Back in Peoria. As previously stated, on Sunday, I made it to north of Waco before my car ran over a sharp screw. I stayed the night and got 4 new tires.
Then I made it as far as Ft. Leonard Wood and stayed the night; made it in this morning.
Workout: each day, I used the exercise bike in the hotel and got 10 miles in 34-39 minutes, and did my usual rehab.
Summary for my road workouts:
bike 10 miles and rehab: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
weights: Friday, Sunday
Elliptical: Saturday
Hotels: Hampton Inn: Wednesday Night (Muskogee), Monday night (Ft. Leonard Wood).
Sunday night: Holiday Inn
Thursday, Friday, Saturday: Omni (Austin, Southpark)
I’ve been impressed with the Hampton; it is a bit like a value Hilton, if you will.
Traffic: the amount of semis on the road is insane. There is more than ever; in fact one of the hotel clerks noted it.
But as far as the “non-flat-tire” lowlights:
I saw 8-10 highway trooper speed traps. All but ONE were in Illinois, and the Illinois portion was easily less than 20 percent of the trip, in mileage. They were EVERYWHERE along I-55 from St. Louis to the I-155 turn off which leads to Peoria..and of course, lots of orange barrels…
I-35 from Austin to Dallas was dreadful. Sunday saw 41 minutes worth of delays on that stretch, mostly between Austin and Waco. I’d say that there were 5 places with stopped traffic: South Austin, North Austin, Round Rock, Temple, Waco. In fact, googlemaps reroute through Waco to avoid the pile up on I-35 is where I caught my nail.
I-635 around Dallas; the northern part, was awful. It really is quicker to cut right through: I-35 to US 75.
People were kind and generous. When I was waiting for AAA to come (flat tire), I went ahead and put on the doughnut myself. 4 different guys and 4 different times asked if I needed help! I got it ok. And the AAA guy gave me a great tip to stay at the Holiday Inn that was next to Discount Tires, and they set me up with new tires and had me on my way in an hour!
All of the hotel people were kind and courteous.
Now, about COVID…that is for Part II. Note: this delta variant is no joke.
Life of an old goat 