Update #8 - Feb 13th, 2002
Caldwell, TX - 1,608 miles

The ride from Corpus Christi to Caldwell went okay. The weather was a lot better than I expected. For the past couple of days, the temperature has fluctuated between the fifties and sixties. Another cold front had come through about yesterday and dropped the high temperatures at least ten degrees. For several days before the front, the daily high temperatures was in the sixties.

The past couple of days, I've been dealing with Cross-headwinds. Today the winds have been pretty light. The wind was so bad on Sunday (February 10th) that I only made 23.7 miles between Seguin and Kyle. The speed of the wind had to have been in the twenties. During the day before, the wind had been to my back and I was able to ride a whopping 77.1 miles between Tuleta and Seguin.

There was only one major tricky place in this section to deal with and that was to get through the Austin Metroplex area. The Austin-San Marcos metroplex area is the seventeenth fastest growing place in the country. I've spent several nights in donated motel rooms and in churches. Last night, the kind people at the police station in the small town of Giddings connected me with a local ministry and they got me a room at a local motel. This is good since the nighttime temperatures for the past couple of days have been in the low-thirties. Also, I stayed in several churches with one being the First Baptist Church in Kyle.

I was given the chance to speak a little bit during the Sunday evening service at the First Baptist church in Kyle. Afterwards along with the invitation to stay in the church, I was given sixty dollars in "Green-Handshakes". Earlier in the morning, I spoke to a Sunday school class at the First United Methodist Church in Seguin.

Instead of having to ride to San Antonio to find a new front bike tire, I was able to find one in Austin. I did have to go to two bicycle shops in Austin near the University of Texas campus but I got a new front tire. Praise ADONAI!!! I really needed it. I had almost completely worn the tread off the tire and there were several major holes. These could have caused tire failure and possible crashes but I had a Tuffy Strip between the tire and tube. I had told everybody that the only thing that was keeping the front tire up with eighty-five pounds of pressure was prayer. I had at least 3,200 miles on it from Birmingham, Alabama when I got it before Thanksgiving last year.

I'll be riding passed the Texas A&M campus in College Station tomorrow. From the Bryan-College Station area, I'll be riding through Lufkin and Nacadoches. I will probably be in Texas for at least four or five more days before crossing back into Louisiana again.