Arrived in Hong Kong safe and, well, jetlagged

I made it to Hong Kong, and for the first time on a trip like this, both my luggage and my bike arrived too! The journey was fine. I've pretty much recovered from my post-Christmas flu. All I'm left with is an impressive chesty cough - the kind that leaves a sharp pain just above the stomach - and the occasional nose bleed. One of those nose bleeds started just as I got through customs at hong kong airport. It says a lot for the skill of whoever designed hong kong airport that I was able to manouver a trolley containing my luggage and bike with one hand, while holding a tissue to my nose like a ten year old with the other hand - I made it all the way through the airport and onto the superfast train into the city like that.

At the city train station I met my wonderful friend Nicky, who took me to her friend's appartment where I'm staying - next to the racing track, which is overlooked by rows of towerblocks scattered around the steep shrub-covered hillsides.

i'm just about to head off and meet Nicky and walk the dragon's back. But I'll try and write again later.

t
x

Random googleness!

I had a quick look at my stats for the blog today, and it looks like people are finding it through google now. And if you google "getting a fat belly" (using the inverted commas) my blog is the first thing to come up!!!

Safely and Sadly Back From My Stateside Saddle Soreness

I'm back in Edinburgh now, back at work. But it's OK being home - I had an amazing trip. And it's nice to be sitting on a chair instead of a saddle, and having a real bed and cosy room instead of a tent!

The journey home was fine, though my bike got a bit damaged in transit, but at least it made it back!

Since then I've just been catching up on the insane amount of work that's been waiting for me. But I'm getting on top of that now, and have been catching up with all my mates in Edinburgh. The weather's not too bad for a Scottish winter - a bit damp, a bit cold, a bit windy. But when I'm not cycling I don't really care. It took a few days before I could bear to ride my bike properly - I had a meeting about 10 miles outside the city. And to be honest I didn't ride out of choice - the battery on my car's dead flat after 6 weeks of not being used, and despite Nicky's best efforts we've not been able to fix it. It was wierd riding my bike without any luggage - it felt so fast!

It's interesting comparing Edinburgh to the places I've been. I was out last night with a few friends at a Battle of the Bands (at the hellhole that is Subway Cowgate) and pretty much all the music was really heavy rock or heavy metal. One band from Livingstone had obviously bussed in all their long-haired mates for their show, so there was this crowd of about ten 18 year olds headbanging, crowd surfing and stage diving. We went to see some friends of Nicky's, who came third - www.mynextgirlfriend.com

Went to see Goldie on Friday night at the Venue, which was mad. I'd never been to a drum and bass night before, but it was interesting to see someone as famous and influential as Goldie, and to get into a totally new kind of music.

Anyway, I don't want this to turn into one of those blogs that just describes my rather mundane daily life, so I'm going to stop writing about it! Over the next few weeks I'm going to type up the journal that I wrote every evening on my trip - so if you want to read my very personal thoughts then keep checking the site. I'll insert the journal entries with the dates that they were originally written on, inbetween the blog entries that I did at the time. I'll also add some of my best photos. I've got about 670 photos and I'm really struggling to narrow them down to a number that won't bore people to death. Appologies to Franca and Kerry who made the mistake of offering to look at my photos before I'd sorted them properly!

And thanks to everyone who kept in touch while I was travelling, and to all the amazing people I met on my journey who's emailed since.

Keep life interesting.

Tom

I made it!

I made it to St Augustine, and with a day to spare after pushing myself hard doing two 100 mile days in a row (a certain part of my body is hurtin' real bad).

St Augustine was cool, very beautiful old town. Went on a bit of a pub crawl with one of the guys from the lovely Pirate Haus hostel there.

The next day I got the first Greyhound down to Miami, a rather dull 10 hour journey, releived by a fascinating conversation with a 27 year old guy who'd just got out of jail after 2 months. It was amazing hearing him talk about how it felt to be in jail, and how it felt to be out. I'll write more about that when I have time. But it had been a very spiritual time, and I felt that it had a lot of similarities with my trip - a lot of time to contemplate life, being thrown in with a really random mix of people, spending a lot of time thinking. But obviously there's the major difference of freedom.

Arrived in Miami after dark, and pretty much went straight out. South Beach is such a cool place. It really reminds me of a slightly chilled-out version of Florence - everyone is beautiful, well dressed. There's a real mediterranian feel - everyone dining out doors in glamorous restaurants. The one thing that I don't like so much about it is that it's a real club culture - that's where everyone goes, and they're really expensive. I was wandering around in my cycling clothes - a Helly Hansen Tshirt and lightweight hiking trousers - I felt really out of place amongst the glamour. But one great thing is that the shops are open 'til about 1am - and they're very like Italian shops - really gorgeous clothes, a bit overpriced. But I treated myself to a pair of jeans and a nice shirt, which I put on immediatly, and felt a lot more at home! Found a really nice Irish bar where I chatted to a few folk, then discovered a great Jazz bar with a live band playing a wierd and wonderful fusion of reggae and samba. It was open 'til about 3, so that was good for me. Stopped at a brilliant Mexican for a late night burrito, then hit the hostel for the night.

Started the day today with a walk along the beach at sunrise. There's not a lot of cities in the world where you can paddle in the sea in shorts and t shirt first thing in the morning in winter. I guess San Diego is another. Emigration is looking more and more tempting! (though not to Miami). After I'd worked up an appetite (not hard for me) I had a delicious breakfast of huevos rancheros (fried eggs on a tortilla with refried beans, potatoes, cheese & salsa) and a great coffee, sat in the sun doing some writing, then wandered around the shops.

