Day 16 of 17 Days of Texas. We should have had a short day, it was only 50 miles. I was hoping for an easy pedal, getting in before noon and relaxing for the rest of the day. If the wind had kept the same direction as it had the night before, and us riding in a slightly different direction, it should have been a tailwind or at most a side wind. But no! a storm front came in during the night and we were left with a headwind for the rest of the day. I really needed an easy day, just couldn’t get going, I was too slow to ride with anyone.
After hanging out a checkpoint for a long time, I finally ventured back out and after awhile on the road I felt better and picked up speed. On the way to Galveston I saw a cell phone laying on the side of the road, so I stopped to pick it up. I thought it might have belonged to one of our riders, but even if it didn’t, whoever lost it wasn’t going to find it along the road. When I got close to Galveston the phone rang, I answered it and I informed the person that I had found the phone on the road and that whoever he was trying to call, he should try to reach him (Doug) another way and I would leave the phone at our hotel for him to pick up. A few miles later Doug’s wife called, I think she was a little taken aback when I answered, but I also explained the whole story to her. As I was turning it in at the hotel front desk, it rang again so I answered again. This time it was another one of Doug’s “friends”, I again explained the phone situation to him and he said that I probably couldn’t do anything about the money Doug owed him, I said “no” and got out of the phone business.
It was too early check into the hotel upon arrival, but I found out that many of the riders were at Joe’s Crab Shack near by. We ended up with a big table of riders, good food, a fun time, especially watching Dave eat. Spent part of the afternoon just resting, then the need for tacky souvenir shopping hit and Bob agreed to go along. We walked about a mile before we found a proper tacky store and I happily purchased a fish wind chime and a t-shirt. We then walked back along the Gulf, found a fine eatery that had a deck so we could sit outside, watch the water with our margaritas and shrimp. I got to look out over the water again – so peaceful. By the time we finished, we were late for dinner and quickly walked back, past our hotel to a small restaurant for a nice meal of catfish.
50.1 miles