Being sick on the road:

The past few days have been rough. Marie dropped me back off at where the southern tier maps pick up to take me west and I was feeling under the weather but nothing too bad. I figured a nice, short 50 mile day would be fine. We parted ways and I headed out. I was just drained after just a little bit of riding. I finished out the day in semisport, la at the state park to camp for free, which is always nice when you're on a really tight budget. There were hundreds of bugs out so I was sure to pick up some Off to get me through the next few days.
The next day I was planning on doing a long day of riding but boy was I hit with the sickness and knew I couldn't do it so I planned on doing a shorter, 50 mile day to Chicot park for $20, which is expensive but really nice because of the shower facilities. You end up really appreciating a well maintained bathroom when you spend so much time on the road. I went to bed at 8, which is early for me but I spent most of the night coughing up a storm. It was rough.
The next day, I planned for another short day and it was the worst that's it's been. I felt horrible and wanted to just curl up on the side of the road and die. I couldn't breathe through my nose at all, could barely breathe through my mouth and would cough my brains out about every two minutes. If that wasn't bad enough, I was biking the day away. Luckily, I was staying at this place called White Sand Canoes for free because, although it was set up prior to him buying the business, he still let's people stay there. Perfect hospitality for someone needing to get back on his feet after a killer cold. Now here's the catch, Rick who is the owner of white sand canoes, is a character. I ask him if it's ok if I stay for two nights and he says yes but he'll put me to work taking canoes down and putting them back up when people come back. Luckily I didn't plan on heading out because all of his employees that help him out didn't show up today, leaving him up the creek without a paddle. (Nice play on word for the situation, eh?) So I wake up and we hang out, have some coffee and he takes a bus load of people while I take the truck with canoes about 150 feet from the property to the drop zone. We do this about 5 times and its pretty easy, still leaving me my much needed rest time in between. 15 canoes are out and we pick up 13 tonight since 2 of them are staying out overnight.
Then, back on the road tomorrow to hopefully be in Texas in a day. Money is running out which worries me but it just means I have to be a little more frugal and hope to find some canoe companies to work for along the way. I hope for a fast recovery and I'll be seeing you on the road.