PowerCycle

04/09 Had a nice break from the heat thanks to some scattered rain showers and mostly cloudy skies. I’ve never enjoyed riding in the rain so much. I’m officially out of the mountains and in the flatlands now. The jungle I thought would be here is missing though. There are pockets of trees but mostly its farm or grazing land.

Scared a guy with a machine gun today. While riding on a free highway I ran into a toll booth where they wanted a peso to pass. I rode up onto the sidewalk thinking I’d be able to get by without paying. I made it 2 feet before this army guy(?) comes running out of a bunker that I didn’t even see. He pointed over to the sidewalk on the other side so I went over there and passed by the toll.

Further down the road I ran into a checkpoint just before a rainstorm was about to hit. The military guys there let me pass after one of them spent a minute asking about my GPS. He thought I was crazy when he saw I was about to keep riding even though it was going to pour. It did but only for 15 minutes or so.

Camped out a Penmax station (elevation: 14 feet). The spot they pointed me over to is nice. Lot’s of shade, soft grass and flat ground. Cooked up some pasta and canned tuna for dinner. Learned the hard way that a) fire ants live here, and b) they like the juice from tuna cans. I didn’t know Neosporin helped with ant bites. Glad it does.

Now there’s a flock of sheep grazing outside my tent.

GPX Track

Flat, flat, flat.

Starting to see a few big rivers.