Saturday, September 17, 2011

First Day-Rockdale, TX




Thanks to 'Contact Info' for the comments on yesterday's article and for coming along with me on this ride. I have heard that name before but can't remember where.... I can't seem to leave comments on this blog from my phone, but I always welcome any feedback or questions anyone has and will address them in the articles. I know that others are also following this as well.

Woke up today at 5:45 AM, got out of bed an hour later. After some cleaning up I left the house about 9.

I decided to leave directly from my house and I got quite a few stares and hellos and some nods of approval in my neighborhood from cyclists and drivers alike. My bike is quite loaded down-four bags, a tent and a sleeping bag. There was also a group of female roller skaters going the other way. The weather this morning was humid and in the low 80s, it got up to over 103 around noon. That was when the wind stopped. It's been blowing all summer long and it just stops on my ride today. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The first part of my ride didn't seem unusual as it included my work commute. I actually stopped by work to turn my out of office on and refill my water bottles. There were the usual angry drivers along the way. I didn't begin to feel the reality of what I was doing until mile 48. At that point there was a good chance I wasn't going to be spending the night at home.

Five miles from Rockdale I turned into a rest stop for some refreshment. And I found myself caught in a rainstorm that seemed to desire to make up for its long summer absence from Central Texas. Just when I thought it couldn't get more intense, then the wind picked up which stretched the limitations of my humble picnic canopy and caused me to consider that I might need to spend the night there or get washed away by floods. Or get struck by lightning. None of that happened and was thankful I was where I was when it happened and not on the road. It seemed a huge deluge not having the relative shelter of a car. But this is what I came here for. A closer connection with the outside world. I am getting that and the sense I am being taken care of.

Because I may play for my music minister's home church tomorrow here in Rockdale, and also because I don't care to chance the rains tonight, I decided to spend the night in a local comfy hotel. I have the rest of the week to experience more adventure.

One other thought-not much to do here in these little towns, but I will probably be horizontal at the end of each day so it may work out just fine that I am not in the Grand Canyon or LA or someplace like that.

2 comments:

  1. Brian, "contact info" was me!...or still is, didn't know my settings reflected that. Hope you're having a blast. Did you post this blog on the Surly LHT facebook page?

    Enjoy!

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  2. Hey matt and hey, I can post into comments. Locked out of fb because I made the mistake of logging in at the hotel. great trip, lonely at times but that is no worse than staying home. Fun riding new routes.lots of dryness around.

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