This morning started out great. It was a perfect morning, perfect temperature and the roads were smooth. I was thinking I might get some feeling back in my hands.
Last night I went across the parking lot to Maverick Steaks and Spirits. Sounds kinda fancy. I walk in and have no idea how it works. First thing there is a register. You tell the girl what you want - ordered the rib eye for about $20 and iced tea. I paid with a card and added a $5 tip. She hands me a ticket and a $5 bill and says to give the tip to the server (she more than earned the tip with the number of iced teas she brought me). Salad bar and desert bar included. The salad bar had ribs and chicken. The rather large couple at the next table just had salad bar ... several trips ... and desert bar. I restrained myself for the steak even though I burned a few calories yesterday.
So the first couple of hours the riding is pretty nice. I was riding on some really quite farm roads. No place to get actual breakfast so I settled for a gas station breakfast burrito. It was actually pretty good. There don't seem to be many restaurants in the middle of America, just fuel stations. The little towns I passed through had the burned out buildings where the stores used to be.
After that the roads started getting rough. Really rough. Cross seams with big painful gaps. My speed dropped and my hurt went up. One 20km section was particularly bad. Normally you can see the cross seams and pick the least jarring section but it was hard to see these. I got bounced around. Riding on a road like that is just no fun.
Other places I was on the frontage road to I-55 and it had no shoulder at all. Traffic was not terrible but the cars were fast.
The Route 66 route took a bit of a detour near the end of the day into the town of Atlanta. It was the first cute Route 66 town I've seen. They maintained their buildings and put civic stuff in them. I would recommend it as a place to stop ... I did not as I was near the end of a painful day.
Looks like tonight I have a choice of McDonald's or Subway. I'm not lovin' it.
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