We completed the ride.  My friend Craig Matteson who graduated from MMA the year before I did showed up at the house on Tuesday morning and we headed out on our adventure.  Tuesday’s ride of 136 miles was tough, especially the rough roads on the last 70 miles from San Marcos to Kenedy.  Getting up Wednesday morning wasn’t terribly difficult, but we both started feeling the effects of rough roads and too much time in the saddle shortly after lunch when we turned into the wind.  The last 30 miles of the trip to Kingsville (total 108 miles for the day) were painful.  I was moving slowly on Thursday morning before we got going, but also was looking forward to approximately 100 miles on the relatively flat roads between Kingsville and Harlingen.  I knew we were going to have wind, but I underestimated it.  It was a long hard ride south across the King Ranch, with nothing but cars going by, dead animals on the road, and a headwind that varied from strong to really strong.  At least the roads were relatively smooth most of the way.

I took a whole bunch of pictures and am working on a ride journal.  Until then, you can take a look at the pictures page that the Marine Military Academy cycling coach posted from the last day, when two cadets joined us for the last leg of the journey.  The balloons and flowers, by the way, are gifts from Debra and Craig’s wife Mickie.  I think the cadets were a little embarrassed getting their pictures taken while holding flowers, but they’ll get over it.