23, 24, 25, 26; Abilene, Brownwood/Bangs, Bend to Austin

So, I came it into Post on Day 21 and was sort of stuck there (interestingly and well-fed) for 22.  I left on 23 and made it to to Abilene.  There's honestly not much to say there, except that the road scene started to get green, and along with that came wildlife, and, rather awfully, the most roadkill I've ever seen.  But, I did meet Dusty, a young lass at an Allsup's convenience store who took me the rest of the way to Abilene.  My tubes weren't holding up, and they were the nearest town with a bike shop.  The mother of three, her husband didn't want to come, so we took each other out, had dinner at an IHOP.  She left me at the cheapest motel (not cheap), I went to Biketown in the morning and then back to IHOP.  It's nice, in this wearying, traveler's way, to have some of the same thing.

24: Now this one's a doozy.

Bangs, TX

I wake up at the motel, completed unrested, but getting used to this.  How you charge forty-two dollars for a place four feet from the highway, no locks, with stained towels and bedding and covered in ants is beyond me.  It's highway robbery, literally.  Still, I knew I had a coupon for a free stack of pancakes.  So, I was holding up and holding out.  A quick stop at Biketown for some heavyweight tubes and a kick in the pants.  Then, IHOP on the way out.  Rather curt, and cranky still, the ladies across the aisle were eavesdropping when the server bounced over and talked to me.  And I'm sure glad they did.  They were from Brownwood, Texas, a mother and her daughter, Kim.  And I was headed their way.

I got a real late start, and can't believe I made it, but again.  Kim works at a spa, and had contacted her boss, Maryanne.   They both treated me like a queen.  I arrived to a fruit platter and ice and gatorade.  There was a shower in the main building, and Kim let me in.  She waited there while I indulged and then showed me to the separate massage room where she and her daughter, had made me a bed.

I slept soundly until late in the morning, because they said I should, amid music and the cool of the air-conditioning.  I awoke to their buying me lunch.  And I couldn't believe it, that wasn't it!  A woman from the local paper, the Brownwood Bulletin, came in to "do the story."  Then, I got a foot treatment and reflexology massage from Kim!

Amid all this, they washed my clothes.

Spa on the Creek, Brownwood, TX

Thank you to all the ladies, and most especially, Mary Anne and Kim!!!



Day 25

Day 26:

After that treatment, it was a little easier, and I made it all the way to Colorado Bend.  I spent a restful night at an enchanted lake and awoke excited, anxious, to make my last leg.  I got a ride from a nice young man back to the highway, and over hill and dale and then freeway, made the last grueling miles to Austin.

From Barton Springs, right in town, to free nachos and margaritas, to a lot of late night partying from which I had to duck out, to a lot of urban grit, Austin is intense.