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JULY 11, 2006 - ONLY IN TEXAS CAN YOU FIND MILES AND MILES OF NOTHING BUT MILES AND MILES!! MARK LOGSDON

I visited the Alamo today. The real Alamo, not the movie set outside of town. What a story. The defenders of the Alamo, some of whom had only been in this COUNTRY for a few weeks, were amazing men. The story is a story of unbridled courage and a testament to the types of personalities it takes to build a country. This day was a special one for me. I am in awe of the courage of the human spirit. I feel small in their shadow. We are all destined for something. Those two hundred men stood and faced 3,000 well equipped and trained soldiers. I am amazed. I am amazed.

I left San Antonio right around 11:00 AM, EDT. I got out of town on I-10, westbound. I loaded the cooler with ice, and had purchased lots of water on the way in to San Antonio at the BUC - EE BEAVER STORE. This gas station/store is not unlike one that is on I-75 when headed north toward the Big Mac Bridge. So, with liquids at the ready, and a couple of 4016's (Super Market Code for RED APPLE) I felt assured that things were going well.

It got hotter. I have decided to wear long sleeved white cotton "t shirt" material shirts, to forestall getting sunburned. I will have a photo of my get up when I can find someone to take it. I also wear a scarf around my face, so that I don't get burned there, either. I am sitting on my ample ass, so no sunburn THERE, thank you very much. I-10 heads in a Northwest/southeast direction. If you look at a map, San Antonio is short of half way across the state. When the motorcycle is pointed northwest, it feels like YEARS before things look like they are changing. Texas has lots of, well, Texas. It is a rather intimidating place, to be honest. The small towns, are very small towns.

After leaving San Antonio, I thought it prudent to get lunch, which I did without incident. I also purchased gas. Long about 1:00 PM, Texas time, I wasn't feeing all that good. I had been drinking water, and when the two bottles emptied, I would pull over and refill them from the stock in the cooler. No dice. Things weren't going well, so I got off at the next exit, and found a place in the shade to take stock.  My water intake seemed adequate, but still, I was feeling off kilter. I went into the store at the truck stop next door, and while deciding what to do, a guy came in and grabbed a "Gatorade". I had one of those "A HA" moments. The beverage took about a half hour to take affect, but it did the trick. By that time, moving at the POSTED SPEED LIMIT OF 80 MILES PER HOUR - I was quite a way down the road. At the next stop, I picked up two bottles of the stuff to take with me. I felt pretty good after that. In my mind I like to think that Texas and I were having a fight, and I won.  With all of the experience in riding cycles that I have, this trip has gone a long way in re-educating the thought process of how to handle warm weather riding.  There are about 247 miles between Fort Stockton and El Paso, that I have to cover tomorrow.

I have word from my cousin in Pheonix that he has interviews set up for me with Channel 5 and with the local paper. He has also set up the 20,000 mile maintenance that is now 2,000 miles overdue.

The trip allows me lots of time to think, as you can imagine, and that is sometimes a dangerous past-time. When that starts to get me feeling poorly, mentally, I click on my GPS and listen to my favorite music.

"On the Road Again"