Translated by SFT
For my non Chinese speaking friends:
My bike journey from Austin, TX to Alabama, USA
Hello my friends,
My aunt notices that I have made a lot of non Chinese speaking friends along my bike journey, so she thinks it would be better if I also post a brief English summary about our trip (Sorry to my non English speaking friends. My aunt says she can only help with the English version because besides Chinese, this is the sole language she knows.) Hope you can also read our updates when you scan through the pictures we posted in our blog. http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/frontpower. Thank you all for your help and encouragement.We will never forget your kindness.
After a 2-month stay with my aunt at Austin,Texas, we were riding our bicycles again (4/10/2011) heading to our finaldestination in the USA - Miami, Florida. We rode along US Highway 290, passingCarmine, Brenham, Houston, and Beaumont, TX. Along the way, we met 2 Americancyclists, who gave us useful advice on our bike routing. We also met aTaiwanese lady who is a Tzu Chi member in Houston. She took us to her place sothat we could have a hot shower and a good rest. One day, we attendedchurch services. The church members were African American brothers and sisterswho sang hymns with wonderful voices. The priest was very passionate. He almostbroke the microphone when giving his sermon. After we introduced ourselves, wewere blessed by all the members. Hallelujah!
Texas is truly a big state. It’s about 666000 km2 bigger than Taiwan and onlyhas about 2.9 million more people than that in Taiwan. We had no problemfinding places for camping. It reminded us of a joke that my aunt toldus.
--- A blind man flew to Texas, feeling the seatand remarked ‘It’s big.’ The passenger sitting next to him said, ‘Everything isbig in Texas!’ When the blind man landed in Texas, he went to a bar, where heordered a drink. Upon feeling the glass, he was amazed about the size of theglass; the patron next to him said, “Everything is big in Texas!” Later on, heneeded to use the restroom and the bar tender told him which floor the restroomwas located. However, the blind man accidentally went to the wrong floor, wherea swimming pool was located. He stumbled into the swimming pool. In panic, heshouted, ‘Don’t flush!!’---
On 4/18, we arrived inLouisiana after an 8-day ride in the ‘BIG’ Texas. Just passed the Texas stateboundary with Louisiana, there’s a rest area/visitor center. We were pleased tofind out there was a wireless internet connection and free coffee. Thefollowing morning, we rode along US Highway 90 and then entered Frasch Park,which has a lot of amenities. We called our sister through Skype during thetime we were preparing lunch. She was also amazed at the abundant resourcesthat bikers can enjoy in the USA.
Marc was driving when hesaw us riding our bicycles on the morning of Wednesday (4/20). He initiallythought we were Europeans and he stopped to chat with us. Upon seeing wewere Asians, he guessed that we were Japanese and asked us about the tsunamirecovery. Therefore, biking and the recent tsunami became the ice breaker ofour conversations. We told Marc that we were on our bike trip and we came fromTaiwan, which is close to Japan. Marc then invited us to his home afterhe learned we would be passing very close by his place on our bike route. Wewere so excited since we had not taken a shower for 4 days and we could finallyhave a chance to clean ourselves. With that thought in mind, we rode 120kilometers in a day and arrived in Marc’s just in time for dinner. Marcwas so happy to see us again and told us to stay in his place as long as wewanted to. He is the first American who took us in. We were really grateful forhis hospitality.
Marc used to be avolunteer for t of golden sand. Do you know why it’s called ‘Long Beach’? Becausewe were still in ‘Long Beach’ after we had been riding since this morning! Fortunately, the weather was fine she immigration office, teaching new immigrants English. Sono matter how we messed up our English grammar or misused the words, heunderstood us well. We talked about anything and everything on our mindsincluding the current Taiwan political situations, the future relationshipbetween China and Taiwan, and many other topics. In addition, hecautioned us that bicyclists are minority in USA, so take it easy on our biketrip to Miami since it’s a very, very long distance from Louisiana toFlorida.
The following day (4/21), Marc went to work andtold us to make ourselves at home. I took the time to resolve a computersoftware issue and was finally able to upload pictures and articles to myblog. What Yi was doing? After 120 kilometer ride in a day, she deserveda good rest.
