Day 83: August 25th 2009, Austin to Spicewood, TX (39mi)

Another hot, dry, uphill, chipseal road day in Texas. No doubt, today was a hard day. I got up at 600 but it was still too dark. I got up again at about 645 right after sunrise and made my way out from Barton Springs. Initially I thought I should take 71 from COngress, but decided it would be too crowded so I took Bees Cave Rd, which turned out to be a fantastic decision. Beautiful hills; you could see Austin from and wide smooth shoulders. Awesome start, but things got shitty when I got to 71. The shoulder was tiny, not even wide enough for a bicycle so I had to skate, again, on the rough ass right lane, keeping a lookout behind me. About 5 miles into 71 at about 1045 a white truck pulls ahead.

"Hey man, what are you doing?"

"Skating" then I look into his car and find Palmers surf wax, the only wax worth using "You surf?"

"Yeah man, I paddleboard, originally from California"

I hopped right in

"So I saw you skateboarding and thought, oh man this guy is taking a beating"

"Fuckin ay man, the road sucks"

"So how are you financing yourself on this journey?"

"Well I was working in Austin for a bit, and saved up enough to get out"

"Well, if you are interested, I got a job for you"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, Im building a house, right up the road, if you pick up the trash around the site, Ill give you some cash for it, and you could spend the night there"

"Ill take you up on that offer", I couldn't say no to money

"Now listen, if anybody asks you say you are working for James. There have been some robberies in that neighborhood and the neighbor is a military man. He wont hesitate to shoot"

"Damn man, well I dont feel like getting shot today"

"He keeps a look out at night"

"Well I don't want to get shot tonight either"

"Don't worry about it, just don't go on his land. Oh, and there is a delivery coming at 1, Ill be back between 1 and 4."

He dropped me off at the house, which was right off of 71, showed me my water source, what to do and the neighbors land. It sounded sketchy with the crazy neighbor and the 'delivery', but I couldn't refuse the easy money.

"Dont make me regret this" he made sure to point out leaving

"Trust me, you won't"

I got to work for the next hour and passed out for a little. It was the perfect place to escape the midday heat. When I got up to the sound of a truck pulling up on the gravel driveway, it was about 230. And it was the delivery. I was kind of dissappointed when it didn't turn out to be a clever drug operation, but just a legitimate door delivery. They dropped the doors off, he came back for the signature, checked out the site and gave me an easy $30.

"So you are spending the night here?"

"Nah man, I gotta keep moving, but I appreciate you doing this"

"So where you headed?"

"Eventually, San Diego"

"Man listen, all these houses I build, its all on credit. If you want Ill get you a free airplane ticket to San Diego right now, Southwest Airlines"

"Man I really appreciate it, but this is the way to travel, Im just taking my time."

"Alright man, well good luck"

Back on 71 things didnt look any better. I hoped that maybe, just maybe the road would turn smooth. Wishful thinking. 10 miles and I was drained. I stopped inside a Chevron gas station for a drink, and when I was about to walk outside, it was pouring like a monsoon. Wet roads, big hills, and smooth wheels make for a dangerouos combo so I hung out inside, ate some fried chicken until the hot Texas sun came out and dried it all up in 45 minutes. I couldn't tell where the hell I was. The attendant told me I was already in Spicewood. An old man said that it was 15 miles more north up on this road. My torn ass map didn't help and when I tried to decifer its location it appeared to tell me something completely different. And not one sign on the road.

It really puts you down when you can't visualize your checkpoint or target for the day. It just seems like an exhaustin, never ending skate but I zoned out and kept pushing. Then I decided to call a friend and find out when I was exactly on the map. After some confusion Spicewood was 4.6 miles more from where I was. Not bad, I could handle it. At 645 I set up camp on a dry creek bed right off of 71. The road looks smooth for tomorrow.