I'm gonna miss this - the food, the people, the sunshine...

Hmm.

c ya

Tom

270 miles to go!

Well I've only 270 miles to go, so I'll be in St Augustine either thursday night or friday morning. But sadly it's going to rain every day until then. Though I've stopped believing the weather chanel too much since I woke up with the heaviest frost yet on my tent on monday morning - they said the temperature was going to stay in the 40s.

After my last blog entry I got drenched. And on leaving that beautiful town someone in a passing car fired a starter pistol in my ear. At least I hope it was just a starter pistol...

Further down the road I saw someone at the side of the road, but I couldn't work out what they were doing. When I caught up with them I got chatting to this guy called Lee from Tennessee. He was doing a 200km training ride for some mad 750km ride in Paris that is done in 80 hours or something. I was pretty impressed at him riding 200k in this weather, but what raised him from impressive status to insane status was the fact that he was doing it on a SCOOTER! It was a type I'd never seen before - a 26 inch front wheel like a bike with a small back wheel. It was called a kick-along or something similar, maybe a kick-a-bike. And he was managing 12mph, though he was down to 10 by the time he turned off.

But I had a really cool time on saturday night. I got chatting to a friendly group of girls who were working at the supermarket where I stopped to buy supper in Bonifay. They gave me the name of the motel where Lee and the other cyclists were staying, so I decided to spend the night there, dry out and chat to the cyclists. They were friendly - I chatted a lot to the wife of the organiser and her son. He gave me one of the yellow 'livestrong' bracelets that I've been searching for since I arrived in the US. While we were chatting we noticed some people in a car waving at us - it was the girls from the supermarket. They invited me to ride with them and see the town on a saturday night. So of course I accepted.

I bought a few beers and we drove around. There wasn't a lot happening - just everyone else driving around too. I became their performing monkey for the night - they got me to say 'git-r-done' in an American accent, which they found hilarious. One of them recorded it on her phone and played it back, and I realised why it was so amusing. They drove me around introducing me to everyone, and the car gradually filled up until there was about 10 of us in the car. Anyone that knows much about life in small town america can perhaps guess how the evening ended, but for various reasons I can't say any more about it here. But it was certainly one of the most unforgettable moments of my trip! Email me if you want to find out. But despite what happened I had a really great evening, and met one of the girls for a coffee at the waffle house the next morning before I left.

The next day was dry, and I camped wild for the first time, at a beautiful abandoned old house in the middle of the forest. At first it was a bit spooky being on my own with all the strange rustling noises, but I got used to it and enjoyed the tranquility and stars.

Not a whole lot of excitement since then, and it's raining again today but I don't mind too much.

See y'all soon,

Tom
x

In the Sunshine State...

...but there ain't no sun!

Managed to miss the Greyhound in New Orleans (do I detect a common theme emerging?) so had to ride the dog to Mobile, Alabama, thereby missing out the brief stretch of Mississippi that's on the route. Met a cool guy on the bus - Art - who's yet another really intelligent interesting person. He's done a few degrees, fluent in Japanese and several European languages, owns 5 guns, 3 cars and 3 motorbikes. And he drives a truck because it pays so much better than any other job out there. Had a cool time chatting to him. I ended up committing myself to doing a parachute jump in 2005 when I get back to the UK...

It was dark by the time I got to Mobile, so got a motel across the road. It was grim as usual, but what made it bad wasn't the drawings on the sheets or the grotty decor, but the overly 'friendly' owner. He got very excited when I said I was from the UK - he'd lived in Luton years ago. So he shook my hand and gave me a big hug. When he hugged me for the second time I was rather uncomfortably aware of how tight he was pressing himself against me and squeezing my ass. My skintight lycra shorts must be irresistable! I kept the door well locked that night.

Treated myself to a hot Greek supper in a really bizarre bar - I was the youngest person there by about 60 years. All the old single people in the area seemed to hang out there flirting with each other.

The next day was pretty nice - slept late because I was knackered then headed through the moderately attractive city of Mobile - some nice streets of Greek revival houses (like New Orleans) lined with beautiful live oaks. Had a nice tail wind too as I rode the 20 or 30 miles down the east side of Mobile bay through a pretty wealthy area.

It got dark earlier than I was expecting - I'm getting quite close to the east end of the current time zone here. I stopped at a gas station to buy some food and see if there was anywhere nearby to camp. A woman in the queue behind me overheard and came up and asked if I wanted to stay at her condo! It was funny - she was really nervous that I would think she was wierd for offering! Of course I accepted - the thought of a comfortable warm bed and someone to speak to for an evening (and avoiding cycling on the pretty busy roads in the dark) was very appealing. Her condo is right on the border of Alabama and Florida, at a place called Perdido. It's one of the areas that got hit worst by Hurricane Ivan. She was down there to start fixing her place up. (by the way a condo's like an appartment in a high rise block, hers is really nice with a pool and security at reception, right on the beautiful sandy beach! I didn't actually know what a condo was when she said that's where she was staying.)

I'd read about the hurricane in the news, but really didn't appreciate how bad the destruction was, or how bad it could still be now four or five months later. We met up with her friend and neighbour and drove to get some supper at a bar. All the other condos and houses were deserted, no lights on, piles of trash at the roadside, destroyed trees. It was awful. I took loads of photos the next day when I rode through it in the light.

We had a great time at the bar, and Mary Ethel's friend insisted on stopping at a supermarket to buy me some fruit & chocolate for the next day's ride.

Sat up chatting to Mary Ethel for ages. Yet again, like so many people I've met, she's really inteligent and interesting. She feels really depressed that Bush got in again, we discussed politics and America for a long time.

