Riding the Dog

I get distracted so easily :-( .... I am going to stay with my sister at Dallas for a week or so. I rode the dog (Greyhound) from Huntsville to get here, and left my bike(which I have yet to named, have any suggestions?) at Tina's house.

Huntsville, of all places happens to be a prison town(this is also the place where they do their death row executions here in TX), so when my friend found out that I wanted to go to Dallas by bus, she suggested I may not want to leave on a Monday. She thought that they only released the prisoners on Mondays, so she kept me at her house till Tuesday, so I don't have to get on the Greyhound with bunch of released prisoners. Despite her best intensions, I learned from one of the convicts waiting at the bus station(and as I suspected), that they do released them 7 days a week. So, I was sitting alone and talking with 4 or 5 of them there at this station. All the while, the arcade machines in the room is blasting loud sounds of gun fires, and the sounds of these characters expelling their last breath of life. A full multimedia experience, indeed. :-)

Despite the nervous soundtrack, I thought the guys were just fine bunch of fellas, we talk about all and everything from Kong Fu, the difference between North and South Korea, to the Texas' legal system ....

The strange thing in Huntsville was that I ran into this boy and girl on a tandem recumbent, doing the cross country heading west as well. They are way off the official route, and with this being in the middle of winter and all, I was so surprised when I ran into them when TK and I was doing this lazy day shopping in town. I hadn't met many fellow bike tourer much, because I been off the publish route so much of the time, so when I saw this bike with a load of pannier outside the super market, I pretty much just jump out of the car and go out to meet them, forgetting all about the friend that I was with(sorry TK).

Like most of my travels, after a while... pyramids, museums, and even mountain ranges, all comes second to all the people that you have come to meet along the way. No great canyons or a multi color sunset leaves behind a more lasting memory than a nice chat with someone on the side of the road about his families, her cheating husband, or the kid's favorite Kong Fu movie....

I had a great time in Huntsville, very relaxing(Thanks, TK). This is usually what I do on my off days anyway. I remember stopping in Clearwater in Florida, and I was the only one in the Hostel that didn't once bothered to go out to the beach. I explained to the lady that ran the place: "I am in the sun with sand and dust in my face eight hours a day, for the last five days. I don't need to go to the beach for that!" After all, I had been looking at beaches and swamps for the last 2000 miles, all I wanted on my off days are a soft bed, and a warm meal, and a whole day of doing nothing.

Well, I must be off to do my shopping, I need to get a few things from HomeDepo to get my panniers fixed. It's been falling apart, like the many other things in my life. :-)