Matagorda, Texas Bike Friendly Beach Camping, by Rideon

Matagorda Bridge over the Colorado River

Matagorda Nature Center on the Texas Gulf Coast provides fun beach camping for the entire family.  With most folks heading to Padre Island, Galveston and Surfside (respectively) we opted for a new area.  

Approaching Matagorda to get our beach camping permit, which is good for the entire year at a very reasonable ten bucks I took one of our first photos of the trip.  A calm cool breeze settled in to the area and for seasoned south Texas campers it is very welcomed weather.  During the summer mosquitoes and humidity are reported to provide some of the worst camping conditions of any other outdoor climates.  

So, with a minivan full of excited teenage girls and a trailer full of their stuff to match we trolled about looking for a place to settle in and enjoy both the Colorado River as well as Gulf Coast waters.  One of the niceties of Matagorda providing both salt and fresh water for boaters and fishermen as well as beach combers and folks like us who enjoy pedaling our bikes around such diverse and scenic waterways.

For more information about visiting Matagorda, TX visit their site. Our first night and morning was rather uneventful other than when the wind picked up, which I had expected as it seems to me anywhere along the coast tends to be a bit on the breezy side of things when temperatures are a bit chilly.  Lisa would not be deterred by the girls'

Lisa's Organic Orange Brownies baked in Dutch Oven

insistent pressure to make her ever popular orange filled organic brownies before finding a camp site.  But when they insisted she use a grill more exposed to wind than any other grill in the picnic area Lisa began to shift her mood and that's typically when I decide to intervene a bit. After a bit of a pep talk and some help with getting the grill going to cook with she settled in until the cool mellow breeze turned down right cold.

Finding a pleasant camp site was easy enough and we were able to get a small cozy fire going to chat, cook dinner and Lisa was able to warm herself before turning in for the night.  She was so pleasantly surprised to see I had brought my itty bitty portable cookset so that she could be treated to coffee in the tent.  That's love.

Making early morning coffee bike friendly beach camping in Matagorda, TX

As luck would have it, we met a woman who know all about bicycling the area, what parts of the beach to ride, how to get to town without having to ride over the bridge with full narrative of each ride she referenced.  So we grabbed our bikes and headed for town and as it turned out the woman never rode her bike to town and had no idea where the rugged access road along the Colorado River went, certainly not to town.  Lisa was a bit peeved that the woman would lead us on a wild goose chase like that, luckily our very long detour was covered as I kept snack food, extra water and tools in my pack and on my bike. We appreciate our fenders for commuting and touring, but with the mud so thick I had to remove a rear fender for the tire and mud to clear.

Luckily I had tools to remove the mud clogged fender

Fatigued and upset these little micro adventures are much more enjoyable when your with someone who has such a good attitude about it all.  My partner Lisa borrowed my bike for parts of the ride where navigating the rutted muddy road wouldn't be at all challenging.  On the way back to the campsite I began to get a bit concerned about her enjoying the day as Lisa was obviously tired.  But she made it back to the Nature Park area when I decided it was safer for me to pick her up when some very thick fog rolled in creating limited visibility. 

We made a cozy fire to gather round and chat about the day, cooked some good grub and all in all managed to have a very nice time.  Even when the 40 mph winds blew in our last night beating our tents around and blowing camp chairs about, my coffee remained untouched on the fender of our trailer and provided a good laugh amidst the chaos of the wind storm.  Tents held up fine, no damage to gear or equipment and most importantly nobody was hurt.  

A pleasant and scenic ride along the Colorado River in Matagorda, TX

Natural Living Store, making organic chocolate

 

 

 

 

 

Holiday Gift Ideas at Natural Living Country Store

'Tis the Season of Creating Gift Ideas at Natural Living

Home of Natural Living's organic tea blends

Lisa Piper enjoys creating holiday gift ideas for the Natural Living Organic Food Co-op customers as a way of saying thanks after yet another successful year.

Resonating with the idea that it's not happy people who are thankful, thankful people are happy.  And nobody has to tell Lisa that.

If you're looking for some gift ideas this holiday season check out shopnaturalliving.com for a large selection or organic hand blended teas, essential oil room sprays, organic, gluten free tinctures, and so much more.

It's a fun filled busy week around here and though we usually don't like to work on Sunday, this time of year seems to have us creating with such enthusiasm we don't mind.  

Natural Living, Bike Tourings and Simple Seats for Natural Biking

Organic, Healthy Foods Combined with Bike Travel including bicycle touring and commuting is a recipe for a healthy lifestyle.  

This is our new Natural Biking blog where we bring it all together for a fun, interactive way to share with family and friends without feeling so scattered. Bikes, wood working, organic foods and other sustainable products are represented and shared via this platform.  We are working hard to keep up with all the things we enjoy doing and still have time to share the joy of those efforts with others.

I just wanted to update this while Lisa is busy in the kitchen making Christmas gift baskets for our Food Co-op customers.  It's almost 11pm and she is still hard at it.  I caught a nasty old flu bug and was in bed with a fever over Thanksgiving.  This is a very busy time of year for us, working hard to make improvements for ourselves as well as for others.

Setting the new vibe of the combined elements of Natural Living, Bike Tourings and Simple Seats to wish folks a safe and happy holiday season.

