February 8th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (Texas)
Today’s distance / ???????: 45 miles / 57km
Average speed / ????: 8.4mph / 13.5km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 4h 14m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 2487mi (plus 266mi) / 4003km (plus 430km)
Ascent / ??: 555m
Descent / ??: 570m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: n/a
I began the day on the same hard-packed clay and gravel road that I had finished the day on yesterday.
This is Old Highway 20 that runs parallel with US290. I followed it all the way to Elgin. It changes from white clay to red dirt to old pavement.
It takes some extra concentration and more rapid pushes to keep on track, but it is a much preferable surface to rough chipseal, and I have always preferred a nice quiet gravel road…
US290 into Austin was a killer. Noisy with a strong side wind. The shoulder was smooth and ample however, and the hills were great, affording great views.
I am really enjoying the drier climate here now. Water becomes sacred, a valuable resource. As distances increase, I will have to carry much more of the life giving liquid.
I arrived in Austin much later than the 3pm that I had indicated to my host for the weekend, Kelly. Kelly is a friend of The Notorious R.O.B., a co-worker of mine when I worked in Switzerland. In any case, I arrived on the outskirts of Austin at 4:30pm. I was skating my way along US290 into the city, when a car screamed to a halt on the side of the road, and a woman jumped out, indicating that I should come over.
CC was her name, and she is a long distance hiker. She told me that she understood the needs of someone doing what I was doing, and offered any assistance she could. I didn’t have Kelly’s phone number on me, and needed to check on the internet. I arranged to meet CC at her place in Austin to check Kelly’s number. I ended up having a well needed shower at CC’s place, and with her help managed to get to Kelly’s place. Thank you CC!
In the evening I went to a birthday party of a friend of Kelly with Kelly’s housemate Dawn. The food was amazing – turkey legs the size of my forearm…
I hate to think what those turkey legs would have cost here! Interesting how Americans eat turkey the way NZers eat chicken.
