Day 84, October 24th 2007 (Brownfield,TX to Jayton,TX)

I was feeling much better this morning. After about two full days of rest I was feeling great. I was ready to venture out of Brownfield and see what the rest of Texas had to offer. The morning was incredible and wasn't nearly as windy as a couple of days ago. I was going east and it felt as if the wind might have been coming from the northwest. It wasn't completely at my back, but it was good enough for me. I was seeing a lot of the same terrain where I was. Cotton fields were everywhere and I was even able to see a couple of planes sweeping over the fields. It was a new style of farming that I hadn't seen before, but it looked fairly cool. As the day went on the wind started to pick up. It also wasn't coming from the northwest anymore. The wind was blowing from the north to the south by noon and although it wasn't as violent as I had witnessed before, it was still blowing strong. I was able to keep pushing ahead without having to worry about falling over from the wind. It was in the lower 70's for the afternoon and it felt nice and cool with the wind. The wind seemed to change about the same time that the scenery did. It was still very flat, but there didn't seem to be as many crops or cotton fields. It seemed like almost a green marsh land with little cacti growing around. It was a different sort of scenery to see and it was nice to finally have some change in the state. Another thing that had changed was the road. I almost got off of my bike and kissed the pavement because it had changed from gravel pavement to actual pavement. My rear end and I were so happy to experience a different road to go with the surroundings. I continued on for the afternoon and even with the wind I was feeling great. My body had rested for so long that it was looking to do something today. I didn't even pay attention to the amount of miles that I was putting in, but I reached the destination I had picked for the day at around 4. I had only been riding for about 6 hours and had put in 90 miles already. I looked around the area and I almost missed the town because I blinked. There were two houses and a cemetery in the area and it was the smallest town I had witnessed in Texas. The next town was 15 miles from here and with all of the daylight I had ahead of me I decided to keep going. When I reached the next town it was well deserved. I had to go north for the final 8 miles to get into town, and I was dead against the wind. Although the town of Jayton was only a little over 500 people, they did have running water. They also had a church at the edge of town. I wasn't sure if they had a Wednesday night service, but I was willing to find out. There were a few cars in the parking lot which seemed like a good sign. I pulled up just as a few younger kids did, and I was able to find out that there was a high school gathering at the church for the evening. The pastor had just finished with a service for the evening and I was able to get a few of my needs met for the evening. He told me I could camp on the church property, but first I had to have a meal at the church. It was a hot bowl of chili that was on the menu with some chips as well. All of the youth were engulfing their bowls of chili and I never passed up a warm meal when I was offered it, so very quickly I was just another kid engulfing my bowl of chili. It was an excellent way to end a long day on the road. Although I wasn't able to attend a service for the evening, I was able to chat with Pastor David Jones. I was so thankful for his being so hospitable, and it seemed to me yet more great thing that had been bestowed upon me. After I had eaten and set-up tent the pastor was still working at the church. He came out and let me know that if I needed anything over the course of the next couple of hours that he would be in the church and I was welcome to come in. After those hours, he pointed to where he lived and welcomed me to use anything that I made need in case of an emergency. It was an incredible luxury to have this much help for one evening. I went to sleep stuffed and in the midst of very good people.
Daily mileage: 108.6 miles
Average speed: 12.5 mph
Total mileage: 5,114.8 miles