Ken and Carmel O'Dowd displayed remarkable hospitality and generosity when I was a guest of their beautiful O'Dowd's Irish Pub. They are impressive people and wonderful friends, and I wish Carmel could have come along with me for a leg of my cycling tour.

Journal and photos by Nancy Olson

I'm leaving today.  I got up at eight and packed.  I realized the blank CD's I bought yesterday are defective, but, luckily, one of the guys staying at the pub is a computer geek, and he burned my images to a disk of his own for me.

I said goodbye to Swampy, Bernie, Cora Lee, and Bill, and I got all of Bill's contact info. I went by O'Dowd's Irish Pub to say goodbye and take a photo with Carmel and Ken.  Carmel said she wants to go with me, and I wish she could.  I think I'll see them again when the team swings back through Rockhampton.

I went by the store that sold me the defective CD's and exchanged them for a Black-Eyed Peas CD.

I finally pulled out of town at 1040 to begin my 75-km ride to Mt. Larcom.  The headwind was absolutely FEROCIOUS.  It was worse then ever, by far, and at times I was barely able to make forward progress.  Somehow, though, time went by quickly.  I was just happy to be on the road again, I think.  I was pleasantly surprised during my ride to see the O'Dowd's drive by me, not once, but twice!  I don't know where they were going, but it was super-cool to see them.  They honked and waved the first time, and then they pulled up next to me to talk the second.  Oh, it was great to see them.  From there, I had only 15 km to go, and I was getting tired.  With the wind, I was twice as slow as normal.

I arrived at a camp ground at 1530 and paid $6.60 for a spot.  The weather was windy and a bit chilly, and it looked like rain, so I set up my tarp.  I cooked vegetable lasagna, the last of my freeze-dried Mountain House meals, and coffee.  I spread some cheese and Vegemite on a piece of pita bread and topped it with fruit chutney.  Wow!  That's pretty good!

I finished up my day's journal entry and went to bed at 1830 with Nora Jones' new CD, “Feels Like Home”, playing in my headphones.  For a while, that was the only CD I had, and I can listen to it all day, every day, without getting sick of it.  It's all the music I need on this cycling trip.

Mileage:  73 km
Weather:  cooler, windy
Final Location:  Mt. Larcom

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four Certified Pre-Owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. 100% of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.