For some reason, last night neither Rick nor I slept well, even though we were physically exhausted from our bike ride yesterday. We both had headaches and went to bed early, falling asleep pretty quickly but we tossed and turned all night long and this morning we woke up feeling drained with our heads still aching. Regardless of how we felt, we wanted to get back on the road to continue our trek east so once we had breakfast and packed things up we set off at 9:45 AM. Our planned destination was Denison, Texas about 350 miles east of here and with sunny skies, warm temperatures and little wind we were optimistic that we would get there in good time.

Initially our route took us south along Hwy 27 to Plainview and though the terrain was mostly flat, it seemed all we saw were either cattle or cotton fields. Once we got on Hwy 70, the countryside was constantly changing, as was the colour of the soil going from grey to brown to red to grey again. For the longest time for as far as the eye could see, it was as flat and vast as could be with the occasional tidy farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and then we would come across rolling hills. The highway was great; wide and smooth with service roads along both sides and the grassy median was dotted with spring flowers of yellow, purple, white and orange. The farther east we went, the greener the grass became and it was obvious that we were in the heart of Texas "cattle country".

By the time we reached Hwy 287 it was nearing 1:30 PM and we were both still not feeling great. Denison was at least another three and a half hours away so we made the decision to do what we always said we wouldn't do; we were going to find a Wal-Mart and park there overnight. Most Wal-Marts welcome RVer's to use their parking lots for an overnight visit but we have often seen others abuse their generosity; hence we were hesitant to do it ourselves. At more than one location and on more than one occasion, we have seen RVs parked with their jacks down, slides out and even lawn chairs and BBQs set up for a few days at a time! We are at the Gainesville, Texas Wal-Mart and we went into the store and confirmed that it was okay to stay here. After buying some groceries and a few other incidentals, we realized that our "free" night's stay cost us a lot more than an RV park would have, but it was worth it to be able to rest here for the night. Thanks Wal-Mart!