Day 67 - Time out in Texas

Texas QLD - 0km (Good Friday)

After a 'Texas by night' wander and the most fulfilling Chinese dinner, it's nice to stretch into a 'day off' this morning. Being 'good Catholic girls' we keep the energy expenditure low today. The same can be said for the energy intake... after Chinese Panda's MSG loaded dishes, we long for something light and green. 

When we stroll into town to get some lunch supplies, we meet more of the town's friendly faces. We get good travel advice from the lady at the cash register, who recognises us from the day before (aren't you the cyclists?) and she gives us the thumbs up for choosing the long way around into the Granite Belt wine region. Too many steep hills and windy road sections on the most direct route. So we are going to head north  (Coolmunda Dam) before heading east towards Stanthorpe.

With our new investment in the useful equipment department, a fluffy pet blanket, there are no more excuses not to engage in some well needed off-the-bike exercises. Over the past weeks, we neglected to allocate some downtime to stretch and flex the parts of our bodies that are doing all the hard work. As peaceful and low-impact riding your bicycle around the country for 4-6 hours a day is, it is also very static. We try to change our daily routines on the bikes a little bit, to shake up the inbuilt memory of our bodies. Sometimes we stop every 10km, sometimes every 30 minutes. And sometimes the terrain does it for you (e.g. gravel road, potholes, cattle grid, floodways). But there's no denying that our bodies become a bit like sewing machines clunked on a bicycle: steady and static at the top, and a constant up and down in the legworks. 

So today is a perfect day for some downward facing dog and a tree pose. Thanks to the years of yoga guidance by our dear friend Jane, we both have a little repertoire of exercise routines, that take mind and body to a quiet place. And paired with the recommended exercises from the equally dear friend Anna, a touch of physiotherapy is added. Honestly, sometimes I don't know how I would crawl out of a tiny tent in the morning without the meaningful teachings these two women have brought into our lives. They have taught us what our bodies can and can't do, in the most meaningful and healing ways. 

While we cook dinner, we receive company from one of the caravan park's permanent residents. A seventy something lonely lost and heartbroken soul (Louise thinks that's a generous description) who tries to see the positives in life but pretty much disagrees with everything you say. He is not rude or impolite. It's just that life doesn't offer much prospect to spark something good. Within an hour he shares his story: from being in the army (Vietnam Veteran) to his various jobs (truck driver), his divorce, the son who doesn't talk to him, his vast array of medical issues and life in a small caravan park in Texas, costing him $150 a week. With a fortnightly pension of $900, which needs to cover a small ute, a mobile phone and groceries, there is not much left for dreaming big. The thing is, this is not the first time we've meet characters like him. We run into them in these tiny towns, where living on the edge, of society and otherwise, is possible, but even then still frowned upon. 

Once he returns to his humble living arrangements, we ponder that same question again: if we keep running into these men, where are the women? Maybe one day, we meet them and hear their stories?