G.A.S.P.

(Great Adventures to Scenic Places)

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January 31, 2000

I slept in a little later than planned the following morning (1-31), then really delayed the start of my biking day when I found a flat tire. I had already checked out of my room when I noticed it, so I changed the tube in the parking lot. I found a half-inch long piece of very fine wire in the tire – probably from a truck tire re-tread. I didn’t get on the road until a few minutes after 11:00am, but still managed to ride 73 miles.

It was actually a pretty good day for riding. The sun was out until late afternoon, the temperature must have been near 50 degrees, and there wasn’t much wind. It’s supposed to rain tonight (and drop to about 40 degrees), so once again I opted for a motel (wimp, wimp).

Tonight I’m in the town of Linden, about 40 miles south of Texarkana. This is the fourth straight night I’ve landed in a “dry” county (gripe, gripe). Tonight I’m enjoying my Gatorade Fierce Melon and my Mug Root Beer. I’m now in the area that got a severe winter storm last Thursday while I was holed up in Houston. The only topic of conversation in the restaurant where I had dinner was the storm, and in particular, how many people are still without electricity four days later. The town was without power for two days, and there are still many, many people in the rural areas of the region without electricity