I wanted to start off this leg of the trip more or less where I left off in Marshall on part I.  This is essentially the Marshall bus station.  It turns out that it moved over the winter, from a dedicated property downtown to a corner of the Pony Express gas station, near the junction of Hwy 59 and I-20.  This meant a little backtracking.  No problem; a little duplication of effort.  I stayed at a small family owned hotel the previous night, and arranged to leave my car for the time I was riding the bike.

Mon 2013/06/03

Start mile 5814.3 end 5856.1 daily 41.8 segment 41.8 trip 353.7

This first day of the second leg of my trip, I rode from Marshall to Vivian, Louisiana.

The forecast called for 90 degree temperatures and 5-10 mph headwinds most of the way; judging from flags and waving grass, I think they topped out about 15 mph.  This was a mostly flat and level 41.8 miles but was my first ride after a while and the heat and wind got to me.  I had numerous breaks, and drank a lot of water.  I freeloaded water from 2 places, a nice lady who visited with me when I had a break in front of her property, and a Baptist church.  There was a mix of good roads with wide shoulder and narrow or no shoulder.

I stopped for an awful lunch at a gas station in Texas.

In Vivian, there was only one hotel in town, which I had located on the trip down from Hot Springs.  The front desk lady was a bit surly in my interaction with her, and I was tired, so I didn’t ask too many questions at check-in.  I spent some time in the room and the attached restaurant closed by the time I got to it at 21:00, and there were no others nearby.  I ate some gas station food and crashed for the night.