Update #7 - February 07, 2002
Corpus Christi, TX - 1,388 miles

The ride from Beaumont to Corpus Christi went okay. The weather was a lot better than I expected. For the past couple of days, the temperature has been in the fifties. The cold front had come through about four days ago and dropped the high temperatures at least twenty degrees. For several days before the front, the daily high temperatures was in the seventies.

There were two tricky places to deal with. One was trying to get over the interstate bridge onto Galveston Island. Another spot was getting over the U.S. 181 bridge over Nuences Bay between Rockport and Corpus Christi.

I spent a lot of the nights in donated motel rooms and in churches. Last night, I camped out in the Fireside Room of the recreation center at the First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi. I had last worshipped at the church seven years ago. I've stayed at quite a few churches in this section.

I've had some good and bad things happen to me in this section. I was able to speak at several churches on the way and received almost $50 in "Green Handshakes" (free-will love offerings). Just before the toll bridge off Galveston Island, I found a $20 bill. On the bridge, I picked up $1.51 in loose change. This puts me at almost half the money that I found last year.

The next to the worst thing that happened was almost getting hit by a truck yesterday morning outside of Portland, Texas. This guy didn't look both directions before pulling out and he missed me by just inches. It was lucky for me that I was able to swerve and stop in time.

The worst thing was having a brand new tire blow up less than one hundred feet from the bike shop that I had purchased it. For the past three days, I have been riding on a front tire that has several tread cuts. The tire has about three thousand miles on it. I should have replaced it a week ago but there were no bicycle shops that sold recumbents on my route.

I arrived at the only shop that sold recumbents in Corpus Christi around 3 p.m. They did have a 16x1 3/8 tire for $20. I got it put on properly. About a hundred feet from the door of the bike shop, it experienced a sidewall blowout. The bike shop assured me that I didn't do anything wrong in the installation of the tire and there had been in a defect in the manufacturing of the tire. They refunded me the cost of the tire since they had no other tires my size and threw in a new inner tube for free.

Now, I have to ride to San Antonio to see if I can find a new front tire. The ride will be around two hundred miles. It should take me four days and I should arrive there Monday. I have a friend calling ahead to see if a new tire can be located.