Day 2
   
   4/29/01
   Mile 204
   Bastrop, TX
   
   I awoke to a chorus of cows this morning, broadcast from the field
   next to where I was camped.  There was a heavy dew, so I wiped down the
   tent before I packed it.
   
   It was a cloudy morning, perfect biking weather, and life was good.
   Just remember, I'm out in the open air, and you're at work.
   
   I traveled past fields of corn still only a foot high, while Indian
   Paintbrush flowers covered the roadsides as they do in the spring.
   I'll be getting out of Texas none too soon - another month and it will 
   be quite uncomfortably hot here.
   
   Along about 11am it did start getting pretty warm.  By the end of the
   day my clothes were encrusted with salt from my skin (that sounds
   worse than it is).
   
   I had my first major mechanical failure today.  While crossing the
   Colorado river bridge, in traffic, a support bar on my back rack
   snapped in half.  I was able to splint it together using a nail I
   found, and it will hold for a while, but I'll have to get a new rack in
   Austin tomorrow.  That rack has seen a lot of miles anyway; no funeral
   will be held.
   
   At a quickie mart, I was asked where I was headed.  You can pretty
   much guess the response when I told them Alaska.  Then they said that
   they were closing the deli for the evening and I could have all the
   food that was left, since they were throwing it out anyway.  They 
   handed me two bags of corn dogs, buffalo wings, burritos......mmmmm,
   grease!  3000 calories per pound!  I need to eat about 4000-5000 per
   day anyway.
   
   I'm camping in Bastrop State Park tonight - showers, a place to wash
   the salt out of my clothes, and a real campsite instead of last
   night's off-in-a-field approach.
   
   Once I get past the Gulf of Mexico confluence in the next day or so,
   the humidity will drop, and the heat will be a bit more livable.
   
   Factoid of the day: On this trip I will be asking each of my legs to
   crank the bike pedals over 1.3 million times.

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