If you are riding the shuttle bus from Austin back to Houston, it will drop. you off at Rhodes. Do you want to have to ride back to your hotel from there? There is weekend parking available at Rhodes. If it were me, I would park there.

Stop off in Fayetteville for a bit on day 1. Most of the small towns on the route tolerate our ride as we pass through. Fayetteville has a party. After you pass the town square, you will make a 90 degree turn to the right. A few blocks past the turn, on the right is a lady who literally backed thousands of cookies for the riders. Stop and have a cookie.

Chicken and waffles. I haven't tried them, either, just haven't figured out the big deal. Sounds pretty good for carb loading. Let me know what you learn.