Day Five-Collapse and Recovery

When I planned this trip for last September, I called RV parks all along my route to see which ones might offer tent camping. I made a note that Don Harris not only allowed it but offered an unoccupied RV for me to sleep in. When that trip fell through, I had misplaced all the information I had come up with.

I woke up in Palestine at 9 AM and was on the road by 11. Argh. There were lots of hills today and I know that they will continue until I get to Arkansas. I ate much better and had much more energy. Started off with peanut butter. Also had 2 cans of salmon, 3 bananas and 3 apples. The last 10 miles of this 60 mile day were rather difficult. I was trying to get into Henderson, but my legs, my whole body were done. Sixty miles was very respectable considering the non stop steep rollers between Palestine and Henderson. There were several RV Parks along the way, but I had no cash. I finally saw one with a sign that said 'credit cards accepted'. To say I gave in and rolled in and collapsed on the lawn by the closed office sounds a bit dramatic, but is not far from the truth. I didn't lose conciousness. I had intended to call the phone number posted on the sign once I recovered enough to do so but never had to because the owner pulled up while I was spread out on the ground next to my bicyle, with one foot still clamped to the pedals.

It turns out that the owner, who offered one of his vacant RVs was Don Harris, who I had talked to last year. Because of the many RV Parks along the way, it was coincidence enough that I had turned into his. And then when you consider that if I had made better mileage the day before, I may have skipped Henderson altogether. We had an interesting discussion about spirituality, his very ill wife, and how he came to be where he was and how we both agreed that how we treat people along the way is more important than anything else we might accomplish in life. I was honored to be one of those people today that he helped. He also had Ms. Judy, one of his assistants, run me into town so I could eat. I was only about 4 miles out, but I knew I couldn't go any further. When I got back from doing laundry, in which 8 quarters I used were those were from Don, I saw that Ms. Judy had placed a blanket outside the door of the RV.