I am titleless today

Today started out lame: I packed up my soggy dew-moistened tent and rode off into the wind. Sigh. At least it was sunny. I chatted with six other cyclists today, all headed east. I envied them, but they all claimed to always have a headwind, too, so I guess things are tough all over. Other cyclists always ask how your trip is going, and I found myself today complaining to complete strangers. This is normally something I avoid, but that's what was on my mind, and I've discovered my conversations are much more interesting (to me anyway) and constructive if I just start talking about whatever I'm thinking rather than bothering with social niceties. I can see why people get into that whole radical honesty thing.

The third cyclist I met was this wacky kid (http://twitter.com/xcryanpfeiffer) from Chicago who is riding for Lance Armstrong's cancer charity. (livestrong.org/grassroots2009/xctour) We got to babbling away, for I don't even know how long-- at least an hour-- beside the road until three other kids showed up. There we were, all five of us standing over our bikes with our assorted Ortlieb panniers (every single one), chatting away on the roadside. That was a nice break. After that my route turned a bit so that I actually had some tailwind, and I rode into Navasota, which has grocery stores and a park just outside of town where you can camp for free. It even has a shower. Nothing fancy, but it's better than that pit I stayed at in Louisiana... So my day ended much better than it started.

Sorry, I'm too lazy to make my links work today, so you'll have to copy and paste if you're interested. And while I'm linking to unselfish touring cyclists I have met, some guys from Toronto are riding for this charity: http://athletesforafrica.com/