DAY 50
May 3, 1999
My watch alarm went off at 6 am. Then
at 6:01 am I could hear another watch alarm that was just like mine
through the thin motel walls. At about 7:30 am Pat, from the local
newspaper called. We set a time of 8:30 am for me to meet her
at the newspaper office. I don't remember what all I said, I just
rambled on and went off on my usual tangents.
Leaving town at 9:45 am, I took 83 north
to 97 north. With virtually no traffic, I was mostly all alone
on a landscape of sand hills. It reminded me of when I was in
the desert a year ago. There were endless rolling hills of sand,
mostly covered with grasses, for as far as I could see. Reaching
Tryon, I stopped at Aunt Bea's Cafe'. Hey I thought Aunt Bea
was in Mayberry, NC? Must've moved huh :) Inside
I ordered a salad and 2 dinner rolls since the rest of the menu was
filled with red meat and fried food. The town of Tryon itself
is the county seat with a population of 100 and a county population
of 500. Wow, talk about being in the middle of nowhere! After eating, I headed west on 2 with
strong crosswinds which were now slowing me down considerably.
Trains would go by on the
track that runs parallel to the road, about every 20 minutes.
The guys up front, are they called train conductors?
Anyway, those guys would always wave at me as they passed. Most
of the trains were very long with 75 to 115 cars. And yes I
counted them :) And 115 was the most I counted on a train.
One song I listened to, and found had a nice beat to pedal to was
"The Difference" by The Wallflowers. |