Spike and I woke this morning in good form and ready to roll. No squeaky noises so his 'spit and polish' must have done him some good. Left at first light with Todd and Merv and made our careful way out of rush hour Austin. All seemed to be going well until we took a wrong turning and added an extra 14 miles, all hills of course, to our day. Our 79 mile day was turning into a nightmare - hiils, winds and now over 90 miles. Not the best and we couldn't even take the time to stop for pancakes..Aaahh. We cycled through Bastrop State Park which was devastated by forest fires last September. High winds brought down power lines which started two seperate fires which joined up. 1400 homes were lost and a large area affected. The community is still reeling from the impact. We plodded on into the wind and I could see the mileage creeping up - I decided if the total was over 94 miles when we reached La Grange I was continuing so as to reach my first 100 miles. It was 94.2 miles, I checked in first, then went back out again with Todd to make up the 100 miles and I did it, 100.2 miles. My first and my last century. It was a unexpected hard day which in the end gave me a bit of a boost. We are in the area of the famed Chisholm Trail. This was not a single route but a network, that fed into a main spine, for driving Texas Longhorn Cattle between Austin and Wichita. Jesse Chisholm was a trader, knew the country well, spoke Indian languages, and was in demand as an interpreter and guide. Among those Chisholm shared the route with was William Mathewson, better known as Buffalo Bill. This country continues to fascinate and surprise me, till tomorrow.....still loving it.....
