Redux. Southern Tier Part II

March 22, 2022

Suzy, Jim and Curt are returning to the asphalt highways of the southernmost states of the USA. We have half of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida remaining to ride. (1700 mi)

Little did we know when we stopped our cross country adventure in March of 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic shutdown that it would be two years before we would be able to resume our ride! Finish what you start! We vowed to each other we would pick up the ride where we stopped in Del Rio, Texas and continue to St. Augustine, Florida

So…the Redux…starts again soon! April 2, 2022, we depart Billings, MT for Del Rio, TX. Logistics this time are a bit more complicated than 2 years ago. It seems one-way pickup trucks rentals from Billings to Del Rio are no longer available/possible. Instead we will head WEST 2 hours and get a pickup in Bozeman, MT and drive it to San Antonio, TX )airport to airport). San Antonio is 2 hours EAST of Del Rio. The challenges don’t stop there, however. Upon our arrival in San Antonio we are renting a one-way 15’ UHaul truck to get our gear and bicycles to Del Rio. Mind you, typical vehicle car/pickup rentals will not work one-way. Once we are in Del Rio we will drop off the UHaul, load up the panniers on our bicycles and “bon voyage” y’all! East Texas, hill country, spring wildflowers and bbq…we’re coming for ya!!!

This time Jim took some time to map out our daily mileage and stops along the route. We’ve even made some advance motel, Air BnB, and camping reservations. Of course, one Texas sized rainstorm can change the entire plan!