ST: Day 35

Daily Miles: 46.5

Total Miles: 1838

Max: 20.6

Avg: 10.8

Time on the bike: 04:17:06

I woke up late today, 7:00 AM, because I wasn’t going very far. I needed to do some grocery shopping in Del Rio about 32 miles away, to stock up on food for the next several days, as the riding now will have long stretches of absolute nothingness. 

I hopped on highway 90 which will be my road for a long time now. The shoulder is very wide but traffic is fast even though it is kind of spread out. The road surfaces in Texas have been something to be desired. It’s packed gravel mostly which makes for a bumpy and noisy ride, with the panniers rubbing all around on the rack making squeaking noises, and my front basket rattling around with all the inside contents like a maraca that keeps shaking shaking shaking. 

The ride to Del Rio was abitratily hard on account of more headwinds. I’ts not fun riding into a 15 mph headwind. It’s just not. I’d rather slam my thumb in a desk door than ride for hours on end in a perpetual headwind. I would. 

I made it to Del Rio around lunch time and found my way to HEB, a Texas grocery chain. I was purusing around the store collecting my things and stopped at the Little Debbie section contemplating what to get. Zebra Cakes or Cupcakes? Tough decision. All of a sudden the lights went out and the Katy Perry song that was playing over the intercom cut out, making a “beeuuuum” sound. 

Everyone just stood there in the dark looking at one another. Do we  keep shopping? Do we leave? Whats’s the deal?

I eventually picked the cupcakes and put them into my shopping cart and went down the next aisle to continue my shopping. A little dark wasn’t going to stop me! I finally collected all my things and went to the front. There were rotteserie chickens on sale so I grabbed one for lunch. The back up lights then flickered on and the music started playing, but none of the freezers or coolers were working. 

“Do you know what happened to the lights?” I asked the cashier when I was checking out. 

“No idea, man,” the young kid replied while looking down and  flicking my items through the scanner. “I was in the bathroom though when it happened!”

“Hopefully just number one?” 

“Yeah, man. Wouldn’t want to be stuck on a number two with no lights!”

I walked back outside into the bright day, which seemed so much brighter because it was like a cave inside the store. I went to where my bike was locked up and took out my rotteserie chicken and sat on the ground. I then proceeded to eat an entire chicken with my hands. I got some strange stares from other customers walking by, but I didn’t care. I ate the shit out of that chicken like a caveman eating his prize kill after three days of not catching anything. Grease and fat rolled down my hands and lips as I stuffed glorious protein into my stomach. A lady approached me and without saying anything she took a five dollar bill out of her purse and handed it to me. 

“Oh, thank you ma’am,” I said, “but I’m really okay. I’m just on vacation riding my bike around. I appreciate the gesture but I can’t take your money.” 

She looked at me, frowned, shrugged, and then walked into the store. I must have looked especially homeless today eating my chicken and then I became a little more self conscious of what I was doing. My bags were everywhere with pannier guts all over the place. I had really staked claim to this little corner of the parking lot and it wasn’t suprising after some self reflection why people may have the urge to throw me a few dollars. 

I was done eating the chicken and packed the rest of my food away and started out again. The sun was intense and hot, and the air outside was approaching 90. After another hour and a half I arrived at Amistad National Recreation Area, where I am camped tonight. It is right on the banks of the Amistad Resevoir which the Rio Grande feeds into, which was dammed some 60 years ago due to a huge flood that wiped out a bunch of stuff and killed some people too. 

It’s pretty here and the sunset was nice tonight. It’s supposed to be cooling down again tommorrow which is fine with me. The wind is supposed to change directions and I like the sound of that too.