And my bed was so comfortable and warm! She offered to have me stay for a few days, but I resisted the temptation - I'd like to ride to St Augustine, and it's just possible (despite me getting really confused about how much time I've got left - think my brain got fried in New Orleans).

Yesterday I left after a wonderful breakfast of fried eggs and rode in a strong headwind under grey skies through the destruction. It started raining after lunch continued all afternoon. I got drenched. My waterproofs are good, but my gloves and feet got soaked, which cools me down. One highlight of the day was stopping at a roadside stall selling bags of boiled peanuts. I'd never heard of them before, but they seem to be a local speciality. They're dead tasty.

The other highlight was stopping at a bike shop to shelter and meeting a really friendly guy there. His grandpa was scottish, and he plays the bagpipes. He spend 2 years in Glasgow aged 13 learning the pipes - he hated it! But he was really friendly and he gave me a soda and let me dry out and heat up, and we chatted for ages about scotland and politics. I asked him what the Confederate flag represents here; it's being flown a lot more here than I've seen so far on my trip. He says that people who fly it claim that it represents 'heritage not hate' - but that argument wouldn't hold if a german person was to fly a Nazi flag.

Cycled on through the rain and stopped for a really bad pizza in a gas station when it got too dark, then rode a couple of rather hairy miles in the darkness to a campsite. Thankfully the rain pretty muched stopped at sunset, and I was able to pitch my tent under a big gazebo thing, so I stayed dry, though there was no way to get my gloves, socks or shoes dry.

I was so tired - I was trying to write my journal but kept falling asleep!

Today's been ok - less wind, only light drizzle, except for one heavy shower which made me decide to come into a beautiful old (1880) library in the town I'm in - DeFuniak Springs. I'll head onwards now and try to cover another 30 miles or so to the next town which has the option of a motel (if I get soaked) or another campsite.

Looking forward to getting home right now, but if the weather improves in the next week then I'll be sad to leave! My mood is tied very closely to the weather.

Bye for now,

Thomas
x

If music be the food of love

...I'm getting a fat belly.

[sorry for the delay in posting this one - the computer in the hostel was playing up]

Just got back from another amazing night's music - anamazing band called Rebirth Brass Band(http://www.rebirthbrassband.com/rbb/index.shtml) wereplaying at a cool venue miles away out away from downtown (sorry I can't be more specific, I've notreally grasped New Orleans' geography yet). They wereamazing, loads of people had told us they were worthseeing. They were an amazing sort of funky jazz, with three trumpets, a sax, two trombones, a tuba and acouple of guys on percussion. I went there with Liddy,Frank and Larry from the hostel, but got dancing with a really nice Austrian girl, Katerina, who was herefor a few days on holiday from doing a law masters inBoston.

Had a really cool day today, though didn't manage to fit in half the stuff I'd intended. Cycled through the city with Liddy and got the ferry across theMississippi to look at the Mardi Gras floats that are being built. I'm missing the festival by a few days,which is a real pity. But it was cool seeing thefloats being built, especially the ones Liddy wasdoing - most people don't get to go in the warehouse.Took a ton of photos. Also sneaked into the main mardigras tourist thing where they have loads of random old huge mardi gras polysytrene figures and stuff. it's$15, but Larry gave me his pass from yesterday, dead handy. There was a cool Voodoo shop in that area too,and I got chatting to the woman who ran it for ages. She put a cross of potion for luck on my right wristand a cross of love potion on my left...

Rode around the garden district on my bike for a while- they have these amazing old Greek revival wooden houses, some really plush, some really beautifully rundown. And noticed a bunch of people being given a tourof the cemetary there, so I tagged along on that. In the cemetaries here the cockroaches eat the bodies and boxes, then the next time another body goes into the family tomb they sweep up the remains to make room forthe new body.Then at sunset I headed to the revolving bar on top ofthe World Trade Centre here. It was surprisinglyempty, it was magical up there. I got a real surprise seeing the city from up there - the mississippi river winding it's way through the vast sprawl, the bridge, the barges, then suddenly the skyskrapers of downtown,the lights of the cars going up Canal.

Then headed back to the hostel for supper, some beers,some chat, watched a really badly dubbed version of a kung fu film, then headed out.

I'm going to leave tomorrow, I think I'll be finallyable to extract myself. But my rear gears have stopped working - the shifter's jammed. But there's a bikeshop nearby if I can't get it fixed. I'll get a greyhound back north into Mississippi to rejoin my route, then attempt to cover the last 750 miles or soin the time I have left. If I'd left this morning I'd have made it... If... But I don't really care if I make it or not. I want to divert down to the forgotten coast of Florida anyway, and there's a few towns whereI can catch a greyhound if I need to, though getting abox for my bike could be a hassle. It was a nightmare getting to New Orleans - I ended up missing the bus hunting for a box. But I'll not bore you with thattale of stress.

See y'all!
Tx

The Siren Songs of N'Orleans

Man! New Orleans really sucks you in! I've spoken to so many people who have intended to stay a couple of nights and have been here two weeks, or just stayed permenantly like Rudy, the German night watchman at the hostel. He wouldn't say how many years he's been here now.

