After a restless night although there was some breeze early in the morning, I couldn't sleep any more as I woke up at 7am. I had a quick wash under the tap which helped cooled me down but did not help me feel any cleaner though. I had to make use of the portable toilet for the first time in my life, but it wasn't that bad perhaps because it was hardly utilised, for which I was thankful!!

Since the tire had lost a further 4 psi overnight the first thing to do this morning was to find a Walmart to fix the leak. I was thankful to God that I didn't have to change the tire in the campsite! We left the Mother Neff Park campsite at 9.25am and the nearest Walmart was about 17 miles away. On nearing the town of McGregor I mentioned to Alison to look out for a tire shop and without a second thought she started looking for it on the GPS leaving me blind and cursing, but she did find a tire shop 1 mile behind.

I immediately did a U turn and found the tire shop and no waiting time, unlike Walmart, as we were the only customer then. As soon as the tire was off, I noted the long large metal object in the inner side wall still stuck in the tire which explained the slow loss of pressure. The guy explained to me that he can't guarantee how long the repair would last as it was on a side wall but didn't have a tire to replace it. Anyway I told him not to worry, I'll keep it as a spare and to utilise the existing spare, which was repaired in Kruger park. The cost USD12 which was reasonable I thought.

I suggested to Alison that we try a Texan steak and when we saw a sign for a steakhouse we exited the highway and headed for it. As it turned out it was one of the chain steakhouse and we decided to share the ribs just in case the serving was big. To me it was just nice for the two of us but apparently it was not enough for Alison as she was still licking her lips after finishing her share. As for me I was just trying out what it tasted like and it was quite enough for me.

hereAs we neared Dallas it started to rain quite heavily and I thought we weren't meant to see where John F Kennedy was assassinated nor were we going to see the memorial. But suddenly the rain stopped and it had not been raining in Dallas itself. At first we thought the Dealy Plaza was the memorial but subsequently found it after reading the details of what happened on the fateful day.

In the meantime I nearly had not one but four accidents. Blame the Hispanics for the way they drive. They are mad on the roads and never would allow a car to cut in front of them even if a signal is applied. Then we headed towards Jacksonville as there was nothing else to see in Dallas. As we neared Athens Alison spotted the Super 8 Motel sign and suggested that we stopped there for the night. After 2 nights one of which was roughing it more tan a bit, I thought it was a fair suggestion. Alison was all excited on coming across a thick brochure at the reception until I looked at it and discovered that Athens pride itself as a retirement township.