Trip Update - Iowa to Texas

Des Moines to Dallas by bicycle. Seven hundred and fifty some miles in two and a half weeks. I left Des Moines on new tires, with a new air mattress, and eighteen dollars. Thanks John. I got to Dallas with sixteen dollars and spent eighty along the way. Also notable was that my new friend Rob in Lawrence paid to replace my broken shifter cable, bought me the best bar tape, and had the bike tuned. He also bought lots of strong beer, several meals, and donated twenty dollars for the road.

New friends were plentiful: the old redneck in Creston, IA, two women at the church where I camped, the guy with the old truck on the Kansas state line, Rob in Lawrence and his brother Pack who I never met in person but somehow know now through the heart of his brother, all the beautiful people I met in Iola including the garden people and the McDonald's workers, the older girl who had a pretty necklace in Tulsa, Tom in Okmulgee who wanted me to stay and work with him, the two old guys in Waleetka who gave me a beer and shared their hearts, Yates at the church who listened deeply beneath the words I was saying, the woman waxing furniture in Coalgate and the man with three daughters who coached the flag football practice in the park there, the State Park worker at Eisenhower State Park in Texas, the hotel receptionist who lent me wifi, the evil eye girl, the Salvadoran, and Tibor. All these people are in my heart and this is not said metaphorically or to color the writing. They changed the frequency of my heart, each one with a profound expression of love. There were some few others. I'm deeply thankful for each of these encounters. I actually was keeping to myself and less outgoing than usual on this segment of the journey. Anyway, I reckon I have a new heartsong now but I'm still just learning the tune. It's lovely though...

This is from the last day of the trip:

It was such a tough morning of closed roads and bad directions that after twenty some miles of this, a 7/11 looked like heaven. There was a tree near the corner of the store and, after plugging in my charger, I parked myself in the shade leaning cross legged against my bike with my hat off in front of me.

I'd been there about half an hour when a beautiful young woman pulled up. She sat in her car for a minute before she got out then approached me. She said, "I decided to give you this" and handed me a five dollar bill. When I complimented her on her eye necklace she said that she worked in a jewelry store and many Egyptians shop there, that it was an "evil eye". She was quite Nubian herself and although American, was very much a Nubian queen or even a Goddess herself and very radiant.

The next twenty miles were all urban, from the 7/11 through Plano and into the Dallas city limits. I stopped at another convenience store along in there to rest in the shade. As I parked the bike, a young man came out from the store and lit a cigarette. I asked if I could have one and we started to talk. He was from El Salvador and was excited that I'd just been there. In turn, I was excited to meet another Salvadoran, I love Salvadorans. We became friends. Then he offered me a meal from the store and was delighted to give me a brat, chips, and a soda.

The last twenty miles of my ride today were mostly all on bike paths. At the very start of the first one I met Tibor, a Croatian man. He was 34 year old architect wearing a surfing shirt. We became friends right away, such friends that I dismounted from my bike and walked with him. We probably walked four miles talking about relationships mostly but also Qi Kung which we'd both practiced, those and other subjects. It was very much a natural friendship. Then for some reason I asked his birthday. It was the same as mine but nineteen years later. No wonder we understood each other.

I landed to a warm welcome at my brother friend's house in east Dallas. I'll rest a day then roll on towards Houston.