woke up to another really nice day weather wise....slept pretty good and seem to be recovering well so far....still following the rule of getting on the road as early as possible to not burn any daylight on the front end....this proved to be valuable as about 10 miles in I had a minor crash....
crossing a two lane river bridge a semi jammed me up and I hit a sewer grate....blew my front tire, handlebars bent down to 45 degrees, sunglasses and a water bottle went flying....the back wheel came up and I thought I was going tits over tea cup but luckily did not....rolled to a stop and was able to get my glasses and bottle easily as there was very little traffic....the tire had a slice about 1" across and Mr Tuffy was cut too....it was a miracle the impact didn't taco the wheel or my stem didn't crack....put on my spare tire, straightened the bars but lost about 30-45 minutes....this would be an indication of the day ahead....
for the most part it felt like a gentle day....there were lots of rollers for ~80 miles but not close to the grades of Days 1 & 2....and the last 50 miles were relatively flat although the wind was noticeable....the temp was down to to barely 90 with the first clouds so far....my sunburn appreciated the respite....how dumb....I am charred....but I did buy sunscreen....
went through another national forest, Kisatchie....there is quite a bit of logging in east Texas and middle Louisiana....nothing like getting powdered with saw dust and bark as the trucks fly by....it really beautiful except for all the red asses....I got buzzed, flipped off and honked at more times today then easily 5 yrs of commuting at home....close to 20....I lost count....very dangerous actions by some people....a logging truck coming the opposite direction laid on his horn and crossed the center stripe to drive at me....and the list goes on....crossing through red neck Texas and red ass Louisiana were a concern when I planned the trip....Texas was without incident....needless to say I am very happy to have these three days in the book....big miles and a lot of apprehension....
the health of the patient is good....legs are a little tired but that's no surprise....self inflicted sunburn can be managed....I do have a saddle sore....it was a hot spot caused by the rough chip seal road surface in Texas and is now very painful....I am in full scale treatment mode....there is one thing about Louisiana, for the most part the road surface was awesome....mentally I'm good....excited about the next days ahead on the Natchez Trace Parkway....no commercial traffic, low speed limits but there will not be the ease of getting food and drink as there is limited access roads....have to plan very well....
the last two hotels have had computers making it quite easy to blog....I am a crappy Iphone blogger but will try....
DAY 3 miles 129 Total miles 453
Yikes! Good to hear you're alright, could have been a lot worse I'm sure, both on you and your ride.
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