Until I reached the Stripes station on FM1314 at Valley Ranch Parkway I thought the highlight of the ride would be the spring fragrances my nose picked out as I rode. But as I pulled up to the pumps to get some towels I could hear someone talking loudly by the store. As I rode up there I could a man dressed in a t-shirt, shorts, sandals with a beard. He was talking about God and Jesus and how they watched over him. He wasn’t talking to anyone in particular as he walked around. Whenever someone walked nearby he said hello and said “have a blessed day”. He was well mannered. I went inside to get a breakfast taco and a Diet Pepsi. He was still there when I came back outside. When I walked to my bike the young man said he like my bike, wondered if I had been the Olympics. I laughed and acknowledged his comments. I sat down and he asked God to watch over me as I biked (this was important later on during my ride). He continued to talk and I heard a lot about his family and God’s watching over them. Several minutes later a Montgomery County deputy sheriff cruiser pulled up and the deputy got out. As he approached the man he asked him several questions. The man continued to be well mannered and answer each question. Sometimes his answer was not what you would expect but always with respect to the deputy. The deputy talked on his radio and not too long after that I heard a siren coming from the east on FM1314. A Montgomery Hospital District medic truck arrived (M34). Two women medics emerged from the truck and walked toward the man. As they got near him they talked to the deputy and then asked the man several questions: What is it? Where is he? (He answered the Stripes station but she wanted the town). They invited him to get in the truck so they could check him out but he refused at first. He eventually agreed and got into the ambulance. While this was going on a New Caney ISD police cruiser, a MCHD supervisor truck, and a Porter FD pickup truck arrived. Later another deputy sheriff pulled up as well.

A shot of the vehicles and people at Stripes on FM1314

The first deputy picked up the man’s belongings by the store and examined them on the hood of the New Caney ISD SUV. He must not have found anything bad putting them back in the bag and giving it to the medics. The MCHD supervisor walked up to me and asked if I was here while the man was talking and walking around. I said yes but that he had not accosted anyone. One time during the man’s walking and talking a pickup pulled in with an animal cage in the back. The man walked closer to the pickup and talked to the animal in the cage ( I am guessing it was a dog). A little time later the ambulance pulled out of Stripes I guess to take the man to the hospital. during all of this I heard this from the man:

• he is 32 years old
• he slept beside the road last night, the best sleep he had in a long time
• he was in St. Luke’s hospital a week or so ago
• his sister raised him and they were very poor
• he loves his wife
• continually praised God and Jesus

Back to the ride. I went north to New Caney under a bright blue sky. A gentle breeze was enough to keep me cool but not impede my riding. The temperature started at 78 when I left home at 11:01, going up to 88 when I returned at 1:59. While I was at Striped the MCHD supervisor came up to me a second time and asked how far I was biking today. He said he biked over by Conroe and named several roads I have been on. I gave him a Texbiker business card to check on. The route today totaled 36.55 miles at a 15.9 mph average speed.

Excitement continued to happen near Strips. As I was waiting at the traffic light to cross FM1314 a Jeep Wrangler going west veered onto the shoulder at a fast clip and just before reaching the intersection veered back onto the west lane in front of a dump truck to avoid a car turning right in front of him. Not a good move.

Later on the Stripe’s man’s prayer for God to watch over me came to fruition. I was riding on Kingwood Place in front of Emeritus when out of a left crossover a silver car started to pull out in front of me. All of a sudden the man driving saw me and slammed on his brakes as I rode in front of his car. God was watching over me during this close call. There must be something about silver cars wanting to pull out in front of me!

April miles now total 716.06. I am within 62 miles of reaching the 778 mile goal. This week I biked 184.58 miles and 1976 miles year to date.

Saturday’s weather looks as good as today’s. I am thinking of biking to Crosby.

[wppa type=”slide” album=”316″ size=”auto”][/wppa]

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/486894068 465px 548px]

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2537199 95% 700px]

Save