Day 12 - Only an early bird wants a worm

Seymour, TX to Spring, TX - 408 miles
September 12, 2012

This morning I woke up before the rooster's mother.  Before the bird.  Before the worm.  Before NASA.   Don't know why, but I wasn't going to sit around the room for an hour and a half waiting for the sun to make its appearance.  Especially not this motel room.  So, packed and off before 5:30am.

I don't like to ride at night.  For two reasons.  First, you can't see the countryside at night, and I love to look at countryside.  Secondly, there are critters out there.  Of all kinds.  You know, like those forest rats I keep talking about.  We have it good authority that forest rats and 60 mph just don't go together.  It's just wrong.  Riders end up on a table, and the deer stay off the plate.  Ain't fittin'.  Just ain't fittin'.

One of the neat things about the rural Texas roads I choose is that the speed limit is 70 mph.  Taking the Texas driver's poetic license, that means 75-78mph cruising.  Yes, the little towns slow you down a little, but it ain't slab, so it's worth it.  On a 400 mile day perhaps you are 20 minutes longer, but it's a good 20 minutes.  And worth it.

But, at 5:30 in the morning, when it looks like the inside of a banker's heart, and all you have is a small tunnel of light to bore through, a tunnel that decreases in size with speed, you slow down.  To at least 65mph.  So that's what I did.  It allowed me to see the single, lonely little coyote waking down the center of the road checking to see if some homeward bound shift worker had set the table... Evidently, he scarred me more than I him.  So he got to keep the center line while I moved around him to the right close enough to kick his little butt as I went by.  I didn't though, figured he'd bite right through those $280 riding boots and really deflate my ego.

After about an hour, with the sun just peaking over the horizon I stop in  Breckenridge for a good breakfast.  I know I'm in Texas because directly behind the restaurant I see the below scene:

Impressively, they weren't making a sound.  Just going up and down...like money.


Pulled into the house about 1:15pm after a great ride and great trip.


Best event of the entire trip
My friend Zelda has has some heart problems in the past and was scheduled for a major procedure today.  Most of my day on this ride was spent thinking of what she was experiencing, and praying for good results.  When I got home Bob had posted on FB that the procedure was completed and that Zelda was resting comfortably, scheduled to go home Thursday.
The news couldn't have been better, and last night we spent about 20 minutes on the phone.  When things are good for your friends, they are good for you.
You rock lady!