Well one of the heavy duty tubes I bought in New Mexico finally failed me. I hadn't had a flat since I bought them, but unfortunately I woke up this morning to find that the rear tube had failed. There was a crack in the base of the valve-stem and so it was unrepairable. I replaced it with a standard tube and was one the road. Before I was three miles in the rear tire was flat again. I patched it on the side of the road and was back on my way to another hill happy day. The first 30 miles today were the same as yesterday. Violent ups and downs, slow climbs and ridiculous speed sprees. The final 30 miles were relatively flat and I was able to blow through them pretty quickly. I stopped and ate lunch with a real Texas rancher in Comstock about halfway into the day's ride. This man was absolutely hilarious, granted a bit racist, but hey it's Western Texas. He lives 15 miles down a dirt road and said he never runs from a conversation because of how infrequently he sees other humans. I asked him how long it took him to get to his house down this dirt road and his answer was "about 50 minutes...or 15 if I'm drunk". After lunch I started noticing that my surroundings were getting greener and greener by the mile. Grass, trees, and water have been missing from my sight for the last 400 miles or so. I can't tell you how happy I was to see vegetation - it gave me an incredible burst of energy that sling-shotted me into Del Rio. Going over the bridge below I just wanted to dive in headfirst. Tonight I am staying in a free campground that has a shower, so I'm pretty stoked on that. Tomorrow is up in the air. I'm not sure exactly which route I'm going to be on, and I'm not sure when I want to take a rest day. I do know that it will be soon, though.
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| HOLY SHIT, WATER!!!!!! |
Is this a bridge Texas style? Looks as if it is three feet off the water unless the photo is deceiving. All in all sounds like it was a good day. Hope you had some real food today.
ReplyDeleteHi Adam! This is Dennis Stebbins, . . we met in Vail, Az? Well I started my trip shortly after we met, and I am in Texas, . . about 35 miles east of Amarillo. Got stuck here when it started raining and hailing on me yesterday. Today didn't look much better so I stayed over. Tommorow I leave and hopefully will be in Oklahoma in a day or or so, headed for Oklahoma City. I was using my sail going into Amarillo, and had a "blow down", and ended up staying in Amarillo for three days to recover and fix the trike. Left some of my DNA on that fine texas asphalt! Enjoyed reading your adventure . . keep on peddling! You can check out my website at www.reachingout.us, . . or check out my blog at dennis-reachingout.blogspot.com.
ReplyDelete@Dennis: Nice post! And good luck with the trike, man. That sounds wild. I will check out your website for sure.
Delete@Adam: You're on the same route that Kaitlin drove 5 years ago. I remember her telling me about that Prada piece. And her and the girls have a bunch of jokes about Sanderson. Anyway, I guess it's too soon to tell, but I wonder if you'll make it to NOLA for Jazz Fest...it's the last weekend in April through the first weekend in May. Foo Fighters are playing amongst an otherwise heavy and diverse line-up. Peddle your ass off, sounds like you're getting strong.
Dennis, your setup looks amazing. I wish I would have taken the time to go back to your place and see it when I was in town. I will surely be following your blog. Looks like you're doing well so far!
DeleteHey Adam . . .mercy, you and those flat tires! I have been fortunate that while I have 5 tires total, I haven't had a single flat caused by anything puncturing a tire, . . I am using tire liners called "Rhinodillos", and I have had thorns stuck in the wheels, one even has a quarter inch cut into it, but nothing got through those liners. Hopefully tomorrow I will be eating lunch in Tulsa if the weather doesn't turn sour on me. I am about one third of the way through my trip now, with only a couple thousand miles to go! I haven't been keeping up too well on my blog, so the website is the best way to keep up on what I am doing. Hang in there, you're doing a great job. You'll get this cross country trip done, . . go to work, get married and have kids, and then one day you'll retire, and you can head out at 60 years old like I did, and do it all over again! Personally, I am loving it, although as you know, it isn't all fun . . . there's the ups and downs, but mostly ups. Later Adam, . . time to sleep now.
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