I was especially excited to reach Decatur, today's destination, for Cheyenne Rose in Denton planned to meet me. A real life friend tonight! Just like that, my heart was renewed ... Every morning was the start of a new day, and this would turn out to be a good one.

The farther I rode into Texas, the more often I saw homes like this one with old trucks, junk and crap in front yards. My photo does not do justice to the grand "landscape" of this property. ;)

Somewhere in either east New Mexico or Texas, I noticed the altitude was no longer shown on town entrance signs. If anything was included, the population was usually listed.

I rested at a conveniene store and gas station in Jacksboro, and met a rather odd fellow who kept talking to me out front in way that reminded me of ... people who talk too much! He encouraged me to get free samples of chewing tobacco being offered next door, and when I declined, he rambled about how I was probably interested in "health foods" because of my long bicycle trip. Whatever.

RIGHT PHOTO: I got a reflection of myself from the store window as I chomped on Cracker Jacks. That is not a blue oxygen tube I was wearing; It is the tube to my Camelback that holds about 50 ounces of liquid.

Highway 380 does not go into Dallas; Another highway merged with this one and would somehow travel southeast into the big city.

I rested in Runaway Bay, Texas. The area sort of felt like a potential tourist spot in some respects with large nearby lakes, yet at the same time, it was hard to feel like I was in vacationland being in flat northeast Texas! :p)

I had a difficulty photographing the scenery, and settled for this view outside the store where I sat outside.

I stayed at a motel on the 380 bypass in Decatur and the roar of highway traffic was never far away. The motelkeeper was friendly and I asked her if Decatur was becoming a "suburb of Dallas" because of sprawl from Fort Worth and Dallas. She insisted that was not the case. The woman originally grew up in Gainesville and lit up with encouragement when I pointed out Gainesville and Sherman were on the route for tomorrow ride.

I ate at Eat at Yesterday's Texas and ordered a bacon cheeseburger with onion rings that were a little on the crumbly side. You must realize by this point, four weeks into the journey, I was in amazing shape. I was riding about 60-70 miles regularly each day and the energy expended translated into a huge appetite. It seemed like I was always hungry! I realize regularly eating food like this would not be good for anyone's health in the long-term, but c'mon, I deserved to eat whatever I wanted after my painstaking efforts on the bike each day! :)

The waitress, a young girl, was very social and even sat in my booth as she took my order. She knew southern New Mexico well and grew up in Artesia, NM, farther south of Highway 380. She was well-acquainted with Roswell and Tatum, two places I stayed in just a week ago.

ADJACENT PHOTO: There was a mannequin inside the restaurant, and when I saw it, I just knew I had to post like a fellow mannequin next to it! :)

Cheyenne Rose! I have known Cheyenne for six years and I had not seen her since 2004 when I attended a Halloween party at her house. Cheyenne is now happily married and busy developing her music career. I was so fortunate that she drove from Denton to see me this evening. We dined at Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes in a the town square in Decatur.

"Steve is riding his bicycle across America!" Cheyenne blurted out to the waitress, in an effort to boast about me, "He rode here all the way from California!"

Often, simply stating that I rode my bike from San Diego to whatever spot I was in was enough to impress people, and it did with our waitress.

"How many flat tires have you had so far?" she asked, with a lot of eye contact.

"Three*." I answered, without hesitation. I think my straightforward answer convinced her I was for real.

The waitress, who was originally from northern California, seemed impressed with my feat and was quite flirtatious with me. Cheyenne thought it was hilarious!

The waitress talked on and on about the appetizers and on another visit took a lot of time showing us something about the baked potatos. It was quite amusing! I actually had a few females during the journey show unusual interest in me; I think it's the whole thing about women being attracted to bicyclists! ;)

By this point, most people had some kind of reaction of astonishment if I shared that I was bicycling across America. "I rode my bike here from San Diego" was usually a simple and good enough line. With this ride to Decatur, it had been four full weeks on the road, and people seemed equally amazed at my time if I told them.

Anyway, Cheyenne and I caught up with each other about our lives and we had a great time. It was always touching to see old friends on the road: Jennifer and Krista, Phil, Joel and Brandi, Dave-O, Glenda and now Cheyenne. It meant so much.

* - Three flat tires so far, and the last one was on "Day 10" in Arizona. That was 17 days and 950 miles out on the road without a flat. Not bad! No worries though, for there would be eight more flats (yes eight!) happening before I would reach the Atlantic Ocean. Stay tuned!

I really think I could show this picture and fool people into thinking I had visited some castle in Ireland or Scotland. What do you think? :)

* - This was nuts! I am typing this on May 6, 2008 at my home in Colorado and I am still not suffering from any spring-related allergies. Spring takes its good ol' leisurely time showing up here. There are no flowers and absolutely none of the leaf-bearing trees in our town are green yet. The temperatures have finally reached highs in the 50's and 60's regularly, but locals like myself know we will surely receive more modest amounts of snowfall before summer arrives.

Adjacent Photo: After dinner, Cheyenne drove me to a Walmart to buy some stuff, including allergy pills. Having spent a lot of time in convenience stores with higher markups, I was shocked at how cheap Luna Bars and triple threat Power Bars were!