Day 1

For the past week it has seemed that there haven't been enough hours in day to get stuff done. I never knew that straying from a life that you have yourself set into would be so exhausting. This morning I woke up at 5:15 AM with only about 4 hours of sleep. Even as I was brushing my teeth I was still trying to think of any last minute things that I had to do before I left. My girlfriend Jenny showed up to take me to Austin about 5:45 AM and we were on the road by 6:30. I was so tired still that I slept for most of the car ride up there. I really wanted to stay awake and talk to Jenny for our last few hours of the summer together but she let me sleep. Thank you Jenny. When we got to the tower for the send-off there were lots of friends and family members around spending those last few moments with their loved ones. A few TV stations showed up to video our departure. I got interviewed by one of them but I don't know if it actually got aired. My father and my sister Shelley made the trip to Austin to see me off as well. After a short speech from Chris and Dustin we were on our way for a quick lap around the capitol one last time with the entire team before we split up. After the lap both of the routes gathered and went their respective ways to Alaska. Kevin Livingston rode with us until we got to Bee Caves and gave us some last minute pointers before we were completely on our own. For the whole day the heat was almost unbearable. At one point a rider said that the temperature on the road was 118 degrees. At about mile 48 I started to feel a little sick so we pulled over in the shade so that I could eat something. After a little rest we were on our way but we weren't five miles down the road and I started to feel sick again. I have never gotten heat exhaustion before but I think that I was starting to show the signs so I road in the van with Sunny from about mile 61 until we reached Llano. The people in Llano fed us a wonderful meal, which many were saying was the best that they had ever had. Since there were no showers around everyone went down to the Llano River to bathe. After much fun in the water and one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen we went back to the church and settled into our sleeping bags. With a century + some on the agenda I need all the sleep that I can get.