I agree, txvintage. I could see Josh taking off on an around-the-world tour. I'm glad to see he's thinking about going the rest of the way with Ryan. We joked yesterday that he was stocked for touring a third world country..

I enjoyed riding with the two of them yesterday, even though things didn't seem to be going our way at all. When we left La Grange, Ryan got ahead of us while I made sure Josh had the route in his GPS and stopped to pick up a couple snack items. Before I could catch up to him he missed the turn for Fayetteville(if the visibilty had been more than 150 yards I may have been able to seem him miss it), but when it was realized he over shot it I was able to give him alternate directions to meet back with me at Fayetteville. Ryan and I met back up in Fayetteville, but Josh got a flat several miles before town. After repairing that one, he got one on his other tire and, out of tubes and with no patch kit, had to thumb a ride to town.

After I introduced Ryan to kolaches(he'd never heard of them until yesterday), Ryan went ahead and left for Industry, while I stayed in Fayetteville to repair a flat I'd gotten in town. When Josh arrived, we patched his tire. A mile down the road he got another flat, using my last patch. At this point, we were out of tubes and patches, and were hoping to catch up to Ryan in Industry. A few more miles down the road, I got another flat and started walking, still 8 miles or so from Industry. Josh caught back up to me and we thumbed a ride to Industry(turns out the guy who gave us the ride is one of the many people who sit in front of the shops in Fayetteville during the MS150 to cheer us on as we ride through), where during all of our troubles, Ryan did the NPR interview and had been pretty much adopted my the nice ladies at Industry Telephone Co. One of the ladies there packed us all a bag of snacks for when we finally did make it on the road again.

While Josh got a head start, I used one of Ryan's patches to patch my tube and we got back on the road and caught up to Josh. The rest of the ride to Bellville went smoothly and we found a Mexican restaurant where we enjoyed some food and some Shiner Bocks before my ride came to get me.

All in all, it was a great day of riding(despite being plagued by flats) and I really enjoyed meeting and riding with Joshua and Ryan. They're a couple of great guys and I'm sure they'll accomplish whatever goals they put in front of themselves. I didn't take many pictures(too busy doing tire repair), but I've attached a couple. One of Ryan getting in some quick video before leaving La Grange, the other of Josh, loaded and ready for some serious touring. It hit me later I never got any pics of all three of us, oh well.

-Chase