Photo Collage of Vintage Mountain Bikes restored for Riding, by Rideon

Some vintage mountain bikes or frames that I have restored over the past few years.  I enjoy working on bikes and continue to keep my hobby shop for tinkering on bikes I find which I consider to have some sort of value.  I often look for these older steel frame styles as they usually have braze on fittings for attaching racks and fenders for bike touring and commuting.
For more information regarding some of the details of the bikes shown here visit article at Bike Tourings.

My Touring Bike featured at The Loaded Touring Bike Photo Gallery

Photo created near Kemah along Texas Gulf Coast and feature at The Loaded Touring Bike Gallery Site

Photo displayed here was created on a very early evening near Kema along the Texas Gulf Coast.  I was hoping to get a good enough photo for The Loaded Touring Bike site as I have much respect for the folks who travel the world on two wheels and take time to share their photos.  What a cool site full of very interesting loaded touring bikes from all over the world.  If you would also like to share photos from your own bike travels visit The Loaded Touring Bikes Page on Facebook.

The Loaded Touring Bike Site is one of the most visited bike touring sites and has been providing a place for fellow bike touring folks to share scenic photos of their bikes since 2005.  Described as "A Tribute to the bicycle and its ability to take us far away".

Bike in photo is of an inexpensive Nashbar touring frame I built mostly from parts available from my bike shop after closing the business for good.  I was initially very disappointed with having to sell most all the inventory including my '83 Bianchi Steel Lugged Touring Bike complete with original front and rear racks, such a beauty!  I had converted the bike to a twenty four speed with integrated aero levers and mountain bike gearing.  When I sold that bike on ebay for close to a thousand dollars I promised to build myself a bike that I would like just as well if not better than the Bianchi and still make some money from the sale of the Bianchi.   It was a good, if not mandatory financial decision at the time and glad I was able to walk away with at least one bike.

Some highlights from the build are Velocity Dyad Wheelset, Ultegra bar end shifters, Schwalbe Marathon tires and Selle Anatomica saddle.  That was the first year of the Selle Anatomica Titanico and I love that saddle.  Avid Shorty cantilever brakes and FSA triple crankset have provided me with years of dependable use and I have been very pleased with the Nashbar touring frame's geometry.  It was hard on me to go through the loss of my bike shop and there were a lot of other folks disappointed to see the coffee commuter bike shop close.  Yes indeed they were some very difficult times so that what the bike represents for me is new beginnings, moving forward and carrying on.  Happy to see it featured at The Loaded Touring Bike Site.

For Product Review Information visit Bike Tourings

Fun Mountain Biking Retreat, A Cabin in the Mountains, by Rideon

I had moved from Suquamish, Washington to Pagosa Springs, Colorado in 1997 one year after having been in a car collision.  I was told I would require two years of physical therapy and would not be able to work hard physically (I was landscaping at the time) ever again.

Tree growing inside "mud room" and exits roof.

During the autumn of 2002 I purchased a small piece of property of 1.8 acres and finished building a cabin on it.  Mountain bike and walking trails make for some nice casual after dinner jaunts.
Partly to prove something to myself as I built the majority of it by myself with very little help. As the property is "off grid" that first winter I did not have electricity or running water. A year later I was able to install solar power enough to run lights, laptop and other small devices.  Getting water to the cabin was challenging at times as the road leading up to the property is very steep and I would often carry grocery items and drinking water on my bike up to the cabin.

Scenic walkway from road to cabin

I worked very hard to get the cabin buttoned up enough to ride out that first winter and had gathered just enough fire wood to stay warm for several months.  It was all very hard physical labor that challenged my mind and body on many levels as I felt the need to work through the night at times to get things done on time.  I am very grateful to have been able to accomplish such a silly task as this and love the property for what it is, a quaint, natural place still off the grid with propane cooking appliances, two buildings each with its own wood stove, wood storage, enough water storage for weeks of washing dishes, etc.  

Several years later finally got some finish work done.

 It wasn't until the spring of 2007 that I was able to get some much needed finish work done to the exterior including trim and stucco work.  A project that took so many years to complete should be well cared for and not just allowed to rot away.  Property building in harsh climates requires some maintenance particularly after a hard winter.  This cabin has held up to such severe winter snow storms that other buildings in the area were flattened.  I was concerned about going to visit after the spring melt off, that I might find the place crushed.  I was so pleased to see that the work I had done was good enough to still be standing after such a heavy storm.  I have since sold the property to a family member who is not taking very good care of the place at all and who doesn't seem to care about it much for anything other than to have a false sense of possession.  So, thought I would give my old cabin a blog about with some very nice photos to accompany it.

Sink drain lines empty to drainage trough and are less likely to freeze in winter, propane line exits wall for easy propane hook up.

Cabin Interior with propane appliances including refrigerator and stove top with oven.

Composting toilet with PVC pipe vent installed above large south facing glass window.

Scenic view of Broken Off Point from property

                 Although the property is off grid and seems to be remotely placed some conveniences include eight mile bike ride to town with a nice wide shoulder along highway.  A bus stop approximately one quarter mile from property has a bike carrier on the front for winter commutes.  At times I really miss the property and reminisce on the three winters I spent there while working at Pedal and Powder Bike Shop.  A blog article written in fond memory was hoping to rent out to cyclists interested in staying in a unique area but doesn't look like that will be happening any time soon.  For more information about Pagosa Springs, visit this informative blog article with links to mountain bike rental shops and other information to make your visit smooth and fun.
Have a nice day.
P.S. Lisa Piper of Natural Living provided a couple of the very nice photos here.  Visit her shop at http://www.shopnaturallving.com