Today's Late Start - It was worth it!

This will be short - I'm about to turn in and repair some of the damage I did to my body today but I wanted to follow up on my late start today.

My original plan was to leave the park around 9:00 am but I was delayed during step 4 of my living outdoors morning routine - let's review - once I wake up I do the following:

• Step 1: Brush my teeth.
• Step 2: Get a fire going.
• Step 3: Make coffee.

OK, so what's the next logical step? You got it - Step 4: Go to the bathroom.

Which was where I was when I met Tom Kennedy, a Lake Mineral Wells State Park Ranger, who was doing a bathroom check. I got into a stimulating and intriguing conversation with him that must've lasted at least 30 minutes. I'm going to follow up with a detailed post on our conversation and the fascinating man behind it.

So then I'm rushing back to my campsite and I've already rolled up my sleeping bag, sleeping mat and tarp so I'm at the picnic table with everything laid out and separating between the "go to Muleshoe" - "go to Lake Jackson" - "go with me" pile.... when over mosies my next door campsite neighbor David Peterson, another interesting fellow I met on my stay at LMWSP. I fixed David some campfire coffee and shot the bull with him while I was doing the last bit of packing. I'm also gonna write a post about David and how he helped me while I was at the park.

David leaves and I look up and this couple is walking over from the campsite across the road and they say they overheard me talking about my bike trip - well, I can't turn down a chance to talk about that now can I?

Dale and Kathy Collum start asking me questions about my trip and show a real, genuine interest. I tell a few anecdotes about my trek so far and give them my e-mail and blog addresses.

So in the course of about an hour and a half, I visited with 4 wonderful folks who had interesting stories of their own or were interested in hearing me tell my story.

You know what - that's what this trip is all about - Discovering America - and it's not about the land - it's about the people and I talked to 4 nice folks today and I'm better off for it.

It was a Great Day!

End of Day Totals:

Leg 2
Day 5
Date Sat, 01/02/10
From Lake Mineral Wells State Park
To Breckenridge Tx
This Day's Miles Cycled = 60
This Leg Total Miles Cycled = 126
This Day's Miles Walked = 0
This Leg Total Miles Walked = 27
Discovering America on 2 Wheels Total Miles Cycled = 636
Discovering America on 2 Wheels Total Miles Walked = 55
Discovering America on 2 Wheels Total Miles Cycled & Walked = 691