The Panhandle and ALL that goes with it

Yesterday marked one month on the road and was my first full day in my last state; TEXAS.

As you may know; I came out east into the prairie provinces to avoid mountains and hills, hopefully speeding up this portion of my journey......

This decision may have been a mistake.

 Where there are no hills and mountains, there are winds! And while mountains may be difficult, at the end of every long and difficult incline... you are inevitably rewarded with a decline on the other side. (Not to mention the beautiful sights along the way!). Where as winds are relentless and never stopping. Creating long and hard days, with not much mileage gained as a reward.... And then there are those dreaded goatheads!!

Now, I may have realized this potential problem had I ridden a bike, AT ALL, in the last 10 years; or if I knew more about geography and weather patterns of the United States.... That however was not the case. So here I am in the Texas Panhandle. Where sever storm warnings kept me stationary yesterday, these storm warnings continue through today, but right now it doesn't look so bad. So the plan is to continue on and just hope I make it to the next city before the wind hits.

Because I need to get on the road as soon as possible I will do a very brief update and add details and pictures once I get to the next Internet point.

Last time I posted I was in KANSAS. In fact up until the day before yesterday, I was in Kansas. On this day I woke up in Liberal, Kansas; crossed into OKLAHOMA around 9:30 and by sunset I had reached the TEXAS state line. Three states in one day!! I could have mad it even further into Texas but, due to high winds and no shoulders I ended up walking my bike through most of Oklahoma!

Some of the things I have experienced lately:

More wonderful people; I have received more personal donations, covered hotel rooms and even the hope of further fundraising help ... I have also experienced my first not so wonderful person who pretended to be a police man while I was sleeping in a city park, luckily I had my friend Howie on the phone and the REAL police knew I was there and were doing regular check ups on me.(more later)

More flat tires and even had to change a tire and not just an innertube. Thanks to the completely useless young man at the bike shop in Garden City. I swear he just put my bike on the rack... took it down and charge me $20, and then gave me the wrong size spare innertubes! (but luckily I met a very nice and knowledgeable man who helped deal with my roadside problems!)

More Newspaper interviews.

More bad weather. Including frost, high winds, rain, and even tornado warnings.

More wildlife. I have again met up with my beloved migratory companions... the GEESE. ( I do not know how far they go... maybe this is is the end point of their journey, but seeing them still puts a smile on my face!!. I also saw a black widow spider eating a beetle.. BEAUTIFUL. (got some pics but she kept hiding so I don't know if I managed to capture the tell tale hour glass.)

This is about as much detail as I can go into now. I have to get on the road now in hopes to have made it to the next city before the high winds predicted for the afternoon hit.

Hopefully I will be in AUSTIN, TX in about a week. This is the halfway point of my journey, so after a brief time of losing hope about making my goal and reaching before Christmas I again have faith that I will make it. I just hope we can also make the fundraising goal. I am trying my best to raise awareness and raise funds, but it is a bit hard to do this and pedal as far as possible in a day. Not enough hours in the day, and a bit over whelming. PLEASE HELP

 

Please keep spreading the word and donating if you can. Help me make sure all of my hard work is payed off by GIVING THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE OF LITTLE CORN THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT OF A LIFE TIME! ( not that my return isn't a present in it's self! haha). LET'S GET THIS THING UP AND RUNNING!!


www.commonthreadz.org/stephsolverson




a million of these massive wind turbine propellers pass me every day... not a good sign