Day 12 San Antonio - Port Arthur (330 miles)

Hi there Listeners! Sorry about yesterday and the distinct lack of blog. It was a great day but by the time we had arrived at the luxurious Holiday Inn, freezing cold, all we had the effort to do was to have a hot shower and go and have the first Margarita we could find. Four or five later, and I'm not a margarita fan, we felt warmer and certainly better. During discussions, Nutting decided that he now had to leave from New Orleans on Thursday back to the UK, so the last part of our itinerary has now had to change to accomadate Roy Rogers. So we have now skipped Houston and gone straight to Port Arthur with a view to being in New Orleans tomorrow. So, after a bleary eyed start and the mandatory trip to a cowboy store for more boots, belts, buckles and t-shirts for Nutting, we set off. I adopted the huskey position and couldn't help but laugh at the size of Nutting's travel bag now loaded with all the cowboy kit. At the beginning of the trip I could see most of his back and head; now he resembles an asian trader with his entire house on the back of his scooter. Poor Trigger, the drag must be enormous.

The 3 things we have to look out most for when riding are:

1. Roadkill
2. Dust, dirt, stones and large insects hitting you at 70/80mph
3. Shredded tyres or tires, as they're called over here.

Dead animals pose more of a threat than the live ones for the time being, but you normally smell them before you see them, and then there's the bugs and stones. I've been hit in the shin a few times by flying stones and it hurts like hell but this afternoon I was hit on the forehead between my glasses and helmet by a big bug at about 80mph. I don't know if anyone else heard my shouting and swearing for the two miles it lasted but I never knew that a bug could hurt so much. If you want the experience, just hang your head out of the window whilst driving at a similar speed and top tip; keep your mouth closed ALL the time!! Finally, shredding tyres/tires. A trunk and trailer roared past us at about 90mph and about 2 mins later one of the trailer tyres starts to disintigrate all over the road. It smells like burning rubber and bits of tyre of all shapes and sizes are spread all over the road. It's a bit like playing a arcade game of trying to avoid the bits of tyre as other cars do the same. Certainly gets the heartbeat up a bit, which is a good thing given the lack of exercise we've taken and the excess amount of crap food we've eaten!!

So, I'm sorry listeners but today we put the hammer down and didn't even have time to take a photo of Houston. Tomorrow is our last day in the saddle so allow me some nostalgia tomorrow as we head out on our last day. Somewhat relieved, somewhat sad. Anyway, more soon listeners.........