June 13-21

Trailer Destruction Day was June 13th and I documented it here. Our progress was interrupted for a couple days while we waited for Trailer 2.0, but we were back on the road and rolling into east Texas soon enough.

Somewhere between College Station and the Louisiana border, the National Weather Service started issuing Heat Advisories. “It’s going to be very hot. Be careful. Increased risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.” It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced heat and humidity like that. I worked in landscaping for a couple summers in Oklahoma, but now I’m old. Every day I sweated like crazy even before we started riding. Jax panted nonstop and was only interested in running before sunrise. The air was too wet for panting or sweating to do much good, so we just drank a lot of water, stopped to rest in the shade once in awhile and kept on rolling. I may be old, but I’m not dead yet. Suck it, heat.

The best part of our east Texas leg was reconnecting with my buddy Johnny Howard, whom I’ve known for about 50 years. 50. Years! We had a lot of catching up to do and it made me proud to see all that he’s accomplished with his life.