Marc’s work is very special; he converts usedcooking oil into a fuel for vehicles. Turning the wasteful into theuseful is definitely good for the environment! God bless Marc.
Marc took us fishing on Friday (4/22). He caughta big fish and it became our dinner. I only managed to hook an old shoeand was almost gobbled up by an alligator (just kidding!). It was reallya pleasant stay with Marc, but we needed to continue our journey.
Before we left, Marc told us to visit a friendof his in Morgan City, LA. On our way to Morgan City, we also metanother friendly American, who provided us with water and then invited us fordinner and to stay overnight with him on Saturday (4/23). The next day(4/24), we went to Easter church services on Sunday and guess what? The priestannounced whoever came from the farthest place would get a reward. Theprize was chocolate made in the shape of a cross. Thank you all!
We got to Morgan City on Sunday night and metMarc’s friend Yan-Ming and her husband Jim. They introduced us to anothercouple from Taiwan, Mr. Lin and Ms. Dai, who drove us around to see the nightviews of Morgan City. Then we stayed at Yan-Ming’s where we also had agood rest, good food, and a good cleaning. Yi was excited to know she hadlost 4 pounds at this point. Nine pounds to go to lose all the weight she hadgained at Austin.
After the fine hospitality and good foodsupplied by Yan-Ming and her husband, we said farewell to them and continuedour trip on US Highway 90 to New Orleans on Monday (4/25). We were stopped by acop on Highway 90. We have kept in mind what Uncle Jim (my aunt’s friend in TX.Traditionally, we call a male Uncle and a female Aunt if they are in the samegeneration of our parents) told us not to get into trouble with police officers.Now, we were stopped by a cop. What were we going to do? What a relief afterthe police officer told us that he only wanted to remind us to be carefulriding a bike. He himself is a biker and his bike friend was just hit recently.Thank you, Mr. Cop for giving us a heads-up.
We were so close to New Orleans when I had aflat tire. With so many holes, the tire looked liked a beehive. Oh well,we would have to settle for camping tonight before we could go into New Orleansto buy a new bike tire. Finally, on Tuesday morning (4/26), we arrived at NewOrleans, where jazz originated, and is famous for its arts and gourmet food. Wedecided to first visit the National WWII museum. It was eye opening to see somany planes, ships, cannons, and other weapons used in the D-Day invasion. Wealso found it’s very special that visitors could make a video there. We madeone and sent it through email so that our friends and relatives know we aresafe and sound although a few shades darker than before. After all, thereis plenty of sun in the Southern part of the US. We then toured arounddowntown. Meanwhile, we also needed to find a bicycle shop.
Most Americans are very friendly to us. Theywould come to ask us if we needed any assistance, providing useful informationto us. With their help, we were able to locate a bike shop where we bought anew inner tire and patches. Guess where they were manufactured? MIT (Made inTaiwan)!
On the afternoon of Thursday (4/28), we made itto Mississippi. We usually utilize the wireless connection outside McDonald’sRestaurants. However, there were none in Long Beach City, MS, so when wesaw a fast food restaurant providing free internet service; we decided to useit before dusk when we needed to settle in for the night. Then we metJason, who was curious about our bike trip and asked where we planned to camp.“Wherever we can find a place,” I answered. Upon hearing that, Jason andKathleen invited us to camp in their place. However, their house has beendamaged by Hurricane Katrina and since they have been busy volunteering inhelping others, they had not been able to fix their own. Without airconditioning, even we could not put up with the heat in the attic. Wedecided to enjoy outdoor camping instead.
We said ‘good bye’ to Jason and Kathleen whendawn came (4/29). Along US Highway 90 from Bay Saint Louis to Biloxi, it’s abeacho we had acomfortable bike ride to Alabama (4/30) After Sunday church services, a nice brothergave us a truck ride through a tunnel for fear of the possible danger we mighthave if we rode a bike through a tunnel. Thus it sped up the time we got to Florida(5/2). Hello, Miami. We are coming!
We will leave Miami on 5/30 to fly to Turkey to continueour bike trip. We will visit several European countries before we return toTaiwan. From now on, we will have a brief English summary along with theChinese updates in our blog. Hope to see you there. Best wishes.
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