There is a house in New Orleans, they call the rising sun/
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy/
and me/
oh lord/
I'm one

Had another amazing night out last night. Headed out with a German guy, Frank from New York, Larry (who's cycling the other way - I've become really good friends with him), and a few others, back to Frenchman street just outside the touristy French quarter. Went to the spotted cat where the Black Vipers were playing. they're basically the best jazz band in New Orleans, and new orleans is basically the birth place of jazz. they were absolutely brilliant, it was so energetic and free form. people just kept on joining in. At one point there was about 10 of them all feeding of each other and the music just kept on flowing, and the beer just kept on flowin', the people coming in and out, one girl and her friend celebrating her birthday started dancing, one of the guys I got friends with got very friendly with the girl who was dancing loads, I got chatting to the other girl for ages. She was a Sicilian-American who'd come to New Orleans to do English Lit at uni, and stayed. Anyway my time's running out on the computer and on my trip, so I'm gonna have to leave you in suspense about all my other cool times for now.

Off to see garden quarter and cemetaries where they do loads of voodoo stuff just now, see ya!
T
x

House of the Risin' Sun

Well I'm in New Orleans, and it's absolutely amazing! I never thought I'd love another city as much as Austin, but this place rocks! Great people, amazing music, fantastic food, cool architecture, drinkable beer.

I'm staying at the India House hostel, which is much better than the International Hostels because you can drink and it's much more chilled and party atmosphere. I rolled in lastnight after an absolutely foul Greyhound journey, had a shower and a shave and began to feel human again. Three guys were heading out and I joined them. Had a fantastic night of music, beer, food, fun. Bought the CD of one group - a mad fusion of jazz, swing, Eastern European and Cajun. Went to one place where everyone was doing absolutely amazing swing dancing! Discovered today that they were really professional dancers who'd come from all over the country - it was beautiful watching them, so smooth, improvised, energetic and lively.

And going out is so cool - you can just buy a beer for $1 on the street and wander in and out of different bars watching different amazing bands! I love it!

And I'm just heading off for another the same after an amazing day visiting the swamp and wandering around the beatiful mad city. We're leaving as I type, so I'll try to write more tomorrow.

See y'all!

T x

More amazing days!

Not got time to write a whole lot - I'm staying at an amazing RV park in Pumpkin, Texas, where I've made friends with the son of the owner, who I've been helping with some web design. The park's amazing - has a hot tub - I spent ages in there! So sweet on my sore muscles!

Had a really amazing time in Austin! That night I ended up at the Continental club, pretty randomly. In a city with over 80 bands playing every night this turned out to be one of only 3 where you can still do swing dancing. I got chatting to a cool guy called Andy while listening to the band, and a little later his friends turned up. And I spent the evening learning to swing dance with two beautiful friendly interesting girls. And we went to another pub after that, where they had about 80 beers on draught! Ended up staying up 'til about 4.30 that night in the hostel chatting to a great English girl who was travelling in her gap year.

The riding since then's been a little tough - tired & sad to leave such a cool city as Austin - I've really fallen in love with it. But things are getting back to normal now - doing lots of 90 mile days in order to spend some time in N'Orleans and make it to the Florida coast. Lots of dogs chasing me, but none have got me yet. The drivers have been fantastic since Austin - really good at overtaking. And for all those lovely concerned friends who emailed asking how my toe was - it's fully mended!

met another guy doing the route today - going the other way - he's Scottish! He's got a website, but I don't have the address on me right now, but I'll put a link on another time.

Sorry for the rushed update, not a lot of time with the long days riding. I'll try to update properly soon. Thanksfor all the lovely emails, sorry I've not had time to reply.

Cheers for now!

Thomas

Amazing Days in Austin

Well today I am actually half way across - I'm at the
1500 mile mark after cycling 110 miles yesterday to
reach Austin.

And things get better and better; I'm having an
absolutely amazing time. I think I'll just type up a
few days worth of the journal I've been keeping again:

Sunday 16th January, Austin Texas

(today rode 112 miles! 12mph average, 33.4 max)

What a day. I'm very happy to have made it in one
piece. It froze again in the night, but was warm
enough in tent. Had breakfast in the club house for
warmth. Packing up th efrozen tent my fingers got so
cold it hurt. Set off at 7 but it was far too cold, so
I stopped for a coffee and a very filling egg and
potato taco. So it was 7.30 when I hit the road.

The first hour or so were magical! There was a lot of
frost on the ground and the rising sun acros the
rolling fields, lighting the trees along the rivers
was breathtaking. However the rest of the day's ride
was really unpleasant - headwind a lot of the way.
Really busy roads (Sunday traffic) and I didn't have a
shoulder all day. I'm going to develop very good
muscles on one side of my neck from looking over my
left shoulder every 10 seconds! Most people don't know
how to overtake a bike here - they don't really slow
down, and usually they'll only pull out an extra foot
or so - rarely will they go fully into the other lane.
Some people do, but it's the ones that don't who leave
the lasting impression. And the majority of people
drive these huge pickups, which are much worse than
cars when they go by your left elbow.

I stopped in Blanco at the supermarket. Outside an
elderly Jewish couple got chatting to me about my trip
- they were really interested. Just as they were
leaving the guy put his hand firmly on my arm and said
a prayer of safety for me. It was really moving. It
almost brings a tear to my eye now thinking about it.
I don't know what it is about this trip - the
exhaustion, the stress of the traffic, the time, the
place, the thinking - but my emotions are much closer
to the surface.

I'd intended to stay with some friends of April and
Charles' who have the Dancing Waters Inn at Wimberly
(http://www.dancingwatersinn.com) - but I'd not been
able to get through to them on the phone. I considered
camping in the town any way, but I'd only done 70
miles and I didn't fancy having that horrible road to
start out on again the next day, so I decided to keep
going. It was a cool town - very pretty and artsy.
Bought a Mexican pastry and carried along - intending
to find a place to pitch a tent or stay in Buda, from
where I could cycle the last 20 miles to Austin the
next day. And when I got to Buda, although tired, I
still had some energy left so I decided to put on my
lights and continue!

