-The first 60 miles today were a great ride...for anyone heading in the exact opposite direction :(
-The fact that uphills can outnumber downhills about 25 to 1...is preposterous
-Every time I look up...there's another stinking hill
-I wish I had water, or gatorade, or really any liquid at all
-For a 4-hour span today...I saw 7 cars
-It is really cool to be riding down som true rural country backroads passing farms while listening to country music on my Iphone
-Thanks for ruining that Kanye...skip
-There aren't many things more comical than pedaling down a random road all alone and seeing someone else doing the same thing coming towards you
In terms of just riding and pedaling, today was BRUTAL. The first 50 or 60 miles were literally 95% uphill. It was insane. Not to mention the store that I planned on getting more water at was closed so I was out of water and finished the little bit of gatorade I had left by mile 10. That set up for a pretty difficult and somewhat dangerous few hours of tremendous pedaling. I spent at least half of the first 5 hours standing up and pedaling uphill.
However, once I got some gatorade and water in me...I found another gear and was able to go another 30 miles in a little over 2 hours to reach Bogalusa Louisiana. Can you say 4 states in 4 days...pretty cool! Plus I gained some confidence about dealing with hills all day, bring it on Texas Hill Country!
After sleeping on a floor in a cold hut last night and a very difficult and long ride today...I needed endless amounts of hot water and a warm bed. There were no available warmshowers hosts in the area I am in so I am in a hotel right now and quite happy about it I must say. Also...
THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MRS. CARVER'S 5TH GRADE CLASS!!! Thanks to their selflessness and their unbelievable generosity, they gave enough of THIER OWN money to buy me this hotel room that I really needed! I can't thank these kids enough for everything they have done to support me and it's so refreshing to see such great kids who put others before themselves! Thank you goes out to Mrs. Carver too for matching their money and buying me quite a feast from Domino's Pizza! Love ya sis.
Met John today who is on his way from San Francisco to St. Augustine and gave me some confidence about Texas.
After today's really tough ride, I have decided to finally take a rest day tomorrow...kind of. I will be going only about 26 miles to the next town where I can stay in a fairground cabin for free. It's funny that about 10 days ago, 26 miles would have been one of my longest rides ever, loaded or unloaded...and now I consider it an "off day." That will allow me to sleep in until around 10:30 or so and then take my sweet time getting to Franklinton, LA and exploring that town when I get there. From there, I will head to another warmshowers host about 75-80 miles away near Jackson, LA.
Again, thank you for all the support along the way and I love stopping for a snack and seeing text messages from random people!
It's hard to believe I'm already in Louisiana!! Didn't I just leave last Wednesday, sheesh.
By the way, how's this for a welcome to Louisiana story. I had to wait 10 minutes in line at Walgreens while two women checked out using more coupons than items and getting a price check on $.99 gum. Can't make it up.
Keep it up!! One state at a time, your doin good. And get your rest days in, Texas is a wide state. Enjoy your Blog....Rich
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