Danny’s Ride

Miles: 63 Total

Total Trip Miles to Date: 1,379.72
Flat Tires: 17
Drew: 13
Danny: 4

We ate at a great breakfast buffet in Dublin to start the morning.  It was delicious and offered eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, biscuits and gravy and hash browns.  We put a pretty good size dent in the buffet.  Both Danny and I had 3-4 plates each.

We then drove down the street to the famous Dublin’s Dr. Pepper museum.  As we arrived we found that the museum did not open until 10:00 rather than 9:00 as we thought.  We were disappointed as we had heard so many great things about the museum.  We took some pictures of the outside and talked to an employee of the museum. After hearing what we were doing, they volunteered to provide a private tour of the museum before it opened.

We were thrilled and quickly took him up on his offer.  We learned that the difference between Dublin Dr. Pepper and the Dr. Pepper sold around the world is the pure cane sugar that Dublin uses as opposed to corn syrup.  The real sugar resulted in a sweeter taste.  We were given a free 8.5 ounce bottle to drink during the tour.  It was delicious!

We learned all about Dublin’s history including its owners.  It was easy to see the passion for Dublin Dr. Pepper that all of the employees had.  This wasn’t a job to pay the bills, this was much, much more.  It is a thrill to be around people who are so passionate about what they do that it rubs off onto you.

We ended the tour at the Dublin Dr. Pepper soda fountain and gift shop.  Danny and I enjoyed a delicious Dublin Dr. Pepper as we admired all of the Dr. Pepper merchandise on sale.

We got on the road about 11:00 a.m. which is a late start when you are trying to ride over 80 miles but we gladly would have stayed longer to enjoy more of the Dublin Dr. Pepper Museum.  Danny and I enjoyed a very scenic route.  The weather could not have been any better.  The high was in the upper 80’s and there was little to no wind.  In fact, it was the least amount of wind that we have had since entering Texas.

The route was a difficult one for bicycles.  The highway offered a terrific shoulder but the road was constantly going straight up or down.  If you weren’t going up a hill, you were looking right into one.  It was a difficult ride especially with Danny not feeling well.  Danny had been suffering with symptoms of bronchitis and I had woken up this morning with the same symptoms.

During our ride we saw African goats, llamas, donkeys, real Texas Long-Horns and plenty of cattle.  By 4:00 we reached a Subway about 43 miles into the ride.  We were exhausted from the hills.  We silently ate our subs and tried to gather the energy to go an additional 40 miles.  There was not enough energy in the subs or in any food for that matter, to get us that much further.

We compromised in doing 19 more miles.  We were still exhausted but climbed back on to our bikes.  Just before 7:00 p.m., we climbed into the motor home in Laguna Park, Texas.  We had just finished covering 500 miles in only 6 days.  We were worn out.  We drove to the Ft. Worth area where we had two nights in La Quinta in White Settlement, Texas compliments of the manager of the previous La Quinta we had stayed at – Kevin Holt.  Thank You Kevin!!

We walked to an IHOP in the parking lot, had dinner and went back to the hotel for bed.