The roads were much quieter, it was almost pleasant.
The temperature was cool - 54 degrees F - it had been
sunny but cool all day (north wind). Half way there I
realised I'd mis-read the map and it was only 15
miles, not 20 - a pleasant surpriese. Just before
Austin I hit 100 miles for the 1st time! Riding in
Austin in the dark wasn't pleasant - there were some
bike lanes, but it was too dark to see potholes and
glass etc. But it was nicer than a lot of stuff I'd
ridden that day.

I'd marked on a free map of Austin where I thought the
hostel was (I'd looked it up on the internet a few
days a go) and I managed to navigate my way there
successfully. But when I got to Riverside I checked my
Adventure Cycling Association map to get the house
number, and discovered it was Lakeshore I was supposed
to be on, and it wasn't any where to be seen on my
map!

I got so down. I figured I must have just got confused
with the names of the streets - I've been searching
for Riversides, Lakeshores, Lakesides etc. in other
towns and cities. Luckily a friendly-looking guy came
out of the gas station next to me for a cigarette, and
I asked him, and he gave me directions - it was only a
few blocks away! I was SO unbelievably happy when I
got there. The temperature was down to about 40
degrees F and my fingers and toes were numb again.

Checked in ($20) with a friendly young American woman
called Blossom, or some similar hippy-offspring name.
There's quite a few Brits here - 1st I've met, apart
from Charles (who's an honorary American I guess).
Also an Aussie, a German, and quite a few Americans
from NY and Tennessee. Had a cup-a-soup and loads of
bread - they get leftovers free from a supermarket.
It's a really nice Youth Hostel - much more like the
European ones than the one in Phoenix, but more
chilled than the Europena ones - free coffee, TV room,
etc. Chatted to a nice playwright (playwrite?) from NY
- she's moving here. Her blog's at
http://www.gaspjournal.com if you're interested. Her
and an older guy (travelling from NY snow down to
Mexican sun) both said they were really inspired by
what I told them of my trip, and now want to get bikes
and do similar things!

Got chatting to a couple of English girls and American
guys - we got Kill Bill volumes one and two on video
and had some illicit glasses of wine. Watched the
films in reverse order - apparently Quentin Tarantino
said to do it that way. It was cool - all the American
bits are shot in areas where I've been - the church
bit is set just outside El Paso which is where I was
the day after I got hit by that car. And I think the
bit with Bill's brother in his trailer in the hills is
in the desert around there too - if you've seen the
film I've cycled through lots of that sort of
countryside.

I was really tired, and I'd already seen both films,
so half way through the 2nd video (after she kills
cottonmouth) I went to bed at about 3.

I've got a really painfull little left toe - maybe
it's because my feet have been numb for five hours
every day! 12 hours of cycling today, 110 miles!

Monday 17th January, Austin Texas

Had such a comfortable and warm night in the youth
hostel! Woke at 8.30 and had a huge breakfast of
muisli (my usual half packet, half pound portion) plus
a free peanut butter roll. Chatted to the German girl
again - she's just finished a 2 month internship doing
aerospace work here. Walked into downtown along the
lake (actually a river) - a couple of v. pleasant
miles. It's Martin Luther King Day today, so I headed
to the Capital building to see if the march was still
there, but they'd already moved on. So I had a quick
look around then headed down 7th to where the march
was headed. Noticed they had an Andy Goldsworthy
exhibition on at the art gallery here! Sadly it's
closed today, but I might hang around a bit later
tomorrow and see it. 7th st was interesting - away
from Downtown for a couple of miles. Passed the
Salvation Army place and soup kitchen - loads of
homeless people - bot not at all threatening. The MLK
celebration is amazing. It's in a park in the sunshine
with bands playing all day. I got a free massage, had
a coffee and great home-made cookie, and have spent
the last couple of hours sitting here surrounded by
happy, chilled out people - hippyish folk dancing,
cute kids running around, families sitting and
chatting. Been writing journal for today and
yesterday. The last woman that was performing was
amazing - Ruby something. She just got a standing
ovation. She did a whole mix of stuff - gospel,
reggaie, country, blues. But in one song she was
talking about bloody Sunday in the 60s and everyone
singing through their fear as they crossed the bridge
towards the State Troopers. It was really moving, so
so intense, that time tears did actually come to my
eyes.

Man. Music, equality, free speech.

Later that day:

Hung around listening to the music until it finished
at two. Started walking the couple of miles back to
downtown, and a woman getting into her car asked where
I was headed and gave me a lift! Absolutely amazing!
People are so kind and trusting! I'm now in a Jewish
Deli with a coffee updating this for a while, then
I'll take a wander around 6th, maybe go to a museum or
head up to Texas Uni, then later on grab some food and
hit the bars for the music. Austin is such a cool
place, really easy to walk around, very beautiful - a
strange mix of postmodern skyscrapers and pretty
beautiful historic low buildings. And it's sunny and
warm in the middle of winter! I think I'm in love!


well I could write more, but I'm going to head out and
enjoy Austin some more. But I'm having and absolutely
amazing time, meeting so many kind, interesting
wonderful people. The weather's continued to be great,
even if it is baltic getting ready in the morning,
with a little more wind than I'd like. But it's so
much better than back home!

Occassionally as I cycle in the headwinds on the
nastier roads I look forward to coming home, but other
times when the sun's out, the road's good, or I've
experienced yet another act of amazing kindness or
friendliness I feel I could do this forever.

