Day 16, Cowboy up

Today we rode northwest to the small town of Burton.  This part of Texas is still impressive to me, I am truly surprised.  It really have been enjoying it, this moring we rode through a national forest.  It was a really beutiful way to start the day.  Afte the forest we rolled out into Ranch country, and man are there a lot of ranches here.

So my morning started out a little rough.  My legs did not feel like they were rested, basically the had no jump in them.  All day long I felt out of rythem and had a hard time keeping my pedal cadence up and creating any power.  Not the way I like to ride, I usually get going about 2 hours into the ride and that did not happen today.  I also had a small issue wiht my ankle, i was getting a pain between my acheles hill and the ankle joint.  I put a brace on and about 2 hours later I was feeling better.  Still felt flat on the bike but at least I could generate some power.
I know I have mentioned this before and it will probably be a theme for the rest of this trip but it was windy today.  I am not complaining it just needs to be said.  Today rivaled our wind going out of Florida and into Alabama.  It was at least 20 mph sustained with gust of 30 or more.  In order to ride in the cross wind like this you lean into it and it holds you up.  If you tried to ride straigh up you would get blown accross the road.  the other funn thing was when the wind stopped (not often) or truck drove by it would cause you to suddenly move to your left.  You really had to pay attention to what you were doing wiht the bike.

Just need to share this pick I told Kyle to do his best Hulk Hogan and here is what we got.

I am very proud of Kyle and Shane no one complains about being sore or tired or how bad the weather has been.  They just saddle up each morning and ride.  You would not want to do this if you did not have a passion for why we are doing this.  Lets keep it going boys.

We ended the day with a pleasant surprise.  We arrived at our lodging for the night and were all very excited with what we saw.  A beutiful ranch with a lake surrounded by trees and a house all to our selves.  The house is great it has everything we need.  Mona was able to cook our delicous meal in a normal kitchen which I am sure she appreciated.  The Place we are staying at is the Inn at Indian Creek (http://innatindiancreek.com/).  You definately need to check this place out.  After dinner Shane went up to talk to the owner and settle our bill.  When he came back he told us that the owner Kennard Lawrence comped us the rrom.  He said that now that he fully understands what we are doing he wanted to help us out.  Amazing, simply amazing. 

Lesson for the day:  We are going to do this one in honor to Texas.  When you are kicked to the ground, feeling beat up or tired and you still have a days work to do. COWBOY UP, tighen your belt get a little attitude and jump right back to work.  You dont have the option to quit you have to finish what you started.