I again left SPT very early before the sun was up hoping to ride in slightly cooler temps. The ride started out fine with a great wide shouldered road and perfect conditions with light traffic so I was flying along for a couple of hours. Then the wind started to whisper in my ear. In a few minutes it was blowing hard, maybe around 40mph almost directly in my face. My pace slowed down to a crawl. A very very slow crawl at that. I almost had to use granny gear at one point. I was tiring quickly from the effort it took. SO I stopped for a second breakfast to rest up and see what I could do. I talked to a lot of people about the wind and the general consensus was that this wind was abnormally high for this time of year. I considered stopping where I was for the night. It was only 9:30 in the morning and I had only been riding for three hours. I pondered my options and checked the map. The next town was 20 miles up the road. I figured I had all day to go 20 miles so I hit the road. It was brutal. The wind changed to come at me from the left hand side. That was dangerous because when it blows that hard you compensated by steering left and leaning left. Then if the wind lets up for a second you go flying out into the lane of traffic. My beautiful wide shoulder chose this point to disappear. It was very dangerous. I had to really concentrate to keep my bike safely along the side of the highway where traffic was increasing quickly. It took me a couple more hours to get those 20 miles but I made it and called it a day. Only fifty miles when I had planned for 90. Such is life.
I met a Mexican on a Honda motorcycle that rode next to me for about ten miles talking with me. He told me he wanted to practice his English and asked me to correct his errors. We chatted on and on mostly about his life and life plans. He had big plans and I like that in people. He had a plan to get there too, I also like that. I told him about my ride and where I have been and my plans to ride south until I feel like I have had enough. He was very entertaining to talk to with his open honest from the heart attitude. We split up when he had to turn off for his job which he was likely late for cause he rode so slow with me for almost an hour.
I am in a hotel cause the wind and heat were just too much for a tent today. Hotels run 12-20 dollars and are clean and friendly to bikes. Five bucks more if you want air conditioning instead of a ceiling fan. I stopped at a restaurant that serves local exotic cuisine like iguana, snake, monkey, peacock etc. i enjoyed reading the menu and should have copied it with my camera to show you, my bad. all I had was coffee. I a/m enjoying being on the road...more later maybe pics later too
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