I've calculated the times and distances and I can just
make it to the coast of Florida if I really ride hard
(90 mile days), and will just have time perhaps to
spend a day in New Orleans. I've heard very mixed
reports about it from different people, but I'm keen
to see it for myself, especially if April's
goddaughter gets in touch.

It's funny in America. People are very nervous of the
next place along - it's happened everywhere - "don't
drink the water in New Mexico" (it was fine) "watch
out for the dodgy areas of El Paso" (no problems at
all) "Careful in New Orleans, it's really rough"
(well, we'll see, I must admit to being a little
nervous of it).

So cheers y'all. Thanks very much to everyone that's
been emailing, it's great to hear from you, and glad
you've been enjoying my photos.

Lots of love & happiness,

Tom
x

(PS - sorry about the dodgy formatting - blogger logged me out when I tried to post, but luckily I'd saved a copy in my email account)

Half Way across America

Half Way across America
Friday 14th Jan

Thomas stopped at a roadside phone box to tell us how he was getting on.
He's at Camp Wood, couldn't find it on our map, but it means that after a
week or so of Texas has moved from West Texas into Central Texas. Camp Wood
is described as a sort of holiday resort with no visible form of fun.
Yesterday lunch time was at Del Rio - couldn't find that on our map either.

More importantly, at 1200 miles he's reached the half way point. And with
both mountain ranges crossed early in the journey, it's all downhill from
here. To counter that, the chap in the bike shop has promised a head wind
all the way to Florida. The bike shop was to replace both tyres and both
innter tubes, worn out by all this energetic cycling, up at 6am, on the road
at 7.45, off the road and tent up again at 6pm.

He's in some sort of limestone country, with water in the rivers and grass
on the hills. It's stocked with sheep, goats, ostrich and brangus. On Monday
he'll be in Austin Texas and taking a day off. Austin Texas is on our map!
And a brangus is a sort of cow - what did you think, hmm?

Dad

Some photos for y'all

Hi folks, I've got some photos for you to look at finally - I went to Walmart and downloaded them from my camera to a CD, and have managed to find a library with a computer that has a CD drive. So with the wonders of technology you can see a few of my pix.

Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/80637765@N00/sets/53663/

Had a great ride today, passed through Del Rio, Texas, where I managed to find a great bike shop and treated myself to a new pair of tyres and inner tubes. They're Specialized Nimbus tyres, which they claim to be pretty much puncture resistant. But I'll believe that when I see it. I'd got 3 punctures in the last two days and was getting really sick of it - I guess my old ones had had it after the previous 1000 miles. Today was also good because I had a fantastic tail wind all day, covered 80 miles with no bother at all.

Yesterday was pretty horrible though - fog for the first two hours. When it cleared I realised I'd not missed much at all. It was really dull rolling ranch/desert with absolutely nothing to look at. And I had a head wind all day, so the going was really tough. One thing I'd been looking forward to a little was the Judge Roy Bean museum ( a mad old western judge) but it was really dull. The day improved slightly in the last 10 miles as the wind turned to a tailwind and I crossed a beautiful gorge, but then I got a puncture and had to limp the last couple of miles to the campsite where I spent the remaining half hour of daylight repairing the puncture instead of admiring the view.

But today's made up for that. I'm staying near the Alamo where loads of western films are made, including surprisingly enough 'The Alamo'. But I dont' think I can be bothered to do an extra 15 miles bike ride to go and look.

Anyway I'm off to pitch my tent for the night and have something to eat.

Cheers y'all,

Thomas
x

Is Tom overdoing it a bit?

Is Tom overdoing it a bit?

He phoned today, Sunday 9th, and we were concerned to hear how he was
recovering from his superficial injuries. He seems to be keeping moving ok.
There were those 90 mile days he was going to do. Well, yesterday's helped
prevent any of the damaged limbs from stiffening up. The 90 miles was mostly
head wind and temperature of 82F and had 2500ft of climb near the end. Not
more than half a Ben Nevis, more like a Merrick. Just wait while I convert
that - add 40, multiply by 5, divide by 9, take away 40 again, and the
number is 28 degrees C. So no more snow difficulties, I guess.

The climb was the nice bit, he said, as he got to use 1st gear for once.
Tomorrow a rest day. What, a whole day off? Well no, but only 50 miles. At
that point the phone card ran out.

Dad

9th Jan 2005

Don't Mess With Texas!

Things are going so well, I'm so happy, it's so sunny, and I've been fortunate to meet so many amazingly kind, wonderful people!

And for the first time in my life I've started to enjoy country/bluegrass music! West Texas is really agreeing with me!

To try to explain why I'm just going to type up my diary entry from the last few days:

Sunday 9th Jan. Marathon, Texas.

As I cycled into this small town in western Texas in the pleasant evening sun looking for somewhere to pitch my tent I heard someone shout 'Hey there Scottish boy!' It turned out to be a woman I'd chatted to at the observatory in the mountians the previous evening. She invited me to join her and her English husband for supper in their hotel that night, their treat. She also recommended a really nice motel to camp at, and I'm so glad I did - it has the best showers (or restrooms) that I've had the pleasure to use on this trip. (they've a website at http://www.marathonmotel.com - take a look and listen to the local pirate radio station which plays the most random selection of music I've ever heard - click on 'marathon today' and then 'basin radio'). So I joined her (April) and her husband Charles, who'd just got back from biking in the Big Bend national park for a couple of the best margharitas I've ever drank, then went for a meal. The starter was massive - Charles (who's also veggie, the first I've met here) and i shared a plate of fried onion rings and mushrooms. And for mains had an enchilada wiht portobello mushrooms, rice and black beans. SO good! Had a really nice red wine too. Then had really nice pudding - a bit like a bramble crumble, but with pastry instead of crumble. Turns out Charles is a conservationist - did an MSc in conservation in London, done lots of environmental jobs and is now studying environmental law in Houston. And April is in a band - sort of fusion of country/folk/cajun etc. (they've a website at http://www.sugarbayouband.com). They offered to take me to Big Bend National Park with them tomorrow! Everyone's been telling me I should go, and it sounds amazing, so I will. It'll be good to take a proper break from cycling for a day - give my muscles and butt a break.

