way’. The mechanic has made two 45 minutes trips to some other shop – he takes the entire wheel with him and comes back with an assembled repaired tire.
Houston Repair Shop
Where my bike will hopefully be in the morning
A Shell station was on the corner with 4 Mexicans standing around – one of whom helpfully pointed out I had a flat tire. I then tried to manually inflate it, then used the tire Slime stuff but it wouldn’t even go into the tire – not sure if it can be done when it’s totally flat. So I’ve checked into a hotel and am lucky that there seems to be a Kawasaki dealer in the town so hopefully in the morning I can get them to pickup the bike and repair it – if the bike isn’t stripped or stolen overnight.
I think they have snipers in TX taking aim at out of state vehicles! I was stuck in Big Spring TX with a burst radiator hose.
And yes, even though my 4 standing-around guys were located in a Walmart in California, they were just as helpful in pointing out “You got a flat tire!”
And what the heck are you thinking eating Michelina’s? Hope you come to your senses and get outa thaar!
Hi James,
Too bad about the troubles.
I think you need to take the little metal thing out of the tire stem to get that goo in the tire.
Are they tubeless? if they are you should get a puncture repair kit, and pull a nail and repair it while thre is stil some air in the tire if you catch it in time.
you don’t have to travel thousands of kilos to find such troubles, building a barn in a snow storm :D
texas is seen as outrageous by just about everyone . Is the stereotype supported by your experiences ? If it ios difficult to reconcile individuals with the stereotype , how come it exists – is it an ‘averaging process ‘- such as : more people in Texas feels it is a good idea to bomb foreigners , than feel that way in other states .?
Dude, you should come to Ohio. Roscoe Village, Granville, Columbus, Westerville, Yellow Springs… we’re a good time. And we don’t shoot at out-of-state vehicle, either.
Trevor, I’m driving across the northern US from west to east in about 2-3 weeks and so just might take my chances (on not getting shot :)) and drive through those towns. If you have any suggested routes around there I’d be happy to hear about them….