Not once in 24 days of riding over 1700 miles have any dogs given chase. Sure, some have been excited but they were behind fences. Today I was chased no less than 6 separate times by usually 2 to 3 dogs at a time. Since the first 2 times were no issue, I decided to bark back the 3rd time – won’t do that again. They just ran faster and farther, finally I beeped the horn and that confused them. The 5th time I was silent but the big boxer like dog got within feet. More horn beeping combined with riding toward the dog finally ended the chase. The last time was too funny, being chased by 3 large chihuahua types – what would they do if they actually caught me? Maybe east TX lets their dogs play on Saturday.

I did get to ride through what I recall as the Sam Houston national forest. Strange to see 2 separate areas where there was significant smoke across the road from smoldering fires. This is a picture of the Lake Cagle recreation area in that forest.

If I complained about the cold yesterday, I had a surprise this morning as a thin layer of ice covered the velomobile. The temperature warmed up to the 50s by 10 and 70s by 1.

The last 20 miles were flatter and straighter than any road so far.

I started on map 5 of 7 and should finally leave TX by noon on the 21st. I’m starting segment 22 and will see how long it takes before I lose sync with these preplanned route segments.