March 26

Hi, Guys. So last night, since it rained while the last people got in and while we were eating supper, we cooked out food outside as usual and then we all took our plates into the hotel lobby. The manager was very cool about the whole thing. The rain stopped this morning and we went in to the lobby for the hotel breakfast, and what did they have there?! A waffle iron in the shape of the state of TEXAS!!!! So, of course I had to eat a waffle for breakfast this morning. The sun came up at 8 and that's exactly when we hit the road. We rode directly into the sunrise and after two miles got on the interstate again for 39 miles. It was great because we had a tailwind I was smokin' along at 20 mph up the hills. It only took me 3.5 hours to cover the 39 miles, and that was with a couple of quick stops to drink from my water bottle. Then we took a right turn off the interstate into a headwind. I managed the next 10 rather cheerfully because I knew our chuck wagon would be set up for lunch in 10 miles. (There ain't NOTHIN' out here in the way of restaurants or other amenities. The bushes all look a little greener because of our bathroom breaks!) Lunch was a great picnic and the wind had sort of died down, so we all decided to go on. Then the wind picked up again. Lynn was smart and turned back after one mile to catch a ride in the van. Sheila, Helen and I thought we could do it. FAT CHANCE. It took me 1.5 hours to cover the next ten miles. The winds in Texas are phenomenal! We even had to pedal going down the hills. We couldn't even roll. We all did a lot of uphill pushing. We caught the SAG wagon at mile 63 and rode the last 27 in in the car. It was uphill and down the whole way. While I'm riding along, there are always songs going through my head. Today it was almost exclusively "America, the Beautiful". I wish the WIFI signal was strong enough for me to upload the pictures from today. But it will have to wait. We are at Indian Lodge in Ft. Davis State Park (named after Jefferson Davis). It's a lovely accommodation and a great place to have our layover day. Tomorrow a group of us our going to take a tour of the Ft. Davis Observatory. Too bad we can't do it at night, but I'm sure they'll have a lot of computer simulation stuff. They even have a pool here at the Lodge and the first thing I did when I got in was jump in the cold water. In the wind it's cold and I wore long sleeves all day, but in the sun by the pool I felt like a lizard on a hot stone. After the Observatory tomorrow, that's where I'm going to spend my day. Not even going to bother with my dirty laundry. It can stay dirty for two more days. We're all wearing the same things over and over anyway!!!___________________Der Tag fing wirklich gut an. Fuhr 39 Meilen in 3.5 Std. Dann aber rechts ab von der Autobahn in einen Gegenwind. Hat alles wirklch verlangsamt. Nach 10 Meilen hat Sarah ein Picknick vorbereitet, da es weit und breit keine Restaurants hier gibt. Fuer die naechste 10 Meilen brauchte ich 1.5 Std. Ich wusste, dass ich die restliche 27 nicht schafe, da es sehr huegelig und winding war. Ich und 2 anderen haben nach 63 Meilen afgehoert. Wir sind jetzt in Indian Lodge in Ft. Davis State Park. Es ist wirklich sehr nobel und ein guter Platz, um einen Ruhetag zu haben. Morgen geht's auf Besuch zum Observatorium and danach nur faulenzen neben dem Schwimmbad! Hoffentlich kann ich die Bilder bald uploaden. Die Landschaft hier ist unbeschreiblich schoen.