Jul/090
Day 25 – Houston, Texas
…county, Missouri. Americans reuse place names a lot, even to the point of taking the names from another state and just whacking them in a county in the mid-west. – Chris
Dowds:
I woke up in Paula’s thrift shop after not a very good nights sleep which involved Callum cuddling me, me cuddling Callum and me sleep walking!
We left Centerville around 7. The ride to breakfast was pretty hilly. We caught Blake up at a restaurant at Ellington. After eating some toast and porridge I emptied my stomach in the toilet and after an insight into Callum’s strange masturbation clean-up techniques, we set off to catch Blake up again. This was supposed to be the hardest part of todays ride. In the next 30 miles or so we would cross the majority of the Ozark mountain range.
A couple of miles down the road we saw a turtle in the middle of the road which we stopped to move out of the way before it met its match in the form of a big truck! The ungrateful bugger turned out to be a snapping turtle which could really move and try to snap at us! After telling Callum his front wheel wasn’t the best thing to use to get him out of the road, we left him to his own devices and rode on. Callum is the only one who hasn’t got a puncture yet, and it would be completely within Callum’s abilities to have his first flat due to his tyre being eaten by a bloody turtle. – Chris
I didn’t think the hills were too bad. I quite enjoyed them in fact. I guess that the only people who had warned us of them hadn’t actually been over the Appalachians yet which were definitely much harder. These hills were very much like a self propelled rollercoaster. A fair sized drag of a hill followed by a decent speed downhill always rolling.
We caught up with Blake and soon after overtaking him I saw another tortoise in the middle of the road. This one was far smaller than the last and hid in its shell when i got near. I decided to do my good deed for the day and move it to the side of the road to which it was walking. The others didn’t see it in the road as they went past so I guess it got on its way OK.
We stopped at Eminence where we saw a couple cycling the other way to us. They were similar age to us and headed Eastbound. They gave us a few pointers for the coming maps and reminded us of a pie shop we are going past in a couple of days.
We ate some lunch and way too much ice cream and set off for the last of the mountains after a very long break! Too long in fact and my legs were getting tired. I also managed to break my pedal! Yet more expense and yet again no idea how it happened! It’s because despite your athletic abilities, you’re still a fat shit Dowds – Chris
Callum topped this though. He rode off the side of the road and fell into the ditch in only a way that Callum could!
The ride to Summersville was very steady as we were all feeling the ice cream! We caught up with Blake again and he was being followed by a stray dog. He had been following him for about 4 miles! We saw a lookout tower which didn’t look like too much more than a scaffolding tower! Not ideal for me and Cal who aren’t too clever with heights! I swear that boy Blake is Dr. bloody Dolittle. There was a point just as we caught him up when, in addition to the exhausted dog obediently plodding behind, butterflies and songbirds were spiraling round his bike like in a Disney movie. – Chris
At Summersville we found the library and took care of some essential things quickly. Outside was a veterans memorial where there were more US flags than I have seen before in my life! They really do like their patriotism! The sign read “If you value your freedom, thank a vet” I could just imagine Callum thanking Poppy’s vet for his freedom next time he takes her for a service!
I found some wifi and the others left for the final leg of the day without me. It was just one road for 23 miles so I thought I would catch them up. Seems Mr. Cramp had other plans and this supposedly easy leg became a bit of a dehydrated nightmare. I got to the town we were headed for and radioed the others on our new Walmart walkie talkies…No reply. Looks like the advertised 18 mile range is a bit of a porky and works nearer to 18 yards!
I was tired hungry and thirsty and right in front of me was KFC all you can eat buffet next to ‘The Lazy Motel’ I was so very tempted but headed down the road to see if I could get in range of the others first. I picked up Callum on the radio and he directed me to the city park we were to camp in.
Yet again there were no showers around. Not looking forward to another dirty bedtime Cal went looking around the neighborhood looking for hosepipes. I got a call on the radio directing me to the local dentist surgery. I went over Speedo’s in one hand soap in the other. Turns out this dentistry was on a main road! Discretion really isn’t in Callums vocabulary! Apart from the policeman driving past it was a very refreshing wash and very well needed.
We then all went to Taco Bell/KFC for a nutritious meal before going to Walmart for some bananas then headed to bed.