A hard day of riding for Maggie, Tim, Abby and a new  rider , Russell who we met yesterday evening at the motel in Johnson City. Russell is a guy who loves to ride his bike and this is his sixth  trip across the southern tier , obviously he likes  biking as he has been doing it every year for the last five. When he’s not riding his bike he spends his time mountain climbing in Utah.And this gentleman is 71 years old. He says he really likes the solitude of riding.  We enjoyed his many stories about his trips, he offered up some tips on various areas that we will be riding into. We parted ways with him today after lunch. He states that he does not take days off, but he does avoid metropolitan areas like Austin by taking a cab to a motel at the outskirts of the city and continues from there the next day. Donna and Jeff are not able to ride today was Donna was not feeling well and Jeff decided to stay back with her. She is fine now. Body just telling the mind 11 days with no rest days is pushing it.  Abby road for half a day became weak and fatigued and we told her that she should stop riding,  at that point she did not argue another one who hadn’t taken rest days.  Maggie and Tim continued on where they encountered  many hills & blind curves .  At one point they called George the sag driver to tell him not to bring his motorhome over the planned route as the bridge that he was to traverse was only good up to 28,000 pounds and it really dipped low at the bottom and they were concerned that the tow vehicle would bottom out. we  rerouted and met up with them again later down the country road. After lunch Tim and Maggie set out for the  remaining 15 miles into Austin , where they rode through residential streets and frontage highways often to confusing directions & construction. Tim reports most drivers were courteous  . Once we reached our motel, The quality inn in Austin we parted ways with Abby. She has been a nice addition to our group. She will be staying at an air bed B&B for the next couple of days. Hopefully  we will meet up again in DeRidder Louisiana. 

We will be here in Austin and plan to do some sightseeing before leaving for Smithville Texas on Saturday morning.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23283649