Day 85, October 25th 2007 (Jayton,TX to Throckmorton,TX)

AS I was getting out of my tent this morning I was greeted by Pastor David. He had just shown up to the church, and I had just woken up for the morning. The sun was just starting to rise and I was welcomed inside the church for a hot cup of coffee. Once I was sipping some excellent coffee with all of its' magnificent caffeine, I was offerred breakfast. Before I knew what was going on I had a plate full of french toast to go along with the morning coffee. I really enjoyed talking with David, he seemed to have a gret concern about the youth growing up today. I agreed with him on many things, and it was great to see how well he was able to incorporate sports and christianity on youths in the area. Two very strong and important issues today were being incorporated in this one area of Texas. It was an exceptional way to start the day on the road and it was a great boost that I needed in this area. The land was about the same as I left Jayton, but there were a few more rolling hills. The scenery seemed to remain about the same as I had been seeing. The only thing that seemed different was that I hadn't seen any cotton fields. There seemed to be quite a few wheat fields and other plots of land that had been torn up at this time of the year, but not a single sign of cotton anywhere. Thw wind was still blowing from the north to the south and I was beginning to think that it wasn't going to change anytime soon. I would probably be riding with a crosswind for a good portion of the next few days. It seemed okay with me at this point, as long as I didn't have 40 mph gusts of wind. With only 30 miles left to go for the day, the afternoon had gone by like a breeze. I stopped to enjoy some lunch in a small little town of Texas and pondered how great these small towns were. When in New Mexico it seemed like a small town on the nmap could have a population of one family and you had no way of knowing until you arrived. Which led me to think of when I was told that only one and a half million people lived in the entire state of New Mexico. Now, only one state east of New Mexico O didn't seem to have much of a problem with the small towns. Each town usually had at least 500-1,000 peopla and sometimes even more. Every 30 miles I was more than likely going to run into a gas station, civilization, and water. It may not seem like a very big deal, but this was everything I had to look forward to out in this open area of the country. Water was so crucial to have, and now I was in an endless supply. So I left for the last 30 miles of the day and was thankful for being given in abundance on my travels, and now here in Texas. When I pulled into town I decided to find a church to set up tent again for the evening. It was a town of about 1,000 people and I very quickly noticed a First United Methodist Church. It had an incredibly huge lawn and seemed like a great place to sleep. I went inside the building, since I had seen a car in the parking lot, to ask permission to set up camp. There was a great lady, Diane, working in the church and she happily contacted the pastor for me. In only a few moments after she had contacted the pastor, the phone was in my hand and I was being invited over for dinner. I couldn't wait to spend another evening indulging in something other than my pasta. After I put my tent up and had everything ready to go for the eveningm Monty came down to where I was. Monty was the pastor of the church and only lived a couple of houses away. We walked into his beautiful home and I was able to meet his wife, Ashley, and their two younger kids. One of their younger ones was about 2 and the other was only 6 months. It was great to be brought into such an incredible family with open arms. The rest of the evening was full of great fellowship and a chance to play a role in eachother's lives. After the meal was over I was given an opportunity to take a shower. I was squeaky clean in only a few minutes and was feeling much better without the sweat and grime. I was given food in abundance before I left the house, and I was incredibly thankful for all of the hospitality I had recieved. I was now able to sleep full and clean, an excellent combination to have.
Daily mileage: 89.1 miles
Average speed: 13.4 mph
Total mileage: 5,203.9 miles