Day 29 Princeton, Texas
Stats
Daily mileage 81 Ride time 5hr 34min
Avg speed 14.53mph Total mileage 1943

My bed felt so sweet last night. I even got up during the night and slept in the other double bed next to it just because I could! The clocks went back an hour last night which meant an extra hours sleep. I limbered up in preparation for buffet breakfast. The plan was, as usual, empty the contents of my stomach and then take breakfast at a slow pace. I started with a fry up, then another one and then I hit the cereal and bagels. This was in between me gulping down countless glasses of juice and coffee. Forty five minutes later I decided I had had enough but I took 2 bananas, 2 apples, 2 muffins and 1 yogurt back to the room for later.

On the way out I thanked the receptionist for burning a hole in my wallet and helped myself to the complimentary chocolates. I took a massive handful containing all sorts of goodies. I got on the bike and felt strong initially. The lack of wind made me feel good but the traffic has really picked up. I am no longer on those isolated roads, instead they are fast flowing dual carriageways.

Prior to leaving the hotel, I google mapped my friends house in New Orleans and realised it was nearly 600 miles away. That meant I had to do 100 miles a day to reach them by Friday. As soon as the wind picked up my speed plummeted and so did my moral. I looked around for inspiration but there was nothing to pick me up out of this mood. The traffic, the road condition and the scenery were all horrible. To top it off, I could not get comfortable on the saddle and was in agony. It was no good I had to stop. I stopped at the next place I could get a drink that happened to be Walmart. I bought a massive drink and sandwich and relaxed a little.

Realising that I would not be able to complete 100 miles today, I decided to look for somewhere to camp. Eventually, I came across this spot that made the ending to my day perfect. I picked a spot just of the road and beside a lake. I hate having to do extra mileage when looking for accommodation so this was a bargain. It means that in the morning I will be knocking off the miles as soon as my tyres hit the asphalt.

The location was beautiful. The sun was going to be setting and I found a small place to have a fire. The clouds have drifted it, which means I am going to experience different weather in the morning, but gave an even better back drop for the sunset. I sat there with my cameras in hand snapping happily away at the sky. It really cheered me up and I have some fantastic shots as a result.

With the sun gone and the moon shining brightly, I lit my fire and gazed at the flames dancing over the wood. I started thinking about the remaining part of the trip and decided I have to head south soon. I have been avoiding it for days purely because the wind has been blowing a southerly gale making it impossible. But tomorrow is the day that I will have to bite the bullet and hit the wind head on!
The picture of me grimacing is a re-enactment of my face when I was sitting on the saddle. I know it’s a bit late, but I hope y’all realise that I also put video clips on the blog. They usually look a little different from the photos and have a triangular symbol, indicating Play just beneath the image. Look at yesterdays and today’s blog for example. Total spent: 5 bucks