Lake Whitney State Park, TX
Elevation: 540 ft.
Distance: 96.9 mi.
Odometer: 167.6 mi.
I'm sitting shirtless in my tent at 10:15 sweating as I write this. It's been a long day.
Woke up at 5:15 to put down a small breakfast and pack everything at the last minute. My parents arrived a little before I finished up. We packed the car in a hurry, dropped off my car at Athan's, and after searching for a Taco Shack that turned out to be closed, had breakfast at Kerbey Lane. Got dropped off in Lampasas and took off from there.
Once again, I had tailwind most of the day, which helps immensely. One thing about loaded touring, though, is that every single incline turns into a hill where you have to shift down and grunt just to make it up. Combine that with the fact that you can't stand up to pedal because the bike wants to tip over, and hills become very difficult.
Today was hillier than I thought it would be, or maybe it just seemed that way. But I still dropped over 500 ft. in elevation. There were a number of sections that looked and felt flat, but in reality, it's a decline. Overall, today wasn't so bad, but I'm still worried about what happens when I go just as far, but with headwind and a net elevation change of 1,000+ ft.
I'm staying at Lake Whitney State Park, right next to Whitney, TX. One interesting thing about Whitney, TX is that most of the streets are named after presidents. One notable exception is a street called "Lee," which seems to be the main avenue through town, right in the spot where Lincoln should be.
The park I'm stay at is pretty cool. Swimming and free showers. On top of that, there are few other people here. I took the time to make use of the swimming and free showers, mostly for the times that I won't be able to. Also sink washed all the clothes I wore today. I'm gonna try and do that every day.
In the rush this morning, I forgot my sleeping pad, my water bottles, and Peyton's spork. So I'm sleeping without a sleeping pad, I had to borrow my dad's water bottles until I get to Plano, and I had to drink condensed soup right out of the can for dinner tonight.
Things I've Learned Already:
- This Summer is going to freaking rock.
- My solar charger may not work as well as advertised.
- 6 L of water a day turns out to be about right.
- I dilute my sport drink too much.
- Churches almost outnumber houses in rural Texas.
- Rest stops are great, but time consuming. More intelligent packing may result in more appropriate things becoming more accessible.
- Starting a day at 10:00 AM is never happening again. I'm aiming for 7:00 AM at the latest from now on.
Tomorrow's a 70-to-75-mile day to Cedar Hill State Park. I'm hoping for the same tailwind for the third day in a row. What worries me, though, is that my Garmin isn't working right…
June
