Good Morning from Muleshoe Tx!

Well it's 16 deg here in Muleshoe Tx and am I glad I'm in a warm, comfortable motel room here at the Heritage House Inn.

This room is perfect - it's got 2 queen size beds so I can sleep in one and use the other one like a big table to lay out my stuff. I've got Hi-speed internet, Microwave, Fridge, TV - nicely decorated.....

A good place to lay over for a day and recupe. I think it's time.

In my mad dash from Lake Mineral Wells State Park to Muleshoe Tx, I've covered 354 miles in 5 days which is about a 71 mile per day average.... not bad for an old guy carrying 50 lbs of gear on a Trek 3700 Mountain Bike.

Lightening the load by mailing my camping stuff forward to Muleshoe from Mineral Wells helped a lot - I probably could have lightened up some more but I didn't know how my body would react to the cold so I kept some extra clothes and supplies with me.

I've got 2 pages of "To do" items but here's the highlights:

• Eat breakfast at Jalisco Fruteria down the street 300 yards from the motel... and I will walk there!
• Call the Muleshoe Tx Post Office and make sure my packages came in.
• Walk back to the motel, unpack my Action Packer and Backpack.
• Ride my bike to the Post Office.
• Sort through the stuff at the Post Office - pack stuff I'm taking with me in Action Packer and backpack and mail the rest home to Lake Jackson.
• Hit Alco's (small town Walmart) on the way back and buy some supplies - hand and foot warmers and look for insulated boots - and yes, I'm still wearing the Rockports - just as soon as I buy new boots - out with the Rockport XCS Waterproof boots... that are not waterproof.
• Ride back to motel and work on blog and make contacts with a list of folks, newspapers, magazines, etc. re my ride and my blog. Yes I am working at this - I'd like to continue to do this but if I can't get some support for it, then it'll end up being an extended vacation / Sabbatical..... not a bad thing either way.

I'll have several blogs on people I've met in the last 350 miles so stay tuned....

Even when we're sitting still we're moving, because that's the way life is....

I've had a blast so far on this bicycle odyssey..... I truly have Discovered Texas over the last 850 miles but now I've taken a break 21 miles from the Texas - New Mexico border to stop, write, listen, talk and think about everything I've experienced especially the people I've met.

When I started out in Lake Jackson on December 6th, my spirits were a little low, my body was a little soft and my attitude was a little hard....

A month and 850 miles later, I'm holding my head up into the wind, my body has responded to the torture my mind has dragged it through and my attitude - well let's just say it's changed for the better.

There are a whole lot of good.... no great people out there with hearts as big as Texas.... as big as America.... I know because I've met them.

They've helped me, opened up to me and shared their time with me and they've given me something that this cynical old bastard had been needing for a long time..... they've given me Hope!

There is a Great Country out there with Great People in it.... and I'm living the dream of seeing the Land and meeting the People while...

Discovering America on 2 Wheels.