Day 18: Night ride in Texas - the 28 hour day

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Start: Seguin, TX End: Sealy, Tx Total Mileage: aprox 120

Night ride
To make up for lost time Frank rode a couple hour's after dark (did I mention Franks nice new helmet that lights up every time you hit a bump?). The darkness made it difficult to find a place to set up camp. Frank set up in some grass near a fence adjacent to a ranch. I won't relay all the details here, but later that night Frank was persuaded by a shotgun toting property owner to pack up camp and leave. Apparently, he did not own a television or radio, nor was he persuaded by the details of Frank's story. So with the police standing by, Frank packed up and pedaled into the darkness of Hwy 90 toward Houston. About midnight he arrived at a truck stop. He approached a pair of highway patrol officers there.

The Truckstop

"You're the guy biking across the country" one said. "I heard about you all morning on the radio" Not wanting to repeat the error of his last campsite selection, Frank explained what happened some 15 or 20 miles back to the officers who directed him a spot behind the truck stop. By 1 am Frank had re-set camp. The officers promised to checked on Frank during the night to make sure he had no other unexpected encounters. At 4:40 am Frank woke up and by 5:30 am he was back in the saddle pedaling until around 5:30 this evening when a contact made in San Antonio helped him check into a motel in Sealy.

I spoke to Frank tonight. He took a philosophical view of the day's events. "If I hadn't got run off, I wouldn't have made it here tonight". Another blessing in disguise. Based on how tired Frank sounded after his ride, I am not sure anything short of a shotgun motivating him would have gotten him to the edge of Houston tonight.

Sealy sounds like a good place to get some sleep before meeting Houston tomorrow.