As I write I'm sitting at the motel where I'm camping in a really cool adobe-walled area beautifully lit, next to a water feature in the relatively mild night (I'm below 4,500 feet tonight, which is still fairly high though I guess). I'm so happy. Charles & April have been so kind & interesting & lovely!

Monday 10th January

Got up at 7, partly to avoid sleeping in and missing breakfast, and also to watch the sunrise, which is what I'm doing now. It's quite wierd - started as a thin red glow, which died away in the middle and is now spreading to either side. After I wrote my diary last night I saw the other guy camping had a good fire going, so I went to chat and ended up staying 'til after midnight. He had a really nice dog, Q. He used to work and run a cattle ranch in Kentucky, but his mum sold it. He gave me a beer, and we listened to the local pirate radio station, which only broadcasts in a five mile radius from here. Apparently there's just one guy who does it, and every week he comes in and changes the CDs in the 5,000 CD changer! Really random stuff, including a rather freaky Christmas Disney song that was a medley of stuff including 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and 'all I want for Chrismas is my 2 front teeth'.

I'm meeting Charles and April for breakfast here, then we're heading off to Big Bend!

Later

Just stopped for gas. the guys here look so cool. There's one old dude in tight blue jeans, a dark blue shirt with silver buttons, open at the neck. A beautiful leather belt with a huge silver buckle and a big cream cowboy hat. His face is really weather=beaten. We had a fantastic breakfast of huevos rancheros, and I checked my emails on Charles' laptop - they have wireless internet in the cafe at the Marathon Motel! We're now driving to Big Bend in their Jeep Cherokee listening to bluegrass with April playing the mandolin in the back. I bought the CD of her band, though I'll not be able to listen to it 'til I get home.

Later still

It took an hour to get to the park, then at least another 45 mins driving through the desert plain (though it was much more vegetated than all the plain I'd seen due to the lack of cattle) then got into the mountians in the middle. Amazing. Beautiful red cliffs, a bit like the Naranjo de Bulnes in the Picos de Europa. Really steep & craggy. Went for a walk down the Window Trail. It was fairly short, 3 and a half miles each way i think, but strenuous. It was quite an overcast morning, but got really hot later. The walk was beautiful. Saw lots of Cactii, including the Century Cactus (?) which they use to make the drink similar to tequila with the worm. Nice trees, including the grey oak and drooping juniper. Saw 3 deer, a few roadrunners (my first sighting) and a couple of squirrels. April & Charles had seen a mexican brown bear there a couple of years ago, but we didn't see one today. The climax of the walk was where the gorge ended over a cliff. Hung out there a while, took lots of photos. After that ew bought some food to eat in the car (on April's recommendation I opted for peanut butter instead of cheese for a change). We spent the afternoon and evening driving on the old rough tracks in one corner of the park. It was a cool way ot see the park, though I felt a strange sense of guilt! I'm used ot having to struggle a bit more to see such cool places! But in that heat and with no water around there's very little alternative. We saw 2 golden eagles! After about two hours we reahced an old abandoned mercury mine, discovered in 1900 and abandoned in the 20s, apart from a brief use in WWII. It was getting to dusk when we were there, and the industrial ruins were so beautiful@ I took loads of photos, must have taken about 100 all day! Drove back in the dark, stopping to admire the stars. They showed me the zodiacal cone - a cone of light just to the left (south) of where th eusn sets, which you see a short time after sunset. They also pointed out Orion, part of which is one group of stars I've been noticing every night (Orion's belt & 'sword'). There was no light out there, the stars were amazing.

The drive back was slow - had to watch out for deer, etc. Saw 2 herds of javelinas - the wild pigs. Thankfully no problems going through the border checkpoint (it was much more rigorous thatn the last one - the woman at the motel said 2 chineese people had been detained there for hours because they forgot to take their paperwork when they visited the park).

The restaurant at the hotel was closed, so we had a couple of margharitas, but the chef was in the bar and really kindly made us a huge plate of nachos with cheese & beans! And we eat well in the car - April's Italian friend had made them some amazing biscotti & and date things covered in coconut. Lovely. Also lots of nuts & stuff.

It was really interesting chatting to them both over the day. It's dificult to describe how they are - not exactly reserved, but they don't blow their own trumpet, despite some amazing achievemtns. Turns out Charles did a lot of web design before he went back to uni to do environmental law, and he's done a lot fo cycle touring in the Alps. He was really into rock climbing as ateenager - he grew up in the town where Chris Bonnington lived, just south of Manchester. And he's just such a friendly, chilled, intelligent, good person. And he composts! (1st person I've met in the US who does!) And April is amazing! It came up in conversation that my gran's from a Jewish family, which by the female line makes me Jewish, and so was she. She felt this was a connection. It's interesting - until Rick mentioned that a few weeks ago in Edinburgh I'd not really been aware of all that. She's also part Cherokee. But the tings she's done are amazing - her band were one of 35 considered for a Grammy awayrd, with only their first album. She's a qualified pilot, great horserider, very adventurous. Used to do marathons & serious triathlons. She mentioned she did photography and did very arty things with it. But it was only at the end of the day at the mine that I discovered she's actually a really successful internationally exhibited artist! She's got one work at the national portrait gallery in London and loads all over the US! Her name's April Rapier if anyone's interested.

