El Camino Real Tour Update - November 3, 2005

Nacogdoches – Rest Day
Started today with a meeting at 8:30 a.m. at the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau in the square in the middle of downtown Nacogdoches. Executive Director Pam Fitch tells me that the CVB was very active in promoting the U.S. Congress designation of El Camino Real de los Tejas as a national historic trail in 2004. Pam has gathered about ten interested folks including Chamber of Commerce President Bruce Partain who presents to me a gift of the book by Historian Archie MacDonald Nacogdoches, Texas, A Pictorial History. I talk for about a half hour. Guess there’s no time to entertain the notion of any songs.

We talk about cycling, bicycle tourism and our take on the potential of El Camino Real. We discuss economic potential and the possibility of getting more hard data on the subject. A very nice meeting, and, after looking at some of the displays in the center, I pickup a short but very succinct history of the missions, characters, and stories of development in the Nacogdoches and Neches River area. It’s called The Spanish in East Texas – 1541 to 1838 and it is published by Historic Nacogdoches, Inc.

During my entire time living in Texas, I have heard of what a great town Nacogdoches is and it is indeed as advertised. I only visited Nacogdoches proper for the first time this past June when Mikail and I did our scouting trip. It is a beautiful town with lots of greenery, narrow brick streets downtown, and, as a legacy of the Spanish era, a central plaza that is now home to the CVB. The University is just a few blocks north of downtown and the small grids of narrow streets are set slightly off from each other, giving it a bit of a Boston feel in places.

I meet Frank and Mikail and we have lunch at the General Store, on the square directly across from the CVB. The staff there are great and bring us up to date about the two Caddoan tribes under the brothers Nacogdoches and Natchitoches who apparently were feuding, were instructed by their father to go up two separate rivers with their people until sunset, and there they would establish their villages.

Afternoon is spent with Frank doing some short mileage on the bike, Mikail getting the oil changed in the van (3000 miles so far on this trip – thanks Mikail so much for putting all those miles on your van) and me doing a lot of journaling and catch-up on some work I am doing with Denise Luckey of Texas Bicycle Coalition for the Texas Trails Network Convention this Friday and Saturday in San Marcos. I obviously won’t be attending but some of you near San Marcos should consider going if you at all can. The trail folks have done marvelous work in Texas for decades now and can really use your support. It will also be a lot of fun. The National Trails Convention was held in Austin last year and was great.

We had dinner with Michael Stevenson, a handcyclist with the Nacogdoches Bike Club. Michael had come to hear me talk at the University yesterday but Mikail had not made it as he need to work on the web updates. So, we got together tonight and had a great time. Michael and Mikail did a lot of comparing notes on handcycles and handcycle/wheelchair events. The good news is that Michael is going to join us on the final leg of our journey Saturday from Toledo Bend Lake at the Texas-Louisiana border into Natchitoches.

Mikail is delighted that there will be a handcycle in the final dipping of the wheels in the Cane River (did I mention that it is a channel of the Red River) at journeys end on Saturday.

The other good news is that The Kennard, AKA Ken Fraley, will come up from Houston to Toledo Bend Friday night and join us Saturday for the same segment. I think he’s politikin’ for a coveted spot in the Texas Heritage Cycling Experience Hall of Fame.

But for now, ready for bed to get rested for tomorrow’s journey from Nacogdoches to Toledo Bend.

Back to El Camino Real Tour Update Page                    THE DAY'S PHOTOS

Site Updated 11/13/05
If you experience challenges with this page or have any comments, please contact our Web Guy!
Web Design by Disabled, Not Unable