By David Freeze

  The most fun day of the whole trip!

  Last night, I really needed to sleep and the girl in the next room had different guys in with a lot of loud talking, plus dog barking in a motel with no pets allowed. I finally got to sleep at close to 2am this morning. The best things about the Hill Country Inn were the  big screen TV and Dairy Queen across the road, and not much else.

    I still left out early this morning in the drizzle headed toward Henly and Dripping Springs. There was lots of doable climbing early, then oddly the road shoulder decreased and the climbing lessened as I neared Austin. Adventure Cycling always wants to avoid any central route through town and had this elaborate round the world plan that I didn’t follow. I went right through town rather easily in a city with 800,000. Drivers were courteous and oddly the city gave me two options. The route was on US 290/71 East and you could do it on the freeway or on a frontage road next to it. I did some of both.

    The routes split and I stayed with US 71 through Montopolis, Garfield and on into Bastrop, my home for the evening. Bastrop has about a half dozen motels and I called them all. Last night they all had high prices, but I checked again when I got near the town and the Google Assistant found the Budget Inn. I called and got a price of $72, tax included while all the others were over $100. The Budget Inn is perfect, with all the comfortable things I need. A great convenience store at a long block away in a historic neighborhood. The motel has great WiFi and ice, two of my big needs and it is very quiet here. I’ll make up that sleep tonight if that holds.

    Now for the highlight of the day. Just before I reached Garfield, I spotted a Sheriff’s Department car and stopped to confirm my directions. I have met some great officers so far, but Senior Deputy Jonathan Barrientes had the best conversation yet. There was no real human contact until that point and we hit it off. I promised to keep him updated, especially because he knew a lot about the areas I have traveled so far. Later in the afternoon, he beeped his siren to me as he also headed home to Bastrop.

    I got to the motel at about 5:30pm, intent on finding food and getting my daily update in. The owner showed me where to find the best convenience store and another resident here struck up a conversation about my trip. Mark is from Fresno, and asked about everything. He mentioned that he didn’t have anything to eat, so while I was gone, I picked him up a few things too. Mark seems a good guy, and at least for this evening isn’t hungry. Also, I keep finding good prices on bananas at the convenience stores. Remember that I am trying to visit them all across America.

    In another highlight of the day, the Y Service Club at the South Y donated $50 toward my ice cream fund. I bought two pints of Cherry Vanilla and Strawberry Blue Bell ice cream to get started on their contribution.
    And finally, I got 77 good miles in today on another mostly cloudy day. Very pleasant riding. I’m not sure of my goal for tomorrow yet but will work on it as the ice cream gets eaten. At this point, I will be happy with another productive day!

  Keep the questions and comments coming. I love them all! See you tomorrow!