My friend Sam Cook and I got on the road to Brownwood at exactly 8:00 AM. Sam is somewhat my senior age-wise. Yet he didn’t even look like he was breathing hard on the 80 miles into town. It was really nice to ride with Sam–what a neat person. For those of you who don’t know Sam–he is a professional opera singer, and an “Artist in Residence” at Abilene Christian University.
My good friend and fellow cycling enthusiast Sam Cook. I was honored to see Sam wearing the tour jersey!
I was really impressed at how green everything was. I don’t really remember it ever looking like this (I went to school in Abilene), but perhaps I have forgotten.
Just southeast of Abilene. Can it really be this green?
We made it to Brownwood about an hour before sunset. Sam met up with a friend who gave him a ride back to Abilene, and I cycled over to the home of Lester Towell, brother of Rusty Towell (a physics professor at ACU) and Duane Towell (a fellow I went to school with back in the 80’s). Lester is also a professor, but at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. Lester arranged for me to give a seminar the following morning at 10:00 AM, at HPU. The seminar went well, and there were many interested students present.
Because of the seminar, I did not get on the road until noon. I had also somehow underestimated the distance to my destination (Lomita, TX) by 8 miles. Further, the departure location in the city of Brownwood added an unavoidable additional 2 miles to the ride. The wind was in my face most of the day, and the hills were incredible. I didn’t know that Texas had so many hills! The integrated climb was just under 1600 feet for the day.
A large part of the ride that day, along federal highway 183 took me through a road repair project. They were just sealing cracks with tar, but it meant that I had to steer around every sealed area, to avoid getting the stuff on my tires. I was only partially successful in this regard, and the tar picked up loose gravel along the way. I had to stop frequently to remove obstructions from under my fenders. Wind, hills, tar and age were wearing me down.
The sun was going to set soon and I was still 15 miles from town. So, I opted to camp again at a rest stop, following the usual rules. It was a comfortable place to camp, but the humidity was pretty high, making for an uncomfortable night.
Looking for the greenflash at a rest stop
I awoke the next morning (Nov. 1) to sugar ants in my tent. I am not sure how they got in, but so much for a hermetically-sealed tent! From now on, no banana peals in the tent at night! It gets light around 7:30 AM and I was rolling on my bike at 8:00. However, something was rubbing on my rear wheel and I had to stop to fix it. It proved to be the rear fender, and this cost me another 30 minutes.
A safe but uncomfortable night
The wind was a little more cooperative, but I had 62 miles to go to the KOA campground in Leandar, TX **PLUS** the 15 that I still had to ride to get to Lomita, for a total of 77 miles. At some point, the shoulder on Highway 183 disappeared. At this point, 183 was a 4-lane highway and made for some of the most dangerous riding I have done on the tour. I had to constantly keep an eye on the cars behind me to verify that they would be moving to the inside lane. If they did not, then I had to ride off of the road. On two or three occasions, I would miss a car and it would come speeding by me with less than a foot clearance.
Eventually, I got to within 7 miles of Leandar near a place called Liberty Hill. I could see the road ahead of me and it did not look good. A long bridge with no shoulders waited for me, where I would have no “bail out” option in the event that the traffic did not yield to me. Further, the hill would likely slow me to 5 mph, meaning that I would loose much of my maneuvering speed. Like I said, “not good.”
I figured it would be best to pack it in, and live to cycle another day. So, I contacted my good friends Daniel and Kate Pamplin to rescue me. (Daniel was an intern at Ball one summer several years ago and is now working in Austin.) About an hour later, Daniel showed up with a pickup and we drove off to his home. Whew!
Waiting for a ride next to Highway 183
The next day, Kate took me to the University of Texas in Austin where I would give two presentations. The first was to a small audience of mostly faculty. But the second talk was to a packed room of astronomy undergraduates–a very enthusiastic crowd. I entered the second venue to see a young woman drawing a representation of my journey on the chalk board! What an honor!
Chalk art!
Astronomy students
I’m taking today (Nov. 3rd) off to do some work and prepare for the rest of this ride. I have to confess, I am getting very tired and I don’t know if my body is going to hold out until Miami. The little things are starting to stack up and it seems that each day is harder than the previous. But I will keep going until I can’t. Tomorrow, I will likely start from where I was picked up on 183. However, I will turn east away from the highway and take a more reasonable route around Austin.
Bicycle dog
This morning I got a very sad phone call. A couple of weeks ago, you may recall that I met a fellow cycle tourist named Daniel who had a small dog with him. We exchanged contact info, and Daniel called me this morning. He was touring in Glenwood Springs, CO a few days ago when a couple of kids in a car drove past him and grabbed his handle bars, just about killing him and his dog, Miss Tigger. His bike bags were damaged and most of his gear destroyed. In the ensuing chaos, someone grabbed his money bag and the manuscript for a book he was writing. He is in a bad way. Daniel is now in Glenwood Springs, where every “homeless” person is immediately suspect. (I want to point out that I am currently “homeless,” the only difference being that I have functional bicycle gear and am therefore mobile.) I am not in a position to help Daniel, but if you know of anyone living in Glenwood Springs that would like to help him out, please contact me.
Tomorrow is another day, and I should be on the road early. I will keep you posted!
Scott
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“Tired” is temporary, the dream is forever. Take another rest day, ride a couple of shorter days, whatever it takes.
Don’t allow “I don’t know if I can…” to become part of the equation.
Remember the dream!
Thanks Rich! Most of the problem is, as always, between my ears.
Such good advice! As your baby sister, I have to say it wouldn’t hurt to get some blood work done, just to know what’s going on inside your body. Praying for you, and your friend Daniel!
Glad to see you are hanging out with some cool folks with the name of Towell. No relation, I don’t think, but one never knows in this small world. Our hearts go out to your friend and dog. If I hear of someone in the area I will reach out.
Now for the motivation talk. Buck Up!! If you can align a giant space telescope, a little ride around the world seems trivial. Actually I am very impressed with both. You have a big team behind you giving positive thoughts against your back to fight the wind. Remember to take baby steps and to forget about the time. Just enjoy the ride and the new energies along the way. You got this!
Thanks Tim!