Breakfast at La Quinta was light-years beyond the previous day: dual wafflemakers (including a Texas-shaped one), fresh fruit, juice, pastries…much happier. Much sadder when realized John had another flat. Examining his tire, we found a piece of glass that was deeply embedded but hadn’t gone all the way through to the liner, a couple of pieces of metal in the tread, and on skinny wire thinner than a staple, but going all the way through. So John got a lesson in how to use a patch kit (Rema Tip-Top!). Then we discovered my air pump decided to die after seven years, but John’s was up to the task. Managed to start rolling a whole fifteen minutes earlier today.
More 59 shoulder (getting old) before lunch at the 1st City Café in the Fredonia Inn. Great lunch and great service (thank you, Lisa!), with a very cute sign outside the bar.
I finally figure out a good mount for the camera, and we get a little taste of back roads before joining up with 59 again.
On the road between Appleby and Garrison, we hit the biggest hill yet. Long and steep, it is second in my memory only to the Unnecessary Hill we had climb in Serbia.
We take a break in Garrison, only to find John has a semi-flat rear. We pump it up and hope that it holds on for the rest of the day. We finally get off 59 just before Timpson (I will forever think of Timpson and Tenaha together because my dad used to imitate the conductor for the old Waco, Beaumont, Trinity, and Sabine Railroad – aka Wobbily, Bobbily, Turnover, and Stop – with these being two of the stops). A little past Gary City, John’s tube gives up the ghost, so we lose more precious daylight to swapping out tubes.
We get to the hotel in Carthage as the dusk starts fading into night. The Mexican restaurant next door closes at nine, so we don’t bother showering before heading over there for dinner. Luckily, there weren’t too many other customers to offend. Our server, Chris, is finishing high school and has a vocal audition for Blinn College this weekend. From Blinn, he plans to transfer to Texas A&M. Be sure to apply for the G&S Scholarship, Chris, and good luck!
75 miles
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