Day 11 of our Pony Ride

Hello readers,
The ponies were quite frisky today and decided to finish the day by riding all the way into Paris, TX. That means that they are a whole day ahead of schedule. What beasts they are! They are riding straight to the hotel, which is so much easier on all of us in the morning. We are staying at a beautiful Holiday Inn Express tonight so no telling what those riders will try to accomplish tomorrow. Today's ride was 107 miles at 15.7 mph. The riders were in the saddle for 6 hours and 53 minutes. The riders took advantage of a stiff tailwind in the afternoon. Keep those prayers coming so the winds will continue to be at their backs.

We had such a lovely evening with Mike and Tracey. They were such gracious hosts and provided a quick breakfast for us too. The guys spent the evening watching Mon night football, which was a treat. I would like to include a recipe for Tracey's Harvest Cake ( my name for it) I'll also include a picture or two of their beautiful home, all decorated for Halloween.

Tracey's Harvest Cake
Ingredients:
29 oz can of pumpkin
12 oz evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 box spice cake
1 1/2 c chopped pecans
2 sticks butter

Mix 1st 6 ingredients until blended. Pour into 9x13 pan, lined with wax paper. Sprinkle the cake mix over the pumpkin mixture., then sprinkle chopped pecan pieces over cake and press in lightly. Pour melted butter over all and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Let cool and turn out on a tray to cool completely.

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz cool whip
Mix all together and frost cooled cake. Enjoy. ( sounds great for Thanksgiving!)

We started riding back on our favorite Rt 82, 20 miles east of Texarkana. I left the riders off in the same mosquito field and I'll tell you, they got on their bikes in record time. We passed into Texas, the Lone Star State with the six flags flying over Texas. And we all know that everything is bigger in Texas.

After working their way through Texarkana, we met the riders for lunch at a DQ in DeKalb ( pronounced Duh Cab) We want to share a couple of stories with you. Dan met a man at the first watering hole that asked him, " howoldchu?" Dan had to ask him three times before he realized that he was asking him "How old are you?" When Dan replied that he was 67' the man said, " you need to have your head examined. I'm 69 and I'd never attempt this." Then Karen and I met an older couple coming out of DQ that asked us where we were from and what we were up to. The woman said that she had been to Ashtabula when there was snow on the ground. Didn't seem too fond of snow!

The state of Texas has ranches and greenery and nice wide berms.

We rode through Detroit and Blossom before reaching Paris.

We saw some strange things along the way.

We continue to move onward. Tonight we plan to eat at Chilis and find that Eiffel Tower with the red cowboy hat.

image

So ride on, my friends...
Brenda

From Colleen:

In view of today's government shutdown, we found this outhouse on the side of the road in The great state of Texas.. Top tier says "politicians" bottom tier says "voters".

( and that's what happens when we let the riders take over the blog's photography!)