160: Don't drink the water!

Well, there's a first time for everything.  Today we heard from other guests at the diner that we should not drink the water in Marlin, where we stayed last night.  Oops! It's a little late for that. We brushed our teeth, we took our meds this morning, we filled the water bottles . . . what's the problem?

Moon set over Marlin

We started our day early - before daybreak - and drove just a little bit out of our way to find some breakfast because the road ahead looked to be completely bereft of places that we could stop to eat. (And by the way, as we rode through it in real time, we were able to confirm that!) So, we rode up to the Lakeside Grill in the dark and ordered our breakfast - which was great - and wondered how this nice place was going to make it with no other customers. Not to worry; before we finished our breakfast several other tables filled with folks coming in to eat. Two of them, Johnny and Gerald, were interested in our trip and we enjoyed visiting with them and answering their questions. Somehow, I don't remember exactly, the topic of Marlin and the "boil the water" letter came up. What?

It seems that there had been some trouble with the municipal water supply. Locals were told to boil the water or use bottled water. Rather than risk getting sick (better safe than sorry), we stopped at the gas station before leaving town, poured out our water bottles, and refilled them with purchased water.

While we were there, the sun was coming down main street,

Blazing gold morning in Marlin

which I guess is why all the birds in town like to roost on these wires.  Sort of creepy, really - all those birds lined up so precisely on the lines!  There were also scads of dead crickets all over the sidewalks near the building. They were also around the ice machine and soda machine. I figure that perhaps they head there at night because it's warm, and if the building has been sprayed, then they all die while they are hanging out overnight. In any case - yuck! Not a pretty sight!

Hitchcock-ian scene

Mass suicide of crickets?

Rolling through the countryside we passed another Texas icon - the pumpjack!  This one was petite - a small size I have not seen before.

Every Texan needs one of these

And then just 30 miles down the road, and there's Mom and Dad waiting to greet us.  Since you can't see Mom (she is behind the I pad, trying to get a picture), I've included a better picture of them both.

It's good to be here.  More family coming to visit this weekend - can't wait!

Mom and Dad waiting to welcome us in

Dad

Mom

An update on the axle issue:  Roger has found a fellow that works up wheels for tandems, and in consultation with him, decided it was time to replace the wheel set. So we have ordered those, and they will be sent to a bike shop in Fort Worth, where we expect to be middle of next week.  We will swap out the whole shebang at that time.  We will probably ship the old ones home . . .  Anybody need a set of wheels?!

The day's report:  Marlin to Waco, 36.4 miles/7587 to date

By the way, I went on-line to check on the situation with Marlin's water. There was a health alert about a year and a half ago, when there was a problem with the city's filtration system and a leak somewhere. But it must have been fixed, because the City's water department website said "no alerts at this time."  Whew!