They were such an amazingly kind, friendly, generous, interesting couple; I feel so lucky to have met them, spent time with them and seen Big Bend. Just lovely lovely people. I had such a great day. Charles gave me a lift back to the campsite, and as we said goodbye he said that I reminded him of himself in his younger days. That was the nicest thing he could have said, because he is exactly the kind of person I aspire to be. He reminded me of Mike - chilled, happy, great loving relationship.

Today - Tuesday - Sanderson, Texas

Today's been great - sunny, tailwind, downhill. But the library's about to shut so I'll not write much as it wasn't particularly exciting.

Had two punctures - caused by broken glass where someone had crashed into a deer. And two very kind old germans gave me loads of chocolate, nuts, some carrots and a couple of apples when I was stopped for lunch - so kind!

I'm happy, tanned and having an amazing time.

Get the picture?!

lots of love to everyone,

Thomas
x

Things can only get better...

Things are getting a lot better now. I had two fantastic days riding through Arizona from Phoenix, especially new year's eve camped by a beautiful reservoir in the middle of the Apache reserve. I spent most of my evening chatting to the one sober Apache in the entire place. The rest seemed to be driving around drunk getting arrested. I got a drink of pink champagne the next morning from three Apache girls who were sitting in their car outside the store.

The weather got bad again as dad's described in the previous posts, so I'll not bore you with the details.

Things got rather too exciting yesterday morning - I GOT HIT BY A CAR! My first concern was with my bike - it had a smashed front wheel and bent forks and handlebars. The woman driving the car was more concerned about me, but I'm fine apart from a rather bloody knee and various scraped limbs and shredded clothes. Luckily it was really cold at the time so I was padded by my gloves and layers of clothes. The woman drove me to the nearest bike shop and paid for my bike to be fixed, so all is now pretty much fine. Though I'm feeling rather vulnerable and fragile! It was wierd being knocked down - I don't really remember it. It was a straight road without any shoulder, and the woman didn't see me because of the low morning sun - she just went straight into the back of me. All I remember is finding myself in a tangle of bike by the side of the road.

Yesterday evening I had a rather horrible ride through the busy highways of El Paso, Texas, and more of the same this morning. But once I got out of the urban areas today I had a lovely ride in the sun through cotton fields and pecan groves back into the desert of yuccas and creosote bushes and finally up an unexpected 1000ft climb into the mountains. It was another 90 mile day today and I got pretty tired out. I'll take it easy tomorrow because I've got another 90 mile day the next day with 2500 feet of climb. The riding's a bit like that through this part of Texas - the towns are few and far between so I need to make sure I've somewhere to camp and get food and water. Although tonight I'm just camped next to someone's house - they let me stay there for free because there's no campsite's in town (Sierra Blanco, 4500ft up in the mountains of Texas, just off the Interstate 10). I treated myself to my first hot evening meal in a week this evening in a quiet cafe, which has the first computer with internet I've seen.

It gets dark really early - about 5.30pm, so when there's not a cafe near by there's very little to do except lie with my head sticking out of my tent staring at the stars. It's a very relaxing and therapeutic way to spend some time. I'm feeling very chilled (at least until I got hit by that damn car!) And tonight I'll be feeling very chilly too, probably another frost ahead.

Cheers for all your emails, it's great to hear from everyone.

Hopefully I'll not get hit by any more cars...

Happy new year! Stay safe,

Thomas
x

Middle of Nowhere 4th Jan

Thomas has arrived at the Middle of Nowhere. It's official. He stopped today
at the 'Middle of Nowhere' bar. To get there he was supposed to go up 8000ft
into the mountains, ie two Ben Nevises, although the plan allowed them to be
done on two separate days. However the Bens Nevis had snow on, so he went
round one of them by a route that just added 50 miles or so most of them
into a head wind. Seems like he should be going in the other direction
really.

Arizona was really beautiful, no details, think rocks sand sagebrush etc,
might be quite close. He met friendly apaches and was given an Apache
indentity card by someone who had a spare one. Now he just needs a horse, a
spear and a teepee, plus dying his hair black and 20 years of suntan. But
it'll save having to pay £40 in the UK when we get our ones.

Sunday, 2nd January, was 90 miles, not particularly much uphill but on the
other hand quite a lot of headwind. Yesterday was 80 miles but 4000ft of
ascent. He spent last night in a hotel in Demming, feeling a little tired
and seeking comfort, also it was raining. Otherwise it's been the little
tent all the way from Phoenix.

In 20 miles he'll reach the Rio Grande, with El Paso tonight. Texas tomorrow
night. After that, Texas. And some more Texas. And then a whole lot of
Texas... It's still raining and US phone booths don't have rooves so he's
jumped back into the saddle (do Apaches go yee-haw, no, I'm sure they swing
into the saddle in total silence and disappear with a whisper of wet tires).
And off again eastwards.

Dad Tuesday 4th Jan 05

end of year

Tom phoned out of the old year (5pm 31/12/04 Arizona) into the new (12.30am
1/1/05 Scotland) which was clever but of course we were out drinking whisky.
According to the answering machine, the storms had blown out and away and
he'd had a couple of days of marvellous weather through red desert and
matching mountains all dotted with cactus like something out of Desperate
Dan in the Beano. He camped out the old year in the Apache reservation at a
place with a shower, quite a treat it seems. Just so long as he keeps on
escaping the cactus, and the Apache. Next place down the line looks to be
Geronimo!

Dad 2/1/05