Day 22 - A "Rest" In Houston, Texas County, Missouri
This whole rest day thing is not that restful. It's like a weekend shoved into a few hours where you don't sleep late, have to get on a computer to blog for five hours (not complaining about that - but it is time consuming), do yer stink laundry, wish you were on the road, eat bad food, etc. Of everyone i've met i think i'm taking the most breaks at one day per week (at least for the first three). And none have been in a place i've particularly enjoyed. Blacksburg VA was ok - but i was a little bit of a wreck: both emotionally and under the weather. And Blacksburg was eerily empty since Virginia Tech had emptied out the town the week before. Week 2 rest day was Bardstown with the evil librarians who were absolutely out to get me, don't care what you say. Week 3 rest day was Houston, Missouri. (In Texas County, the largest County in MO, in case you were wondering.
Now the librarians in Houston were awesome, in that they left me alone to blog for several hours. I saw Drew there in the morning and we had an awkward shoulda-been-a-hug-but-went-for-the-handshake goodbye. He was wearing his red sweat-encrusted t-shirt that i'd seen as proof of his existence on the horizon in front of me (or the occasional time in back when i was ahead) for the last few days of riding together. I sat down at a computer next to a jolly woman (whose name i did not get) who gave me a rundown of the town and why it was notable (the circus performer Emmett Kelly was born there, and the park is named after him). I stepped outside for a few minutes to speak to Sharon about Common Ground happenings, and when i came back, the nice woman had written down where i should be eating.
Unfortunately, i took her advice and went to a place on her list and ordered the special. It was pork tenderloin. Now, i've never had pork tenderloin before, and it was the only item on the menu that was not a burger of some sort and, being a special, it came with some other stuff, including peas, not really the vegetable i had in mind but... So anyway, pork tenderloin is basically chicken-fried pork - why didn't i guess this?? - with that same baby-diarrhea gravy that's been slathered on a lot of meals i've witnessed and experienced. I picked at the peas and bravely gnawed at the meat underneath the several layer coating. It was pouring in Houston, and more was predicted for the next day. Schwarzenegger's proposed major cuts which are going to massively affect Common Ground and our clients. Donny's TV deal and our health insurance in jeopardy. And chicken-fried pork. Tenderloin sounds like something, well, nice. Doesn't it? Those ten years i spent as a vegetarian still have left gaps in my culinary knowledge.
So Day 22 wasn't particularly restful. (I keep thinking: Next time i take a rest day, it'll be somewhere nice. Let's hope...) I ambled to Wal-Mart in search of a treat, too hot to wear my raingerar but too rainy not to. I bought a bag of Sam's Recipe (not realizing that "Sam" is Sam Walton, who started it all. Way to jump in headfirst, Getzoff!) and ate it in my hotel room watching the lightning strike.
Now the librarians in Houston were awesome, in that they left me alone to blog for several hours. I saw Drew there in the morning and we had an awkward shoulda-been-a-hug-but-went-for-the-handshake goodbye. He was wearing his red sweat-encrusted t-shirt that i'd seen as proof of his existence on the horizon in front of me (or the occasional time in back when i was ahead) for the last few days of riding together. I sat down at a computer next to a jolly woman (whose name i did not get) who gave me a rundown of the town and why it was notable (the circus performer Emmett Kelly was born there, and the park is named after him). I stepped outside for a few minutes to speak to Sharon about Common Ground happenings, and when i came back, the nice woman had written down where i should be eating.
Unfortunately, i took her advice and went to a place on her list and ordered the special. It was pork tenderloin. Now, i've never had pork tenderloin before, and it was the only item on the menu that was not a burger of some sort and, being a special, it came with some other stuff, including peas, not really the vegetable i had in mind but... So anyway, pork tenderloin is basically chicken-fried pork - why didn't i guess this?? - with that same baby-diarrhea gravy that's been slathered on a lot of meals i've witnessed and experienced. I picked at the peas and bravely gnawed at the meat underneath the several layer coating. It was pouring in Houston, and more was predicted for the next day. Schwarzenegger's proposed major cuts which are going to massively affect Common Ground and our clients. Donny's TV deal and our health insurance in jeopardy. And chicken-fried pork. Tenderloin sounds like something, well, nice. Doesn't it? Those ten years i spent as a vegetarian still have left gaps in my culinary knowledge.
So Day 22 wasn't particularly restful. (I keep thinking: Next time i take a rest day, it'll be somewhere nice. Let's hope...) I ambled to Wal-Mart in search of a treat, too hot to wear my raingerar but too rainy not to. I bought a bag of Sam's Recipe (not realizing that "Sam" is Sam Walton, who started it all. Way to jump in headfirst, Getzoff!) and ate it in my hotel room watching the lightning strike.
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