Day 23 - Comstock, TX - Sanderson, TX

Before I get into the events of today I need to enlighten you on a few things from last night that I left out yesterday. Last night we stayed at Motel in Comstock. It was not a whole lot to look at from the outside, but they had recently remodeled and they did a really nice job. It was surprisingly clean and roomy. The owners of the hotel comped the room for us. When checking in they asked how many there were and when we let her know she said to take 2 rooms. We normal only get 1 room and between the room and the RV we all squeeze in. Last night we were able to stretch out a little.

However, the dang Texas wind did not let me sleep in peace. It never went to bed last night and tauted me all night long. I could hear it gusting against the door jam and the window frame. I must have woke up every hour throughout the night with that dang wind. When the alarm rang, we got up and when I went to get something out of the RV I was in for a rude awakening. It was freezing outside (remember I'm from AZ). The actual temperature was 45, but with the wind it felt more like 35. Everything was wet too, like it rained some, but I never heard that. We all layered on all of our warm cycling gear and made sure our ears were covered and as much of our bodies as possible.

We had a lot of cloud cover this morning, we all got out our headlights and mounted them on the bikes and started to head out. When we were pulling out we saw a few dozen fire fighters walking in single file from there sleeping quarters to the fire house. This area is plagued with fires right now, so they have called in additional help to put out the wildfires. We have definitely had a hand of protection on us, because every where we go, or where we come from was impacted before of after we have been there. Just today we heard the general area we slept in last night has started to be evacuated.

The morning ride was cold, the winds were strong and hills were still there. We made it through safety and thankfully the traffic wasn't really a factor so we could focus on staying warm and watching our shoulder to make sure it was clear. During the morning ride I did get a flat tire, it was the front. While changing it I found a nice chuck of glass buried in the rubber that was most likely the cause. Since the tires had 1700+ miles on them we decided to throw a new one on. We prepared for this and already had them with us, since I was replacing the tube, it was only a few extra minutes to put the new tire on too.

My body was fighting me all morning long, it just didn't want to go. I would get up and give it a good effort and my legs would just flush with fatigue. It was extremely frustrating because nothing physically hurt, no pains or cramps. I pushed through to lunch, had my sandwich (hot today! thanks Mona!), and drank a half of coke, and got back on the bikes and headed towards Sanderson.

We are pretty close to the border down here and the there are some interesting things we have been driving by. Lets say I wouldn't want to be riding my bike a lone late at night down here without a police escort. Please don't hear me wrong, I do not feel threatened at all right now, but there are lots of deserted building with bullet holes and tagging on them. Just not the kind of place you want to go for a minute stroll.

The afternoon took for ever today, and it was because of me and my body. I knew I probably should have gotten off the bike and ride it in, but my pride was in the way and I couldn't bring myself to say "I need a break" so I pressed on. Shannon being the good friend he is urged me to rest before I hurt myself. I just kept telling him that I need to finish this day, and we will address it when we get to town. He wasn't happy with my answer because he knew what was best for me. Being stuburn and bull headed I rode it out into Sanderson.

Sometime in those last 6-7 miles I came to grips that I need to take tomorrow off. This was incredible hard for me to admit. But it became abundantly clear that I am hurting the team by not resting my body now. To further Shannon point he was making to me earlier today, I am risking hurting myself even more and being forced to sit more then I want to. I am still coming to grips with the fact that I will not be getting up and riding out with my team in the morning. But the truth is, even though we have come so far, there are still many miles to be pedaled and I need to keep the big picture in mind. This is a team effort, we set out as a team to Pedal over Parkinson's and that is what we are doing!

Tomorrow is our last ride day, before a rest day so I will be able to give my body 2 days off before we head out again.

I will be up early with my boys to help them get ready and do whatever I can to assist them with being successful tomorrow.

It is late here and my body needs to rest. Sorry I haven't been able to upload pictures lately, we have been in and out of cell service and very limited wi-fi. Hopefully we will have a good connection tomorrow night and I can get some pictures out there.

Hope your Monday went smooth as could be and that your Tuesday help pave the path to a good week.